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Email this6:47 pm
November 21, 2022
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Hi all,
I've used the site on-and-off and it's been very helpful. The info here helped me find and then set-up a Wyth Financial account. Now with Wyth closing, I need a new place to park some savings. This account's primary purpose is to stash emergency cash with a decent rate.
I've poked through the Achieva Financial forum thread already, and it seems that Achieva has grown and changed quite a bit over time.
Is there anything that someone with an account would point out as something to be aware of? The awareness of the sorts of intricacies and oddities that usually come with using an account.
I'm okay with the possible snail-mail part of opening an account, I've noted the $1 for electronic statements, noted the deposit guarantee through DGCM (different from CDIC), and I'm assuming that there is currently no support for e-Transfers. Has anyone had any difficulties transferring money in or out of their Achieva accounts? What is the length of any holds placed on funds? I typically use EFT to move money around my various savings accounts, so would really want that to be an effective and solid functioning part of the account (e-Transfers have played a smaller role, so if that's not an option I wouldn't be terribly disappointed).
Let me know any other thoughts you might have about what I should know before diving in, or if I should stay away and keep searching for my Wyth replacement.
Thanks!
Pirithous
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to."
7:14 am
January 4, 2015
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No oddities are coming to mind today.
There are no e-transfers as of yet, you can create transfer links to external accounts, but it requires mailing in a cheque. I've successfully linked my Achieva account from other banks that offer electronic transfers and usually push or pull from those accounts instead. It's been a while since I transferred something so I don't recall the hold period.
9:01 am
October 3, 2022
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I've been with Achieva for a long time. The pros are that instead of CDIC it has Manitoba Credit Union insurance so all deposits are guaranteed, without limit. (https://dgcm.ca/)
There are holds (looks like it's ten (10) days) but you can buy a GIC right away.
Their GIC rates are not great. They raised rates in the summer and haven't since. They have the option to change your interest option to not compound which is helpful. Their daily HISA rates have been competitive.
Regarding EFT, you do have to create a link by sending in a cheque. I have successfully created an EFT at my other bank with Achieva. I don't believe they accept Interac e-Transfers. (That's one way I get around holds at other institutions)
The last thing to note that you only get one free transfer out a month. Each additional transfer out is $1. That's very limiting for me, so I only use the account for GICs.
8:35 pm
November 21, 2022
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ertyu said
No oddities are coming to mind today.There are no e-transfers as of yet, you can create transfer links to external accounts, but it requires mailing in a cheque. I've successfully linked my Achieva account from other banks that offer electronic transfers and usually push or pull from those accounts instead. It's been a while since I transferred something so I don't recall the hold period.
Thanks for the reply!
Just to double-check and make sure I'm understanding you correctly. You've linked your Achieva account at another FI, then initiate a fund transfer from that other FI either to or from your Achieva account?
Any effect of pulling funds this way on the monthly 1-transfer out limit that Achieva has?
Pirithous
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to."
8:43 pm
November 21, 2022
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ca-tech-fire said
I've been with Achieva for a long time. The pros are that instead of CDIC it has Manitoba Credit Union insurance so all deposits are guaranteed, without limit. (https://dgcm.ca/)There are holds (looks like it's ten (10) days) but you can buy a GIC right away.
Their GIC rates are not great. They raised rates in the summer and haven't since. They have the option to change your interest option to not compound which is helpful. Their daily HISA rates have been competitive.
Regarding EFT, you do have to create a link by sending in a cheque. I have successfully created an EFT at my other bank with Achieva. I don't believe they accept Interac e-Transfers. (That's one way I get around holds at other institutions)
The last thing to note that you only get one free transfer out a month. Each additional transfer out is $1. That's very limiting for me, so I only use the account for GICs.
Thanks for the reply!
That 10 day hold is a bit long, but Wyth was the same. Not a huge issue personally, as money sent isn't needed again in those ten days, but it does seem excessive.
I'll likely stick with just the single linked account from the account opening then if linking a new account requires a cheque every time. An annoyance that I can live with I guess; the HISA rate is competitive enough for that. Though it's definitely too bad about the lousy GIC rates, not that I need that from Achieva in my case.
Would be nice if they added e-Transfer capabilities in the future as that would make contributions a bit more straightforward when there is an array of accounts at hand.
Pirithous
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to."
8:02 am
January 4, 2015
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Pirithous said
Thanks for the reply!
Just to double-check and make sure I'm understanding you correctly. You've linked your Achieva account at another FI, then initiate a fund transfer from that other FI either to or from your Achieva account?
Any effect of pulling funds this way on the monthly 1-transfer out limit that Achieva has?
Yep. I generally assume that any transfer out counts as the monthly withdrawal, but I've not needed more than one in a long time.
1:23 pm
April 14, 2021
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Any withdrawal from Achieva counts towards the 1/month allowance. I got the $1 credit for e-statements and immediately lost it when I tried to withdraw it, because it was the second debit for the month. 
2:12 pm
December 12, 2009
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If you enroll in e-Statements with Achieva Financial, they credit your account $1/month, so you could effectively have two free debit one transactions per statement cycle. One would be completely free; the second would incur a $1.00 item transaction fee, which would be offset by your monthly statement credit of $1.00/month. 🙂
Despite the proliferation of Manitoba-based credit unions, Achieva Financial still draws in the highest number of net new members per year, perhaps in part because of their size, the $1.00/month e-Statement enrollment credit, and marketing prowess. It's also worth noting, too, that they even predate Tangerine Bank (ING Bank of Canada) as the first direct-to-consumer banking operation offering high interest savings accounts to all Canadians.
I suspect Hubert Financial ranks second in terms of net new members per year, followed closely by Outlook Financial.
Casera Financial, AcceleRate Financial, Ideal Savings, and MAXA Financial round out the latest, with the bottom one on the list attracting in the high single digits in terms of new members per year and the top one of those attracting in the mid to high double digits per year.
Cheers,
Doug
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