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Email this6:50 am
November 7, 2014
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It appears from their home page (which is on a rotating screens programme) that they are offering 3 year cashable GICs @3.00% annually for registered products. Don't know if this also applies to unregistered products. Info is very vague on the website. Give them a call if interested. This is an Ontario CU and you have to personally visit them in order to join. (Port Hope, Peterborough area)
7:34 am
December 26, 2018
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People thoughts on this one?
2:02 pm
November 19, 2014
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I have a 5 yr. with them that I purchased in March 2018.
They were nice enough people and the process to open the account at the branch in Peterborough was painless.
But, I would NOT exceed DICO limits with this particular CU. You can see why on the thread dedicated to them. (tl:dr small CU with past history of troubles).
2:16 pm
December 26, 2018
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Thanks, but this one is not for me because I am from AB.
8:32 am
November 7, 2014
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re: "Don't know if this also applies to unregistered products."
Confirmed that the 3%, 3 year rate applies to all GICs, registered or not. Interest may be paid annually or compounded.
2:48 pm
October 21, 2013
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A heads up for anyone who will be converting RSP GIC to RIF in the next 3 years.
The last time I dealt with Ganaraska, the branch manager said they could not convert a GIC during its term, even if turning 71 during that time. I presume they would not sell it to someone in this situation but can't be sure.
I found this to be a strange rule as i had never run into it before despite doing other conversions mid-stream.
2:57 pm
March 4, 2019
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Koogie said
I have a 5 yr. with them that I purchased in March 2018.
Do you know what happens to the term when it matures? Do you need a chequing account with them (all of which have monthly fees) for them to deposit the term into? Is it possible to open a gic without opening a chequing account?
3:17 pm
October 21, 2013
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I can verify that they don't require you to open a chequing account, but they don't do EFTs - or at least they didn't when I took them up on a similar offer last year.
4:07 pm
March 4, 2019
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Thanks for your response Loonie.
How are we supposed to withdraw a matured gic from them without a chequing account then if they don't do EFTs? They charge a fee to send e-transfers and for all their chequing accounts. It seems like their free savings account can be drawn from with cheques, but the cheques must be purchased first?
8:18 pm
October 21, 2013
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I haven't really worried about this yet as mine doesn't mature for 3 more years. By then, things may have changed.
There is always wire transfer, which has a fee.
gicjunkie may have some ideas as he has been dealing with them longer than I.
9:03 pm
November 7, 2014
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LeBronBMT said
Thanks for your response Loonie.How are we supposed to withdraw a matured gic from them without a chequing account then if they don't do EFTs? They charge a fee to send e-transfers and for all their chequing accounts. It seems like their free savings account can be drawn from with cheques, but the cheques must be purchased first?
When our annual interest is due it is put into a savings 16 account (no cheques). From there we electronically transfer up to a maximum of $3000.00 per transaction to our home bank (TD). I believe we get 1 free withdrawal per month. There is a $2.00 s/c for the transfer by email. Upon maturity they will issue a cheque to you and mail it out if necessary. Because we deal with TD, they were nice enough to walk the cheque over to their local TD branch, 2 blocks away. I don't remember the charge for the cheque. It may have been around $8.00.
9:07 pm
April 6, 2013
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There was a previous discussion How to bank with Ganaraska CU? about funds at maturity.
Looking at their Personal Membership Services brochure, it looks like their Daily Savings accounts supports cheques and pre-authorized debits. If so, one could send the funds at maturity to a Daily Savings account and pull the funds out from another financial institution.
7:48 am
November 7, 2014
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Don't really think the savings account supports cheques because, according to their fees details, under "savings accounts", cheques are "n/a". Some of the info online is somewhat contradictory. I know the fee for a corporate cheque at maturity would be $8.50 according to the fee schedule. Depending on the value of the GIC you may be considering, this may just be a small cost of getting a good 3 year rate. I do find the $3000.00 e-transfer limits too small for my purposes, but most FIs that I have dealt with have that limit. Financial institutions are in business to make money and sometimes it seems like they are nickel and diming the customers in order to do that. To get truly definitive answers to your specific questions you should phone them. I can only give you details based on my experiences. They have been quite accommodating to work with.
8:47 am
April 6, 2013
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Thanks for clearing that up, gicjunkie.
So, that "1 Free/mth $2/addt’l" for their Daily Savings account in the "Withdrawals and Pre-authorized Payments/Cheques" row of the table is not accurate. 
Yes, a limit like $3,000 for Interac e-Transfers is quite common. That facility was never intended for transfers of very large amounts of money.
Unfortunately, the nickel-and-diming is hard to resist. I became cynical about credit unions years ago when I looked at them. The ones I had looked at nickeled and dimed just like the banks. I actually found the credit unions to be worse as they had no fee waivers for minimum monthly balances like the banks had. Some had worse GIC deposit rates than the banks. As if that wasn't enough, one also had to buy shares monthly.
11:28 am
August 9, 2014
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I have call them yesterday (Fri Jan 3) and they say the transfer out fee for TFSA is 100 dollars. So if you contribute now, you either have to pay 100 bucks to move it, or you have to wait a year before you can use the limit again.
6:51 pm
October 21, 2013
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Norman1 said
Unfortunately, the nickel-and-diming is hard to resist. I became cynical about credit unions years ago when I looked at them. The ones I had looked at nickeled and dimed just like the banks. I actually found the credit unions to be worse as they had no fee waivers for minimum monthly balances like the banks had. Some had worse GIC deposit rates than the banks. As if that wasn't enough, one also had to buy shares monthly.
Several decades ago, while anticipating the need for a mortgage, I joined a credit union because a co-worker who was originally from Saskatchewan, said they were the way to go and that where he came from everyone used the CU.
When it came time to get my mortgage, I found the CU was a worse deal than a regular bank, so that was the end of that. I was told that at that time regulatory issues made it more difficult for the CUs to compete.
Going back even further, my father always had his mortgage with his work-related CU because the rates were the best.
But that was then and this is now.
Between us, spouse and I currently belong to 5 CUs, and we have closed the membership in another recently due to inconvenience and poor service.
The only fee we have paid at any of them (excluding membership fees, which are relatively minor, and refundable) in the last 5 years was $7.50 to Luminus to get a cheque to close out the account (no ETFs there either).
During the same period, we have paid $50 to Scotia to close a LIRA; $100 to National Bank to close an RSP; and $45 to Tangerine to transfer a TFSA - at least, those are the ones I remember. The Tangerine fee was reimbursed by the receiving credit union.
We have 6 accounts with chequing capacity. The 3 accounts that offer free cheques are all CUs, and the 3 that charge for them are banks. My big banks pay no interest on chequing accounts; my CUs do pay interest.
I get seniors benefit wherever offered.
It's true that SOME CUs have a lot of picky fees, but, then, so do most banks, but with banks they are often disguised as (hefty) monthly fees or minimum balances.
As with any investment vehicle, you need to choose the one that fits your purpose for the funds in question.
2:14 pm
March 4, 2019
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I called them and they said their membership fee is $50.
They also confirmed you don't have to open a savings/chequing account to open a gic, but that when it comes time to withdraw they will create an on-demand savings account and send a bank draft with your funds. They charge around $8 for the bank draft.
They also told me about a 3% savings account they have that people can put a maximum of $1000 into.
Forgot to ask what happens if you cash the GIC early. I assume one can keep interest already paid since it can be paid to your savings account annually or compounded with your gic funds, but does anyone know for sure?
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