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Email this3:55 am
by the way,if there ever was a problem,is it difficult to get your money back with the insurance?:cool:
2:13 pm
December 12, 2009
Offline
AcceleRate and Achieva are very similar so it definitely makes sense to transfer out of Achieva.
As for getting deposits back from a defunct institution, CDIC has the capability now to assume the shares of the institution and operate that institution normally until its assets and liabilities can be sold or transferred to another institution (easiest way). If no institution picked up the institution's assets & liabilities, then one would likely need to make a claim through the deposit insurer but I would imagine it'd take no more than a month or two. As for credit union failures, in B.C., Stabilization Credit Union can step in and operate the defunct credit union until it is assumed by another credit union. I imagine other provinces have similar set-ups.
Cheers,
Doug
3:49 pm
Doug said:
I think kanaka meant to add Valley First to my troubled credit union list, not high interest savings accounts list, correct kanaka?
I actually was tempted to add Valley First but hesitated because I was afraid someone would jump on me. Indeed, Valley First Credit Union was in rough shape and the rumour is they were forced into a shotgun wedding with Envision Credit Union, with Envision agreeing to allow them to save the "Valley First" branding. I think eventually they'll eliminate that though and operate as one brand, either "First West" or some other name. They really were one of Canada's biggest credit unions and were on the financial brink of collapse. They were even bigger than many of the Manitoba credit unions touting "safety" and "stability".
Cheers,
DougDisclosure: Valley First is one of the big financial institutions where I live. I believe they have five branches in Kelowna plus an Envision Financial-branded branch in West Kelowna that is in the process of being integrated into the Valley First division and a name change is imminent.
Doug, you are correct, both CU's maybe in trouble. I have also been made aware that Envision has had to do some belt tightening and the reason for the partnership with Valley First was to finance a new computer system. Envision has never, ever had good investment rates but Valley First did in the past. Since the partnership it appears that Envision's methods have affected Valley First, as they no longer offer attractive investment rates. Through my investment dealer, I have a Valley First GIC but since it looks like it was transferred to Envision. Once it matures I will be advising my investment dealer...no more Envision or Valley First even though they are both insured through the province of BC! The rest of my GIC that are managed in my RRSP through my investment dealer are with Coast Capital. In the past year Coast Capital has been a little more competitive with the rates being offered by the Manitoba CU's. But for some reason Coast Capital offers higher rates through my investment dealer than at the branch level, thus my interest in investing with the Manitoba CU's.
4:50 pm
jude said:
i am very tempted to open an account at accelerate and transfer my money from achieva.makes sense,no?:cool:
Here is my story. I hope it may be of some help. Firstly I am a believer to not put all of my eggs in one basket. I am in the position of receiving "seniors benefits" and am looking for "best interest rates" to help keep up with inflation where ever possible. I have GIC's in my RRSP with my investment dealer, TFSA GIC's on my own, TFSA's with TradeFreedom (Bond ETF's), and non registered GIC's on my own. Also keep in mind that financial institutions, especially banks, are using your money to make money, offer no interest, charge you service fees, semi bully you into banking their way, and particularly BMO shows no respect to long term customers. So, what am I getting to.....you don't have to be loyal....use more than one financial institution if you like, pay no or very low fees, and use them for YOUR needs.
I deal with BMO for day to day banking...my wife and I have separate accounts, everything we do is free other than using a non BMO ATM or a USA ATM. It is close to where I live. Also we have a BMO US$ MasterCard and it is very simple to pay the Mastercard by transferring funds from our BMO US$ bank account to the US$ Mastercard. Caution....the BMO US$ account is not CDIC insured.
As a back up to BMO I have an account with Coast Capital and if need be will move our business from BMO to Coast Capital. Coast Capital right now is basically a place to park money on a short term and I use it for PayPal. Service is fantastic but free chequing....is not really free. Once we see the US$ be closer to par I plan to open a US$ account at Coast Capital because it IS insured by the province of BC.
In the past for a customer walking off of the street both Coast Capital and Citizen Bank (CDIC insured) (now closed) offered decent, not the best, rates. Since I was comfortable with their insurance I invested with them. But as things change we had to change our investment strategies. So I considered and decided to NOT deal with:
Ally, but they have an American partner ship, there is too much controversy with their proof of CDIC coverage, they are not a complete package (you need another bank account), and the American side of their business I believe is 1/3rd owned by the US Treasury because they were bailed out during the auto manufacturers bail out. Who would want to deal with some one that is in a bail out position?
