New procedures for linking external bank accounts (and verifying identity) with EQ Bank? | EQ Bank | Discussion forum

I opened mine a few years ago, but have never really liked EQ, mostly because of their attitude, which I have always found arrogant and overly focussed on technology to the detriment of the humans involved. I don't find them to be customer service-oriented, although others may disagree. Basically, I only use them when I don't have any other decent alternatives or if they offer a promo. But I could certainly live without them - and so can you.

Sorry to hear of this problem. If it is as you have described, I wouldn't go through with it either.
I don't recall what verification was used back when I applied but I think it involved sending a cheque in the mail.

All the banks are tending to more and more invasions of privacy and stricter (but not necessarily more sensible) verifications. It's a bad trend. They should concentrate more on their own internal security mechanisms, because that's where their customers get hurt.

For this reason, I am reluctant to close any banking relationships, as I fear it will be more difficult to get back later if needed. And I am not given to compromise when it comes to unreasonable demands! For similar reasons, I prefer to visit a physical branch in order to open an account whenever possible. It's less onerous in person, although it may take a bit more time; but EQ makes no provision for that. They do have a physical plant around St Clair and Yonge in Toronto but I doubt you could use it for this purpose. It may be worth asking - and complaining!

When I opened my account last year they used micro-deposits for linking accounts.
I noticed Meridian is now also using this login system, but they allow you to by-pass and verify by cheque if you prefer. So I'm guessing this is becoming an industry standard.

I opened an account with EQ when they first went online, so I have not experienced this new procedure, but it appears very similar to what Canada Revenue has been using for several years using a sign-in-partner, and I find it fast and efficient.

This is from the CRA site, but may also apply with the EQ procedure:

"The information you enter (e.g. username, password) and the identity of the financial institution are not shared with the Government of Canada. Similarly, none of your personal tax information will be shared with your financial institution. No personally identifying information or banking details are ever shared."

"Remember that when you use a Sign-In Partner, none of your banking or personally identifiable information is communicated to the government service you are accessing and the Government of Canada does not know which Sign-In Partner you have used. Similarly, no information about the government service being accessed by the user will be shared with the user's Sign-In Partner."

The sign in partner approach is as good for security as is the security of the sign in partner itself. One is just using the https site of the sign in partner as the portal, and by using the portal of the sign in partner, it validates one as a valid person of the sign in partner.

The primary risk of this system is whether someone has successfully hoodwinked the initial FI in this chain, but that is not your problem.

andied20 said
I opened an account with EQ when they first went online, so I have not experienced this new procedure, but it appears very similar to what Canada Revenue has been using for several years using a sign-in-partner, and I find it fast and efficient.

This is from the CRA site, but may also apply with the EQ procedure:

"The information you enter (e.g. username, password) and the identity of the financial institution are not shared with the Government of Canada. Similarly, none of your personal tax information will be shared with your financial institution. No personally identifying information or banking details are ever shared."

"Remember that when you use a Sign-In Partner, none of your banking or personally identifiable information is communicated to the government service you are accessing and the Government of Canada does not know which Sign-In Partner you have used. Similarly, no information about the government service being accessed by the user will be shared with the user's Sign-In Partner."  

That's all good, except in the case of EQ Bank they are using a private third party company called Flinks (https://flinks.io/about/) to do the authentication, and gawd-only-knows what they might later do with your information, or how secure it is, or where in the world it's being stored, etc., etc., etc.

I absolutely would NOT give them jack in the way of my information

I really think this sort of thing ought to be resisted in the strongest possible way.
But people are suckers for quick and easy.

I also turned EQ Bank down for the very same reason.

I would never, EVER, type my bank id/password on a website other than on my own bank, and it seems that's a requirement to open a account with them now (got an official confirmation from their customer service).

The issue is not only the security of your password. It doesn't matter if you change it after giving it to EQ or someone else. The issue is that by giving your password, you are most likely violating the service agreement with your bank.

Notice that your bank won't come after you if you give your password to someone else. They won't close your account either. But (and this is an very important "but") if anything out of ordinary happens to your account (say, one day you log in just to see a withdrawal that wiped out your account), then you're SOL because the bank will deem themselves with no obligation to refund or even investigate the issue after they discover you gave your secrets to a third-partly (which they'll surely know).

BTW I ended up opening an account with Alterna Bank. Interestingly enough, Alterna also ask for your bank password to link your account, but at least they give you the option to use other methods (cheque, microdeposits etc.)

Thanks, ReX, for reporting that one can decline to link one's external bank accounts by supplying the online banking credentials for one's external bank to some third party. I think that's really dangerous compared to the effort saved by not mailing in a signed cheque that successfully clears.

According to EQ Bank's FAQ, the face-to-face verification with Canada Post seems to be only needed when EQ Bank can't verify using one's TransUnion credit record:

Why is EQ Bank asking me to verify my identity through Canada Post?

If we’re unable to verify your identity through TransUnion (a credit reporting agency), you can do so by visiting Canada Post. Similar to showing your government-issued photo ID at a bank branch, we’ve partnered with Canada Post to make verifying your identity as quick and convenient as possible. Find the participating Canada Post outlet that’s closest to you.

That's better than B2B Bank and LBC Digital that have no alternative when there's an issue with one's Equifax credit record.