Maybe some action soon? | EQ Bank | Discussion forum

Here's to hoping something good comes from it. I took the survey today too, even though I stated a while back I don't do surveys any more. This one hopefully will amount to something and I have used EQ since its inception. The survey was quite long so let's see if they are fishing or have a real plan. Once again there was the classic question about joint accounts which has never materialized in a VERY long time though they always said it was coming...

I see there were questions about the pseudo debit card idea that sounds a lot like what President's Choice was asking about too.

Canadianbull said
Have you guys received survey link via email?  

Yes !

In this survey, joint accounts are just one item in a long list of possibilities.
This tells me they have never had any serious previous plan to open joint accounts.
That tells me they are liars.

Thx for posting, Rick. Apparently they're no longer interested in hearing my opinions.

Aren't ALL debit cards prepaid by virtue of the fact that the money comes straight out of your bank account?

This sounds like more "funny business". Maybe they intend to sequester part of your money for debit card use - and pay lower interest there. This is known as a chequing account elsewhere.

EQ has always had difficulty with the concept of chequing accounts and they frequently proclaim in advertising that they offer chequing when they don't. Sounds like another workaround attempt to me, by creating a hybrid de ig card.

AltaRed said
I responded to the survey as well. My take is EQ would like to be 'almost' a full service bank in a fintech sense, but avoiding anything to do with administrative heavy processes such as chequing and yes, even joint accounts.

I have never been a banker but intuitively I would want to avoid pretty much all the headaches brick and mortar branches have. No cheques, no ATMs, no stop cheque nonsense, no quarrels with joint ownership, no in trust accounts and so on. And why not avoid that shite if one can? I sure do not want any of those things either.

All the power to EQ if they can be a new era digital bank without traditional baggage.  

True. Joint accounts aren't on the top of my EQ Bank wish list. They're nice, but not essential. If you're not stashing large sums of money with EQ Bank, it's not critical. What is critical, though, is that you and your spouse share your usernames and passwords, so the survivor or executor can transfer the funds out to a brick-and-mortar bank. Dealing with virtual banks will definitely be more problematic, as they will likely want notary-certified true copies of wills and death certificates, whereas in branch, you can take the originals to the branch to photocopy and certify as true.

Also, be sure that you and/or your spouse die quietly and in unassuming ways, the sort of thing that won't attract any press coverage. This gives your survivor or executor at least a week or two before the obituary is published in print to transfer your EQ Bank funds out before they get wind of your death(s) and freeze your accounts.

Cheers,
Doug

Agreed. They offer transaction processing as in Bill Pay, e-transfers, international transfers, direct deposit and similar. They need to use better labels.

That is mostly all I think millenials and those of the digital age really want. Maybe a POS card? I really have not fully investigated their current offerings.

I've been generally quite happy with EQ as a HISA, found no issues and they're regularly near the top part of the rate list. Their lack of a joint account is a bit puzzling but, oh well, no big deal, tons of other choices out there. It's clearly not a priority to them, they can always legitimately say they're looking at it, hopefully soon, etc, as I'm sure it's somewhere on their eventual to-do list, so I'd say if it's big deal to you then clearly they've signalled not to hold your breath & you're better off elsewhere. And if it comes it'll be a nice surprise!

Yes of course give them the benefit of other things, no problem with that and I learned years ago not to hold my breath or expect anything. I should have been more descriptive in my post.

When a bank tells me in writing, over four years ago, that they have already been working on making joint accounts available and aiming to have them available soon, and numerous comments since then even more specific as to timing, then I find after this much time has elapsed that they are a joke and their word can't be trusted. To me that's just common sense. I was not referring to any of their other products at all, just their (lack of) actions.

That's why I found the title " Maybe some action soon? " hilarious.

I just got an e-mail announcing an upcoming service disruption, stating that it is to get ready for joint accounts being made available this summer! Finally something specific.

Rick said
Took their survey today. Looks like the are pondering turning into a real bank.
GIC that pays at the beginning of the term?? Sounds intriguing.  

They discount the GIC. Say 1 year 2%. Pay $1,000. You get $19.61 interest now. After 1 year you get the principle $980.39 back. Different strokes for different folks. I could be corrected on how they determine how much interest you get upfront.