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Concentra Bank now accepting GIC deposit clients directly
April 25, 2019
12:17 pm
Doug
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I noticed recently on both Concentra Bank's Deposit Solutions webpage and in their 2018 annual report that they are now getting back into the direct-to-consumer deposit space instead of just sourcing HISA and GIC deposits through deposit brokers and other agents like self-directed discount brokerages. So, I called their Deposit Solutions team at their toll-free phone number at 1-800-788-6311 and spoke to Brenda who confirmed that, indeed, they are accepting new deposit clients directly. However, as they don't have the forms online or an automated online application form/identity verification process, you have to first phone them (or e-mail them, presumably) and they'll mail you out the application form(s) along with an identity verification form that you can take to a credit union of which you're a member (free) and deal or a notary public's office (not free).

Once onboarded, you'll, presumably, have access to their MemberDirect online banking platform (same platform that Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, Meridian Credit Union/Motus Bank, Entegra Credit Union/Implicity Financial, Canadian Western Bank/Motive Financial, and others use, so will be very familiar for everyone).

Their rates are not top of market, but roughly comparable to Tangerine and Simplii Financial's regular GIC rates. And, because of their size and scale as a wholesale banking services and trustee provider to Canada's credit unions, have a much higher deposit and debt instrument credit rating from the ratings' agencies.

And Loonie, they have 1-year GICs in RRIFs. 😉

Cheers,
Doug

April 26, 2019
9:44 am
GICinvestor
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Will their rates be posted on this site too?

See their fees here. https://www.concentra.ca/reference%20materials/302-117.pdf

Do they have:
Savings accounts for registered and non registered accounts.
ATM cards
Cheques

April 26, 2019
10:51 am
Doug
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GICinvestor said
Will their rates be posted on this site too?

See their fees here. https://www.concentra.ca/reference%20materials/302-117.pdf

Do they have:
Savings accounts for registered and non registered accounts.
ATM cards
Cheques  

They do have a high interest savings account that, I believe, is available in all plan types, but its interest rate is not competitive (about 1%). It's better than the "Big 5" banks but only roughly as good as Tangerine's regular, posted rate of interest (and even there, it falls short by 10-20 bps). It's nonetheless worthwhile to open for parking money between deciding how to renew your GIC. sf-cool

As for rates, they are also in PDF format and are available from this link https://www.concentra.ca/Documents/direct_rates.pdf ("View Rates" on the Deposit Solutions webpage).

Rates, like I say, are competitive with Tangerine in terms of GICs, but slightly below that of EQ Bank's GICs. Nonetheless, they are a higher rated issuer than EQ Bank in terms of their subordinated debt, deposit notes, and GICs. sf-cool

No ATM cards, as of yet, though this could change in the future (possibly a deposit-only ATM card would be nice), and no cheques. They have no plans to offer banking services. This is meant as a safe place to park money at rates better than the "Big 5" banks, but not as good as small credit unions and banks. AltaRed would likely like them. (He prefers banks to credit unions for reasons of governance and management competency.) sf-cool

Cheers,
Doug

April 26, 2019
3:10 pm
Loonie
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My dad used to have GICs with them back in the 1980s or 90s, maybe both. I had wondered what had happened to them.
At that time, they would have been quite competitive or else he would not have bought them.

April 26, 2019
3:30 pm
Doug
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Loonie said
My dad used to have GICs with them back in the 1980s or 90s, maybe both. I had wondered what had happened to them.
At that time, they would have been quite competitive or else he would not have bought them.  

Yeah, they used to be the Concentra Financial Services Association, an arm of the SaskCentral credit union central, if you will, until a few years ago when they received approval to convert to a Schedule I bank owned by various credit union centrals and credit unions. sf-cool

I'm excited to see what they plan in terms of an online account opening system, but I think, given their superior debt ratings to many credit unions and even Canadian Western Bank, they're a decent offering. Thought you might like them, Loonie, because they keep things super simple. sf-cool

In fact, there's a very good chance if you hold an RRSP, RRIF, or TFSA with a credit union, Concentra Bank or Concentra Trust (their wholly-owned subsidiary) is the trustee and custodian of your registered plan assets (others include certain credit union centrals, Canadian Western Trust, Community Trust [I think!], and Computershare Trust). Speaking of Concentra Trust, there may be possibility of having another dual CDIC issuer here, similar to EQ and Oaken.

Cheers,
Doug

April 26, 2019
6:19 pm
Loonie
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Yes, I am aware that they are the custodian.
I wasn't really aware of where my dad had his money while he was alive as he managed it all on his own until he died in his 90s.
You can perhaps imagine my amusement when I saw that he had put his money in many of the same non-Big-Five that I had. Great minds think alike? or perhaps it's genetic!

April 26, 2019
6:43 pm
Doug
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Loonie said
Yes, I am aware that they are the custodian.
I wasn't really aware of where my dad had his money while he was alive as he managed it all on his own until he died in his 90s.
You can perhaps imagine my amusement when I saw that he had put his money in many of the same non-Big-Five that I had. Great minds think alike? or perhaps it's genetic!  