Maxa in Manitoba. Responded very well to me during the process of me potentially becoming a customer. I would deal with them but what put me off was you can actually lose your principal (1 yr. interest, early redemption fee) if you do an early redemption of a GIC before the first year. But you don't have to put all of your GIC's with them....consider splitting your investments with another CU that has an early redemption that is less penalizing. But then again...if you don't think you need to redeem go with Maxa.
Revelstoke Credit Union (insured by the province of BC). Rates close to the Manitoba Credit Unions, GICS have some types of early redemption, service to me as a new customer prospect tooooooo slow.
After checking out how the insurance worked for the Manitoba CU's from the guru's at the money magazine that I subscribe to, I decided to go with:
Outlook Financial. Responded very well to me during the process of me potentially becoming a customer. There rates are good and were close to Maxa. Their early redemption for GIC was good at the time. You would receive 2% no matter what the rate was, originally. They have unfortunately since changed the early redemption to only 1% which is not even as good as their savings account rate. I had a few start up problems but they were fixed quickly and efficiently. Their web-site banking is so so and they do not give you a receipt for your GIC's. Half of my GIC's/TFSA's will be with Outlook.
AcceleRate Financial, Just joined, so far so good. Their web site from what I hear is not as good as Outlook's. Responded very well to me during the process of me potentially becoming a customer. I cannot pay my property tax as they don't have my city listed...but Outlook Financial does. Savings account rate is currently the best and their GIC's are non redeemable although their rates are very competitive.
Half of my GIC's/TFSA's and all of my savings account dollars will be with AcceleRate.
So as I said earlier use these institutions for your benefit.
7:37 pm
thanks 88kanaka.i have learned that(finally)and naturally,i agree!:cool:
12:37 am
December 12, 2009
Offline
kanaka, I've agreed with most of what you've said on these forums and appreciate your valued feedback; however, your point about Ally and its questionable status as a CDIC member is not helpful to the readers of this forum.
Ally is a product of ResMor Trust Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc. (which also owns Ally Bank USA and was formerly known as GMAC LLC). ResMor Trust Company is indeed a registered federally-chartered trust company under the Trust and Loan Companies Act authorized by the Minister of Finance and Superintendent of Financial Institutions. It is also a CDIC member institution and all deposits issued by it are CDIC insured to appropriate $100,000 per depositor limits. To say its status as a CDIC member is questionable is not helpful.
As I've said before, ResMor Trust Company is seeking an order from OSFI and the Minister of Finance to continue operations as a Schedule II Chartered Bank operating as Ally Bank Canada. Please see below:
"RESMOR TRUST COMPANY
LETTERS PATENT OF CONTINUANCE
Notice is hereby given that ResMor Trust Company intends to apply to the Minister of Finance pursuant to section 33 of the Bank Act for letters patent continuing it as a bank under the name of Ally Bank Canada, in English, and Banque Ally Canada, in French.
Any person who objects to the issuance of these letters patent may submit the objection in writing, before August 18, 2009, to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, 255 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H2.
June 27, 2009
RESMOR TRUST COMPANY"
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-.....s-eng.html
When I spoke with the correspondence officer at OSFI, she said the Letters Patent of Continuance had not yet been issued nor had an Order to Commence Business therefore the legal name is still ResMor Trust Company. Nonetheless, Ally, as a deposit product of ResMor Trust Company and included among its Deposit Register filed annually with CDIC, is 100% CDIC insured to appropriate limits.
Peter, could you perhaps please assist by editing posts (as we see them) that refer to Ally as a not CDIC insured?
Thanks for your cooperation everyone!
Cheers,
Doug
3:44 am
Feel free to remove my comments. Keep in mind I did not say that they were not CDIC insured. I said there was controversy, I believe on this blog and for sure on other blogs.
12:21 am
December 12, 2009
Offline
hey kanaka,
No worries. I know, you were referring to other peoples' comments. I just was hoping we couldn't perpetuate that misinformation others are spreading and to draw attention to the board administrator to the fact other users are doing so.
Ally savings accounts and GICs is definitely CDIC insured deposit products as they are all issued by CDIC member ResMor Trust Company (in the process of becoming incorporated as Ally Bank Canada).
Cheers,
Doug
10:38 pm
Accelorate is just another knock-off of Achieva Financial, which has been around for over 10 years and alsco backed by the 100% deposit guarantee, chequing services, ATM card and a history of great rates.
I can see that the credit union that back's ACHIEVA is Cambrian Credit Union, which is more than double the size of the credit union that back's Accelorate.
