Hubert lowers rate to 1.8% as of April 1st | Hubert Financial | Discussion forum

They kept the "new" 2% rate for all of 1 month...

Jenna - it's good to have you back here!

I, too, am not happy with Hubert's frequent posted rate changes. That, in itself, is almost as bad as one-time "new money" promotional offers and/or "teaser" rates.

I was going to post here last week that I predicted the Hubert rate would drop by the end of April but never got around to it. Apparently, this is the second- or third-time now that they've raised their rate only to lower it promptly thereafter. I'm not sure who they have running their treasury department but the roller coaster of rates going up and down is not good business practice, in my opinion.

I was going to delay moving my cash balance from Hubert to Implicity until they dropped this rate but now I don't have to delay it. I'm going to initiate the transfer on April 1st - Hubert may be 0.05% higher than Implicity but that is so minor and, in fact, I'm willing to take up to 0.25% less on rates if the customer service + online banking + e-Statement experience is better and, on that basis, Implicity is leaps ahead and self-to-self bank-to-bank transfers are coming (by June or July). Don't wait to open an account until then. You can easily make deposits at any Acculink (credit union) ATM so go ahead and write yourself a cheque!

(I'll keep my Hubert account with a $50-100 balance and use it mainly as a EFT "hub" of sorts).

I'll go ahead and continue my prediction that with the banks and credit unions continuing to try and grow a stagnant, if not moribund, mortgage and consumer lending book, we'll see further downward pressure on mortgage rates. Further, with the flack received (and rightly so, it was bad public policy!) by Flaherty for his calls to BMO and Manulife Bank regarding their mortgage rate "special offers", he likely won't be doing this again. I predict you'll see further downward movement in fixed posted and "special offer" mortgage rates. As a result, to prevent further spread compression (that is, the money banks make between what they lend out at and what they pay out on deposits), we'll see downward pressure on GIC and savings account rates. By the end of the year (if not by summer), I predict the Internet-based banking institutions and Manitoba CUs will be offering 1.5% (at the high end) on high-interest savings accounts, the PC Financial and ING Direct will go down to 1.15% or so and the "Big 5" banks will go down to 1% or so.

Cheers,
Doug