Oh, yeah, maybe it is genetic! 😉

Just curious, how many FIs do you directly with these days...there's Meridian, TDCT (where you have your main chequing account, from the sounds of it), Hubert, EQ, any others? Oh yeah, Tangerine and maybe Simplii Financial, but not sure you have much with them anymore. You're probably like me and sick of the targeted promo offers and switching money back and forth. Just give me a decent GIC rate for 1 year and be done with it. 😉

And how long ago was it that your dad passed away? You mentioned you're in 70s (I assume closer to low 70s?) so it's conceivable, since he live into his 90s, that he just passed away in the last 10 or so years?

Cheers,
Doug

April 26, 2019
7:34 pm
Loonie
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I don't, and won't, deal with Simplii or its predecessor.

My father did die within the last 10 years.

I deal with more FIs than I would prefer to, and that list seems to keep expanding despite cutting a couple out. I was trying to reduce the number, but found this too challenging, so now I am trying to concentrate them more in Ontario at least.

April 26, 2019
7:47 pm
Doug
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Loonie said
I don't, and won't, deal with Simplii or its predecessor.

My father did die within the last 10 years.

I deal with more FIs than I would prefer to, and that list seems to keep expanding despite cutting a couple out. I was trying to reduce the number, but found this too challenging, so now I am trying to concentrate them more in Ontario at least.  

I know what you mean, Loonie. I have accounts with Hubert, Implicity, Coast, Scotiabank, and Tangerine, and would like to whittle at least two of those out. I'd hate to give up Implicity as they do offer decent rates and great service. I've kept my Scotiabank savings account (can't call it a HISA as the rate would have to be, well, high) because it was my first bank account as a kid (well, technically a Fat Cat Savings Account at Interior Savings Credit Union, then known as Kelowna & District Credit Union, was), but it might be time to bite the bullet. As much as I like Tangerine, I could give that up, if they don't implement my suggestions to add additional transaction narrative detail for ATM transactions, make Interac e-Transfers free, and/or make their personal finance spending tracking tool optional such that I can opt out (like at Coast). Then again, if Coast doesn't implement bank-to-bank transfers and make Interac e-Transfers free by the end of 2020, I might just close my accounts with them, too. I'll have waited fully 4-4.5 years and it will show me that they, too, don't seem to value my input.

Who knows, by 2021, I could surprise you all and either be an Alterna Bank primary customer or a Motive Financial primary customer. Stranger things have happened.

Cheers,
Doug

April 26, 2019
8:37 pm
Loonie
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Time to dump any FI that doesn't serve you well. The exception might be EQ, as someone reported that they wouldn't allow him to open an account later.
It's a rare event indeed when any business takes one's advice! I wouldn't hold my breath.
We once got a $200 GC from an insurance company for making a suggestion they accepted. And , from a bank, we got some reward points for pointing out something important that was missing on their statements. Both of these came almost immediately. And that's it, for all my years!
Everyone else has ignored my suggestions. An exception is my public library , which sometimes does accept them. For this week's accomplishment, I managed to get them to change the title of a book from "Untitled" to its actual title! No response though from Collections Manager on another suggestion.

January 28, 2020
5:53 pm
Doug
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Loonie said
Time to dump any FI that doesn't serve you well. The exception might be EQ, as someone reported that they wouldn't allow him to open an account later.
It's a rare event indeed when any business takes one's advice! I wouldn't hold my breath.
We once got a $200 GC from an insurance company for making a suggestion they accepted. And , from a bank, we got some reward points for pointing out something important that was missing on their statements. Both of these came almost immediately. And that's it, for all my years!
Everyone else has ignored my suggestions. An exception is my public library , which sometimes does accept them. For this week's accomplishment, I managed to get them to change the title of a book from "Untitled" to its actual title! No response though from Collections Manager on another suggestion.  

Hi @Loonie,

See my thorough update here. sf-cool

Cheers,
Doug

January 28, 2020
8:13 pm
LeBronBMT
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This is a good find Doug thank you. Their rates are the best for currently available 1 year and 18 month GICs as far as I know.

1 year 3.01%
18 Month. 3.02%
2 year 2.66%
3 year. 2.54%
4 year. 2.59%
5 year. 2.68%

https://www.concentra.ca/Documents/direct_rates.pdf

Only problem for me is getting more money to make use of them.

January 29, 2020
5:07 am
Doug
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LeBronBMT said
This is a good find Doug thank you. Their rates are the best for currently available 1 year and 18 month GICs as far as I know.

1 year 3.01%
18 Month. 3.02%
2 year 2.66%
3 year. 2.54%
4 year. 2.59%
5 year. 2.68%

https://www.concentra.ca/Documents/direct_rates.pdf

Only problem for me is getting more money to make use of them.  

Wow, their rates jumped since I posted initially. Geez! sf-cool

Thanks, LeBronBMT. Yeah, that's their consumer deposit rates through both channels. concentra.ca is definitely the main website, and you'll have to navigate there to login to online banking.

