6:17 am
November 8, 2018
9:32 am
July 9, 2020
3:51 am
March 4, 2019
6:03 am
February 20, 2013
6:07 am
September 30, 2017
10:50 am
September 29, 2017
frugal lady said
More annoying when you do move funds in and they won't release the hold so you can purchase GIC, and then when hold is off, the GIC rate has dropped.
In the past, as long as the money was moved in prior to any rate change, EQ would honour the old rate with just a phone call after the release period. You might want to check if they still honour that process.
12:18 pm
February 16, 2013
smayer97 said
In the past, as long as the money was moved in prior to any rate change, EQ would honour the old rate with just a phone call after the release period. You might want to check if they still honour that process.
I agree it is very annoying frugal lady. I also transferred my funds and the day the hold cleared, the rate dropped.
@smayer97, I just tried calling them as the GIC was purchased yesterday. They declined to honour the rate.
12:35 pm
March 30, 2017
9:32 am
April 6, 2013
According to their rate history, it happened last week on November 24.
9:39 am
October 21, 2013
4:51 pm
May 19, 2022
Loonie said
This is one nasty bank!They were not bad when they first opened, but it's been downhill since then.
EQ Bank continues to offer some of Canada's highest-interest GIC's out there, yet you write that they are "one nasty bank!", and "They were not bad when they first opened, but it's been downhill since then." So I assume that your issue must be with EQ's HISA rates, and not their GIC's at all? Because surely a rate of 5.1% for 12-months can't be the reason why you're bashing them, correct?
6:52 pm
October 21, 2013
1. punitive holds policy - see above
2. no joint GICs allowed
3. unpleasant staff
4. crappy HISA rate
5. If you ever close your account, they refuse to ever let you open another.
6. There is no way to stop them sending you emails broadcasting how much interest you earned on HISA last month.
7. they won't accommodate people with visual disabilities.
That's all I can remember at the moment.
I'm only looking for joint GICs so I don't care what EQ rate is. But, if I were looking, I'd go to Peoples or a deposit broker. The latter were offering 5.45 for one year today, will give me a joint GIC, and will treat me well.
3:45 pm
January 5, 2022
EQ Bank sucks!!
I pulled all my funds out of HISA because rate is very uncompetitive (only 2.50% vs many others at 3.00% or higher. I transferred some money back in to buy their 3 yr GIC at 5.10% but my money was frozen for 7 days (even though I have a TFSA and other GIC's there that would more than cover). The bank rate went up 0.5% on Dec 6th but EQ Bank DROPPED their 3 yr GIC rate to 4.95% and now I'm getting 2.50%
5:40 pm
October 27, 2013
From a depositor's perspective, I agree this does not sit well, BUT the reality is EQ Bank is probably quite brilliant. They would appear to be very closely matching their lending needs with their deposit rates to manage their deposit inflows/outflows to optimize NIM and earnings.
I am not a shareholder but it seems prudent for them to reduce longer term GIC rates in trend with decreasing bond yields and potentially lower long term mortgage rates. It does not matter what the BoC overnight interest rate trends are. It is what the marketplace is doing that is important.
P.S. The trend right now appears to be for longer term mortgage rates to start going down slightly, both USA and Canada. I don't know if this is an aberration or not.
Add: I would expect to see some HISA and 1 year GIC rates move up slightly with the BoC interest rate increase but perhaps everything else to remain steady for now.
6:10 pm
September 11, 2013
5:09 am
March 30, 2017
slimboyinvest said
EQ Bank sucks!!
I pulled all my funds out of HISA because rate is very uncompetitive (only 2.50% vs many others at 3.00% or higher. I transferred some money back in to buy their 3 yr GIC at 5.10% but my money was frozen for 7 days (even though I have a TFSA and other GIC's there that would more than cover). The bank rate went up 0.5% on Dec 6th but EQ Bank DROPPED their 3 yr GIC rate to 4.95% and now I'm getting 2.50%
I stop using EQ as I despise their 7 day hold regardless of the source of the funds. When its a linked transfer and the money is already removed from the withdrawal bank, I dont see any reason why they need to restrict the use of the funds to purchase their own GICs. Other FIs will remove the hold if one calls in, EQ simply dont care...
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