Joint Accounts | EQ Bank | Discussion forum

The text that Bill mentioned is on EQ Bank's web site on their Questions page.

Under the Transactions group of questions, there is this one:

Are there joint accounts or TFSAs available?

These products are not available at this time. As we grow we will add products and services to EQ Bank that will continue our focus on helping Canadians save money. We are working on the ability to offer Joint Accounts and TFSAs and are aiming to have them available in the future.

I would give them some time. EQ Bank is probably still recovering from misjudging their competitors. As a result, they ended up with no competition at 3% and having to onboard 17,000 customers in their first two months instead of the expected 10,000 over a year!

So make the linked account joint.

I don't think there's anything "hard" about offering joint accounts, EQ just doesn't want to. Like any retailer they decide their product lineup, plus probably the last thing EQ wants at this particular time is more savings accounts and deposits.

Still no joint accounts at EQ. I've sent them a message several times since opening my HISA account in Feb 2016 asking about the status and get the same answer every time. I was willing to wait for a time for them to implement this, but It's been too long now. I can't in good conscience buy a GIC in an account in my name only.

Maybe if they get more requests from HISA account holders it will raise the priority for them. I urge everyone here who wants this option to send them another message.

I've "given them some time" as Norman1 suggested, and we have linked joint accounts as Bill suggested - but I've withdrawn my money. That's the only message that would make any difference to them.

I agree; they're after young single people, hoping they'll become lifelong clients. As they get married, have kids, and need joint accounts, EQ will eventually succumb to the need for joint accounts, but not before they must.

Politely asking questions doesn't make any difference unless it's followed up with action by enough people to make a difference.
Right now, EQ is one of the last places I would take out a GIC.

pwm, Achieva's one year rate is only 2.5%, as advertised. You could do significantly better at a number of financial institutions. Best rate is at Meridian credit union in Ontario, I think, at 3.25%. They will serve people in other provinces online. There are also some MB CUs paying 2.85 if you want to keep your money in MB. On 100K, that's $750 - enough to make it worthwhile in my books at least, but perhaps you were thinking of a smaller GIC.

As a post alluded to up thread, they probably do not want proliferation of accounts and this is a good way to get simple deposits (which they do want) but not all the transactional stuff with associated overhead that complicates simplicity.

If a couple wants joint accounts, do it elsewhere - especially if it costs EQ more bodies to administer and had to drop their HISA interest rates by a basis point or two.

JTWROS means undivided interest (ownership) in the account and contents thereof at any time. When one of the joint owners dies, the remaining joint owners still own the undivided interests in the account.

A joint beneficiary, if there is such a thing, simply means there is more than one beneficiary to the contents of the account when the owner of the account dies. A beneficiary does not own or have access to any of the assets when the owner is alive.

Non-registered accounts do not have beneficiary designations. The assets upon death go to the Estate to be divided up per the provisions of the Will.

Caveat: Joint accounts are not always JTWROS interests. A daughter may, for example, be a co-owner of a joint account to help an elderly parent manage finances but does NOT have beneficial interest. That can be set up by side/separate agreement. This happens as well in real estate where a parent may need to be on title in order for a couple to qualify for a mortgage. It can be set up so that the parent only has a 1% beneficial interest in the property, even if it is joint (JTWROS) title.

I can't imagine using EQ for day to day banking as they don't offer any access whatsoever to cash, but perhaps that suits some people.

What I came here to ask about though is something I found on their FAQ page, as follows:
"What happens if a joint account holder passes away?
Should a joint account holder pass away, please immediately call the EQ Bank Customer Care team at 1-844-437-2265 (844-4EQ-BANK). We’ll do everything we can to help."

This is very similar to the answer they give for when an individual account holder dies. I would have expected them to say that the account is Joint With Right of Survivorship and therefore would pass to the other account holder on presentation of the death certificate, and am wondering why they didn't. I've had a lot of hassles lately with one of the Big Banks and mysterious rules that are never made clear until it's too late, so I'm nervous about this lack of clarity.
The last thing I want is for one of us to have to go through hoops when the other dies. One of the major purposes of a joint account is to avoid that.
Has anyone asked about this? Is it perhaps NOT an account with right of survivorship? I thought they all were these days.
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