I had been considering breaking my 1-year Hubert GIC that renewed 10 days ago to go to Peoples Trust/Peoples Bank, but am thinking I may do this for Concentra Bank.

Cheers,
Doug

January 29, 2020
7:10 am
Bud
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Interesting first online deposit broker.. currently apparently the deal can only be done thru http://www.ratehub.ca click investing then get this rate there's an 18mth option thru the process seems pretty smooth.. seems to be an online funding option without the void cheq not sure how it works.. there appears to be a direct link http://www.concentrabank.ca but on the phone Con.bk said to go thru ratehub wonder why? Ratehub leads to Con.bk link..

January 29, 2020
8:42 am
GR
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I was informed that Concentra has a very unusual restriction on joint accounts - they only accept joint accounts between spouses or common law partners, no others!

Also, I believe that the two threads for Concentra should be merged.

January 29, 2020
8:45 am
Doug
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GR said
I was informed that Concentra has a very unusual restriction on joint accounts - they only accept joint accounts between spouses or common law partners, no others!

Also, I believe that the two threads for Concentra should be merged.  

There's really no need to merge the threads. They are separate discussions. One is relating to an earlier iteration of their doing business with clients directly; the other is related to the launching the new online consumer-oriented platform. Moreover, this is extraneous preceding this discussion in this thread, which is why I suggested this thread should be locked to prevent further discussion, and direct discussion to the new thread. As creator of both threads, I would oppose merging the two threads, but support locking this one.

Cheers,
Doug

January 29, 2020
9:38 am
hwyc
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Bud said
... but on the phone Con.bk said to go thru ratehub wonder why? Ratehub leads to Con.bk link..  

I got same instructions via an email inquiry. Perhaps the click on ratehub help boost their rating on ratehub ?

I was wondering about the way (or any assosiate fee) to get my money back at maturity. Best for me would be an e-deposit to the chequing account I initially mail them the principal to open the GIC. ... Don't really like going thru the web of linking FI accounts.

January 29, 2020
9:52 am
Doug
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Bud said
Interesting first online deposit broker.. currently apparently the deal can only be done thru http://www.ratehub.ca click investing then get this rate there's an 18mth option thru the process seems pretty smooth.. seems to be an online funding option without the void cheq not sure how it works.. there appears to be a direct link http://www.concentrabank.ca but on the phone Con.bk said to go thru ratehub wonder why? Ratehub leads to Con.bk link..  

Sounds like you signed up from an affiliate link. There's no need to sign up through Ratehub.ca, and give them the affiliate commission. 😉

I established a profile with them and was told I'd be contacted within 2 business days. Within minutes, it was approved, and I'm just waiting for the Hubert transfer to go through to my Tangerine chequing account so I can do an e-Transfer to Concentra. You can also login with one of about 12-15 financial institutions and initiate an EFT out to Concentra, but I couldn't use Coast Capital Savings for that since they don't have bank-to-bank transfers. Your third option is to mail a cheque, so they've got impressive KYC verification and account funding options. I'm impressed.

Nevertheless, I did manage to get Hubert to reverse and back-date my 1-year quarterly GIC renewal transaction to January 19, 2020, and have the funds instead credited to my HISA (where they will earn 2.25% from that date instead of 2.35%, which I'm totally fine with). Two thumbs up to Hubert for that. 😉

Cheers,
Doug

February 4, 2020
3:06 pm
Nehpets
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If you succeeded in purchasing the promo GIC with Concentra, and now have online access to your Concentra account, it may be worthwhile verifying the maturity instructions on your GIC.

In the application I indicated at maturity to deposit into the HISA, and NOT renew.

The GIC was was opened and maturity instructions were defaulted to renew, so it needed to be changed.

Also their website links are a bit mixed up. Use the link to Member Direct that is shown in the email advising of your account opening, and not the Member Direct link on their website.

These are different logon sites and the one linked from their website does not work. If you get the Member Direct login page that only accepts an 8 character password (PAC) it's the wrong one.

This is the correct logon page:
https://www6.memberdirect.net/brand/sk_concentra/OnlineBanking/Accounts/

Their webmaster needs retraining

Stephen

January 18, 2021
11:09 am
hwyc
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hwyc said in #17
...
I was wondering about the way (or any assosiate fee) to get my money back at maturity. Best for me would be an e-deposit to the chequing account I initially mail them the principal to open the GIC. ...

Last week, I received "Notice of Maturing GIC" in paper mail.
... Time for my next page, here it goes ...

  • Turns out my password expired after 90 days of inactivity. Call in for reset.
  • Concentra automatically opened HISA during my first GIC application. I just needed to update "Maturity Instructions" over call-in session. And I am able to *verify* the new instructions from the online portal.
  • However, to get my money out. EFT via linked external account seemed the practical way. Interac e-Transfer would only be suffix for smaller amount(s).
  • Since my GIC was originally funded by mail-in cheque, I now needed to complete the external account link authorization (for the return path) ... yet to be completed via their "secure portal"
  • One final pleasant surprise, Concentra HISA is currently 1.8%. Probably want to leave it there afterall for now sf-smile
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