Savers Roundup November 2019: Savings account interest rates higher than GICs

Work for your GIC deals

We’ve seen very little movement on our GIC chart over the past month. The spread between the best 1- and 5-year rates is only between 2.50% and 2.85%.

Look a little closer at some lesser-known financial institutions, and there are some better deals to be had, such as the following:

• Energy CU, with branches in the GTA, has a 3-year 3.40% GIC
• 1Q Bank has a unique 36-month GIC where you can earn up to 3.00%, although it involves setting and achieving deposit goals over the term
• Talka Credit Union (Hamilton, Ontario) has a 3.00% 5-year GIC

Savings account interest rates beat GICs?

Look even closer, and in some cases, keeping your money liquid might offer you a better rate than a GIC.

We have now added B2B Bank to our comparison chart. It tops the regular savings account chart at 3.30% — a rate that it has kept since B2B Bank first appeared on our radar on August 12, 2019. Note that it does not have registered accounts, at least not yet. If you’ve had any issues opening an account with B2B Bank, check out other people’s experiences in our forum. The next highest rate on our chart is Motive Financial 2.80%, then MAXA Financial (2.45%), Ideal Savings (2.40%), and Outlook Financial (2.40%).

For a TFSA account, MAXA Financial still leads our chart at 2.45%, followed by Ideal Savings, Motive Financial, and Outlook Financial at 2.40%.

Elsewhere, Alterna Bank has decreased its regular savings and TFSA interest rates from 2.30% to 2.25%.

There are quite a few active deposit promotions, including:

• Simplii Financial new deposit promo for 6 months: 2.80% between November 1, 2019 and April 30, 2020. Existing clients need to register for the offer.
• If you had a Tangerine Bank promo that recently ended, check to see whether you received the latest offer, for 2.50% on new deposits until April 30, 2020
• RBC’s new account promo (2.50% interest for 3 months when you open your first RBC High Interest eSavings Account) has been extended to January 31, 2020 (previously December 13, 2019)
• La Capitale’s (Quebec only) new deposit promo is 3.00% in High-Interest Savings Accounts between October 17, 2019 and January 31, 2020; and 3.00% in TFSAs between October 17, 2019 and February 28, 2020
• DUCA Credit Union (Ontario only): 2.30% on new deposits to an Earn More Savings Account until March 31, 2020

Credit card cash back offers and a free personal finance course

On our cash back site for the rest of November, you can get $80 if you successfully sign up for one of a few Scotiabank credit cards: the Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite Card, Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card, and Scotiabank Gold American Express Card.

Need to improve your personal finance knowledge? McGill University is offering a free online personal finance course!

In other news, if you have the Home Trust Preferred Visa, starting in 2020, it will still waive the foreign currency transaction fee, but will no longer give you 1% cash back for such purchases. (Other purchases will continue to earn 1% cash back.)