Could this be done? High Interest Savings front to lead to a online petition. | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

I appreciate your initiative, but I don't think they care, especially Oaken. The issue has been raised, repeatedly, with both of them.

In the case of Oaken, all they will care about is shareholders and deposits. I, for one, am removing my registered funds as they mature. Money talks louder than words, as the old saying goes. Presumably, those who are concerned about the issue could each buy a share (TSX - HCG) and show up at shareholders' meeting and complain, but I think they would be dismissed as a minority, and deference to management would come into play.
As I have indicated elsewhere, Oaken only came into existence in 2013, so they will just recently be facing the exit of their first five-year GICs. It may take a while for a pattern to develop, if one does develop, and even longer for them to notice, diagnose, and take action.

In the case of Hubert, they will likely only listen to members, especially as they aren't permitted to advertise outside their province. And with a local economy potentially in the doldrums due to the canola fiasco with China, they may not have a need for more deposits right now. They do send out a member survey about once a year or so to see what changes we might like, and they have acted on some of them. I hope more members will bring this up as an issue in future surveys.
If there are any members who care about this issue who ive in the local area, erhaps they could raise this at an AGM. At least, then, board members would hear that it is a concern.

I agree and disagree with you both of you. I agree with Loonie in the sense that I don't think they'd listen to an online petition, but agree with you in the sense that I disagree with Loonie somewhat in terms of money movement talking louder than words.

I actually think the best thing we could do would be for us e-mail Hubert, Oaken, EQ Bank, Motus Bank, and any others, individually. They'll be forced to handle our e-mail messages and reply to them individually. If there's a common "theme" to our messaging and requests, they may take notice.

As to speaking up at the AGM, as members, we certainly have that right. We could also investigate the possibility of submitting an Ordinary Resolution at their next AGM. One of us could find out how many members we need to "sponsor" a resolution to move it forward for a vote of the membership.

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
"Go for it" if you wish. I'm just saying what I think the problems are.

In the case of Hubert, I presume it would be a Sunova AGM that one would have to be involved with? They may not permit absentee balloting on resolutions, but I don't know.  

Sunova, interestingly, allows online voting, but I've never seen a credit union- or member-sponsored resolution to date. Mostly it's just director elections. Entegra Credit Union is working on online voting, apparently, this year, so that Implicity members will be able to vote. They just passed a resolution at their 2019 AGM to permit online balloting. That resolution, I think, was a floor vote and passed with a unanimous show of hands of those members present at the meeting.

In terms of submitting resolutions, my understanding is that all we need to do is mail or fax them at least 30-60 days ahead of the AGM, or a date specified by the credit union, to be included in the AGM package. What I'm unclear on is that specific date and whether we need a certain number of members to agree to it.

In this way, we could think of ourselves as a unified "slate" of Sunova, Entegra, Cambrian, etc., members that would put forth ourselves for a board seat or an Ordinary Resolution.

Cheers,
Doug

GICinvestor said
Ok ok I hear what you are saying. I think some of us want this and if we don’t there has been a lot of useless whining about it all.

For me.
Oaken will have only my non registered stuff and will loose, in a 5 year plan, all my TFSA and RRSP/RRIF.

Implicity will loose all my non registered stuff and once all GICs mature they won’t exist with me.

Accelerate will loose all my non registered stuff and TFSA and once all GICs mature they won’t exist with me.

I sure hope Peoples keep their pencils sharp!!

Let’s see what others say or suggest.

Thanks.  

I do think we should consider the Ordinary Resolution idea and getting people together to co-sign any resolutions to duly move them at their AGM.

I've never banked with AcceleRate Financial...my reason for doing is because they only give you 1 free transaction per month and they use a bit of a different online banking interface that I'm not sure I'd like (would love to see some screenshots, though). What's the main issue there, and what's your issue with Implicity?

Implicity's rates are about 5-10 bps lower than Hubert but their lack of transaction fees, except for debit card purchases and Interac e-Transfers, are compelling. They also have the nicest online banking system and the nicest, most detailed e-Statements (could increase the number of characters per line, in my opinion). Can't really say anything negative about Implicity. They also are, I think, the first of the Manitoba CUs to offer e-documents (online tax receipts) this past year, which is wonderful.

Cheers,
Doug

GICinvestor said
They are fantastic and you do all GICs on phone and they have a 20% extra for RRIF withdrawals. Can even do spouses too. Can’t explain why....but would have done RRSP/RRIF with them but just can’t bring my self to do....maybe it is the too many eggs in one basket. I only use them to invest and hold cash. I would say that in a year I would pay $6 for withdrawals. So is not an issue with me as they are not my day to day FI. Their system is antiquated and show both me and spouse online and on statements. They provide an ATM card for both of us and free cheques, 10 at a time. They mail letters for each upcoming GIC maturity and mail a statement every 6 months. You can pull a monthly statement off their system easily too. Right now they mainly have our TFSAs but if I see a probate hassle I will move to PT or Oaken as second choice (with no HISA which botches my retirement income plan).

Sounds like their service level is excellent (I'd heard that), but when you say you do your GICs by phone, do you have to do them by phone or can you also book them through online banking?

Implicity Financial is almost perfect except they don't have free Interac e-Transfers. If they did, one could easily use them as an all-in-one bank account.

I like them in every way GIC ordering, communication, cheque’s, ATM cards and online monthly statements. Just one too many FIs in MB for me. I only have a few GICs left that will move to Oaken at higher rates.

Just wondering why you'd keep them over AcceleRate. Mind you, you said you would probably get rid of AcceleRate, too.

Oaken is the best to order GICs. But no ATM card, no cheque’s and no registered HISA accounts. But has an office in Vancouver and emails or snail mails your upcoming GIC maturities.

I used to think a debit card is essential, but am now even considering EQ Bank as a day-to-day all-in-one bank account. Only downside is no cash, or access to cash. On Oaken, yeah, and they have a cute cartoon squirrel as their mascot.

Not one is all around good. Darn it. So I do what ever work arounds to make it work. Ie 2 FIs for RRSP to do what I want to do instead of 1 FI only.  

Yeah, agreed. Or, if they are almost perfect, they're less than ideal on rates. Motive Financial seems to be almost perfect, but they get beat on GIC rates by a bunch of players.

Coast Capital Savings is good in terms of slick online account opening, e-Statements, and free chequing, but where they fall down is:
- no free and unlimited Interac e-Transfers;
- no free cheques (not essential, if they provided free and unlimited Interac e-Transfers);
- no bank-to-bank transfers; and,
- they're method of handling GIC interest penalties from a tax perspective sucks. They're definitely in the minority by taxing you on interest you don't receive. 🙁

Cheers,
Doug

GIC Investor: I have written to Oaken about the lack of HISA registered account but just received a “spiel” which didn’t appropriately answer my question. I then wrote again saying this and asked for an answer. I never received a reply. So I’m transferring out my registered products as they mature. Too bad, I’d rather stay with them.

Perhaps Doug’s suggestion of group emails might have an impact. I’m not sure I want to sign a petition. Good for you for raising this, thank you.

I wouldn't push for no transfer out fees, though maybe reimbursing transfer out fees on a large transfer (i.e., at least $50-100,000) in a registered plan. I would focus on an Oaken Savings Account for a RIF - that should be the priority.

Cheers,
Doug