AcceleRate new account opening process and timeline | AcceleRate Financial | Discussion forum

I have most of my $ with them now...
seem pretty good so far:cool:
I am happy with the extra 12 dollars a month, over Peoples Trust rate of 2.1%
also it is a nice change to be able to log online and see my balance

Today -- Tuesday, November 16 -- I received my welcome package in the mail, 12 business days after having mailed in my original application around noon of Friday October 29th. The no-frills welcome package was a letter sized envelope containing:

a welcome letter (which contained my membership number, and notice that my ATM card and PIN would arrive later)
3 deposit envelopes
2 deposit forms
a chequebook with 20 cheques

Amusingly, there was a half-page deposit slip filled out by hand in blue pen which acknowledged my initial deposit into the account. Talk about old school. It's almost shocking to see physical signs of a real human in this day and age, at least for someone like me who's been online banking since the mid 1990s and never setting foot in branches.

There were no marketing pieces in the kit. It's definitely no frills and simple, which is probably part of the reason they can offer great rates.

I'm curious to see the online banking site once I have access to it.

I'll update this thread once the rest arrives.

Yesterday (November 18th) my ATM card, PIN, and access code for the website arrived in separate letters. I logged in and the website is very bare bones and simple.

Today I activated my ATM card and spoke to Debbie on the phone, who was very nice. They are available Monday to Friday during the usual banker's hours, which is fine as this is not a day to day primary account, it's for savings and there's no real reason for me to urgently need to contact them 24/7 or on weekends.

In my opinion, AcceleRate's main weak spot is the lack of one-off EFT capability.

She said that they may eventually offer on-demand/sporadic EFTs but for now the only way to electronically set up deposits into your account from other bank accounts is to fill out their PAD (Pre Authorized Debit) form which transfers a certain amount (minimum $25) per week/biweekly/month on a recurring basis.

I like the convenience of sporadic transfers to handle cases where I get a lump sum like a bonus from work, or a tax return, so hopefully they DO actually develop the capability to handle that type of one-off electronic transfer in the next year. Mailing cheques costs money (either your own or the institution's) for the cheque, stamp, and the envelope, even though it's not much, but more importantly I'd like to get away from using paper as much as possible because of the resource waste.

Also, the free ATM network you'd use with their debit card is Acculink, not THE EXCHANGE. I had presumed it was THE EXCHANGE since that's what it's been for any other credit union (or HSBC) that I've used. In any case it doesn't matter since we have Acculink ATMs in this city anyway.

Overall, AcceleRate just needs to take advantage of the electronic era a bit more and that will serve them well. Online applications, sporadic EFT capability, and the ability to do your own EFTs online (like you can with Ally, ING DIRECT, or Canadian Direct Financial) would be the three most useful features they could add -- even if it's only to transfer money INTO your account, for starters.

Sporadic EFT is a non-issue if you use Ally as your transfer hub. You can push/pull money to/from your account via Ally. Use Ally's test deposit system to set it up, and you don't even need to use any of your printed cheques.

Maxa financial just went thru a big conversion in their banking system, they have all the new bells and whistles now, I am happy with both accelerate and maxa's on line service.:smile:

Your experience will be good:lol:. The process moves as quickly as Canada Post serves your area. Communication is good and is sort of "country style".