New procedures for linking external bank accounts (and verifying identity) with EQ Bank? | Page 4 | EQ Bank | Discussion forum

KamWest said

I actually prefer that, it is used by a few of my banks

Saven Financial
Motus Bank
Meridian Credit Union
Laurentian Bank
B2B

Super easy to set up and I have never experienced any security issues.  

Until you do... then they are off the hook as you sign away their liability.

Per prior post, the solution is to then change the password on the account used in the application process. User IDs and client card numbers are no big deal. It is password protection that matters to ensure you meet security terms and conditions.

Open Banking, when it comes, will supposedly alleviate these security issues through the use of something like a Digital ID unique to you, like your SIN. It is my understanding the big banks are currently figuring out how their T's and C's will have to change to accommodate OB.

Use a password manager app that keeps track of all accounts and passwords. Some/all/most will also auto-generate complex passwords to use. There is BitWarden, KeepPass, LastPass, etc. Some are only resident on your device while others like LastPass are in the cloud and allow syncing across devices.

I have over 150 accounts/passwords on my password manager for all the accounts from online shopping to banking. Just need a strong password for the password manager and one is set.

fv said

I don't think so.

The problem is not only your login/password ending up at some place other than your own bank servers, which can be mitigated by changing your password.

The problem is also that you're violating your bank TOS the moment you input your login/password on those third-party forms.

As I've written before, your bank won't come after you if you give your password to someone else. But the moment you complain that something unusual happened on your account (i.e. all your money is gone), that's when they will see that, at some point, you gave your account credentials to a third-party FI, and by doing so you violated their TOS, which legally waive them of any obligation to refund you.  

I asked this question specifically (linking to RBC via EQ's system) to RBC a few months back; here is the question:
"I have an account with EQ Bank. If I try to set up a link at their end between EQ and RBC, they want me to use a particular method. On their web site: "Securely connect your other bank accounts to EQ Bank with a simple one-time setup. Once the link is established, seamlessly move money between financial institutions at no cost to fund your EQ Bank account and start earning interest." This method insists that I log into my RBC account using EQ's own portal. I am very concerned that entering my log in password to their portal will be a security risk, or will possibly violate whatever rules RBC has in place that I am not allowed to share my log-in credentials with anyone!

I would appreciate your views on the method which EQ is using - should I use it, or not? EQ is not the only bank doing this - there are others."

this is RBC's reply:
"I can assure you that this is a common way of verifying you have access with Online Banking with another financial institution. If it was not a process you initiated and were not familiar with the company requesting this information, since you initiated the transfer process, I can assure you, logging into your Online Banking with RBC during this process does not pass along any other banking details or your log in information, such as your password and would not compromise our Online Banking guarantee. I hope this provides you with peace of mind."

rhvic said
…
this is RBC's reply:
"I can assure you that this is a common way of verifying you have access with Online Banking with another financial institution. If it was not a process you initiated and were not familiar with the company requesting this information, since you initiated the transfer process, I can assure you, logging into your Online Banking with RBC during this process does not pass along any other banking details or your log in information, such as your password and would not compromise our Online Banking guarantee. I hope this provides you with peace of mind."

I think your question was misunderstood by RBC.

With Flinks, one is not "logging into your Online Banking with RBC". One is providing Flinks with online banking credentials. Flinks uses them to log into RBC online banking and screen scrape banking details, like name, address, account numbers, and transactions.

The RBC agent thought you were asking about the SecureKey Verified.Me method. The federal government uses Verified.Me. Verified.Me does not hand online banking credentials to SecureKey.

Norman1 said

Jim Sherat said
…
So we called and were directed to the good ol FLINKS method that she would need to go through to link the same TD account within her profile. Of course, this time I refused, and mentioned the TD Security Dept call I received.…

Some weeks ago, I used the microdeposit method through EQ Bank's online banking to add a link to an account at another financial institution:

How do I link a bank account to my EQ Bank account?

Using the EQ Bank mobile app, sign in to your account, and then click on the navigation menu in the top right corner. Under “Manage my account,” click on “Externally linked account,” then “Link another account.”

Using a web browser, sign in to online banking. Under “Transfers,’ click on “Manage externally linked accounts,” then “Link another bank account.”

The next evening, the two microdeposits showed up at the external account. I noted the two amounts. I logged in EQ Bank online banking and provided the two amounts to complete the linking.  

Did EQ bring back the micro-deposit method? It was taken away via the website quite some time ago.

Norman1 said
Yes, linking accounts with microdeposits is definitely an option again.

One or two business days to link an external account is okay with me.  

Good news. I guess EQ listened to their customers.

smayer97 said

Good news. I guess EQ listened to their customers.  

It doesn't seem so.

I just tried linking a new account, and the only option available is via logging into Flinks.

Indeed, there's an option for linking an account from a bank that is not listed in the Flinks menu. But as soon as I enter my institution # in the form (010 for CIBC, in my case) the form says that it "discovered" that I'm trying to link an account supported by Flinks, and then disables submission.

BTW, out of curiosity I was reading the Legal Agreement that EQ forces you to enter if you want to link accounts using Flinks, and it is really baffling to see money-conscious person agreeing to that. Full text here: https://www.eqbank.ca/account-verification-agreement

Norman1 said

fv said

It doesn't seem so.

I just tried linking a new account, and the only option available is via logging into Flinks.

Indeed, there's an option for linking an account from a bank that is not listed in the Flinks menu. But as soon as I enter my institution # in the form (010 for CIBC, in my case) the form says that it "discovered" that I'm trying to link an account supported by Flinks, and then disables submission.
…

EQ Bank: The Wrong Stuff!

An intelligent design would have let the user know that a faster method is possible, Flinks. Then, let the user choose the Flinks method or continue with the microdeposit method.

I guess I got "lucky". My external account is at a financial institution that Flinks doesn't know how to screen scrape from.   

Best I can tell, Oaken (online) only allows Flinks. So, to do a transfer from Hubert to Oaken, I ended up using Tangerine as an intermediary.

I didn't call Oaken to see if there was another way ...

Niagara Boy said

That is really strange. When I opened up my EQ account in 2020, it let me use the 2 micro-deposit method with RBC Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust, Tangerine, and Simplii Financial (Simplii also uses CIBC's Institution Number of 010). I was able to do all my external account linking without resorting to Flinks.

I have been thinking about this a lot. How did I pull that off? My theory is that perhaps I lucked out because of COVID 19 lock-downs. At the time, I was able to skip the process of going to Canada Post with my driver's license. Instead, they let me take a picture of it and email it in. So perhaps because of the COVID-19 lock-downs they temporarily relaxed their restrictions in 2020?  

They seem to change this from time to time, perhaps based on client requests (or complaints)? I don't know. First time I tried to open an account back in 2019 the only available option was to link the account. I remember contacting CS via email, and they basically said that Flinks was the only option, that they had no plans to change it, that's it. Fast forward many months circa 2020 I decided to give it another try and was able to open the account by linking to my CIBC account using micro-deposits. Then on March/2022 I tried to link my new Simplii account and was surprised to see that only account linking was possible (which I obviously didn't do).