10:55 pm
December 12, 2009
Offline
That may or may not be true, CMM. I won't split hairs but I would also point out that Assiniboine Credit Union, which operates Outlook Financial, appears much larger than that of Cambrian Credit Union, which operates Achieva Financial. Similarly, Crosstown Civic Credit Union, which operates AcceleRate Financial, appears larger than Westoba Credit Union which operates Maxa Financial. They all have the same provincial depositor guarantor, however, so it really makes no difference.
Crosstown Civic Credit Union, meanwhile, is a perennial favourite of cross-country deposit brokers for their perennially good rates.
They have just as much right to operate as Achieva.
Cheers,
Doug
2:06 pm
I live in BC and just opened a accelerate savings account and tranferred a maturing RRSP to accelerate from BMO. The girls were great and made the process easy, I am happy with the savings rate, if it goes down I can easily transfer to their great rate GIC's. Did a little research on cross town CU, they have been around since the 40's. I like that the whole amount is insured not just 100,000. Do not need to use ATM or cheques, strictly for savings, so I will not have any fees with accelerate, BMO charged me for tranferring the rrsp, but accelerate refunded it right back to me! I will only use BMO for day to day banking, keep my investing with accelerate and other good CU.
5:16 pm
toto said:
I live in BC and just opened a accelerate savings account and tranferred a maturing RRSP to accelerate from BMO. The girls were great and made the process easy, I am happy with the savings rate, if it goes down I can easily transfer to their great rate GIC's. Did a little research on cross town CU, they have been around since the 40's. I like that the whole amount is insured not just 100,000. Do not need to use ATM or cheques, strictly for savings, so I will not have any fees with accelerate, BMO charged me for tranferring the rrsp, but accelerate refunded it right back to me! I will only use BMO for day to day banking, keep my investing with accelerate and other good CU.
🙂
Good move toto. I am not a BMO lover any more. I, like you, have my day to day banking with them. I have not had a GIC with BMO for many many years as they and the other big banks just don't have good rates like AcceleRate. I noticed that AcceleRate also provided the five dollar member's fee for me at no charge. So far all of my email, phone calls and mailing have been from Debbie. Hats off to Debbie...she is doing a great job!!!! So far I have found everything that they have mailed to me is very personalized and if you read it all, makes banking with them very straight forward.
5:24 pm
Yes, Debbie handled everything for me too, she was great, took the time to explain everything, and throwing in the share of 5 dollars was great, I had phoned Maxa too, you had to pay the 5 dollars there and their system was really confusing, a lot of extra work, the girl was not as knowledgable as Debbie and the girls at Accelerate. I am happy to be getting double the rates that BMO was providing.
Thanks for commenting on my story, I have never gone on a blog before,it was fun!
7:39 pm
December 12, 2009
Offline
Glad to hear your experience with AcceleRate Financial was a good one, toto. Do you know if they do a "hard" or "soft" check on your credit report? As well, it's nice they pay your membership share, like Achieva and Outlook do. Achieva and Outlook get all the press so it is nice to see a competitor for them and take some market share. Why should they have all the glory? If they want more glory, offer better rates Achieva and Outlook!
Cheers,
Doug
8:09 pm
Doug said:
Glad to hear your experience with AcceleRate Financial was a good one, toto. Do you know if they do a "hard" or "soft" check on your credit report? As well, it's nice they pay your membership share, like Achieva and Outlook do. Achieva and Outlook get all the press so it is nice to see a competitor for them and take some market share. Why should they have all the glory? If they want more glory, offer better rates Achieva and Outlook!
Cheers,
Doug
tap tap on the coffee table.....:yell:Outlook paid for your shares?? But not for us.....is this just new to be competitive??
8:13 pm
toto said:
Yes, Debbie handled everything for me too, she was great, took the time to explain everything, and throwing in the share of 5 dollars was great, I had phoned Maxa too, you had to pay the 5 dollars there and their system was really confusing, a lot of extra work, the girl was not as knowledgable as Debbie and the girls at Accelerate. I am happy to be getting double the rates that BMO was providing.
Thanks for commenting on my story, I have never gone on a blog before,it was fun!
Ha Ha....it is a good way to vent about banking and to share with others your good experiences. I now have to look at dumping my investment broker and all of the junk he has sold me, like mutual funds. Buying mutual funds for retirement...who's retirement the mutual fund managers and investment dealer take too much for their retirement!!! Any one have any good alternatives??
8:47 pm
I don't know about the hard or soft credit check but just phone Debbie at Accelerate and she will explain everything. Good Luck
9:00 pm
Yes, they pay the $5 membership share for you, but the share does not earn any income like a regular Crosstown Credit Union Share, and when you close your account they take the $5 back as their closing cost, so really this is just a book entry to comply with the Credit Union's charter.
Please write your comments in the forum.