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Reviewing the Fine Print:

On the “Products” page about “Ideal Savings” (account), it says “You’re free to withdraw your funds without penalty at any time.”

On the FAQ page, it says “If you would like to withdraw funds from your Ideal Savings account you may do so with an automatic funds transfer…”

On the “Fees” page, it states that “Automated Funds Transfer Out (AFT)” costs $3.

I would consider $3 to be a “penalty” (and I think most of us would, especially as I can think of no other savings account which charges this much), and, thus, the first statement is, in my opinion, misleading. It's annoying, but not, at the moment, a significant amount if you don't plan to move the money very often.

T&C state that they may change their fees at any time "without actual notice” to the account holder. Further down, it says that fee changes will take effect 30 days after “publication”. So, this means you need to check their website about every 3 weeks to ensure that there are not any changes which would be unacceptable to you, as they are not obligated to inform you personally (similar to EQ, which considers it sufficient to post notices on your profile).

Ideal’s parent credit union, Carpathia, is a “closed bond” credit union, which means it limits membership to its own community, however it chooses to define it. Basically, you have to be Ukrainian and live in Manitoba to be a member. If you have an account with Ideal, you do NOT become a credit union member and you have no voting rights unless you also happen to qualify for and belong to Carpathia. However, it’s parallel to the banks, where you also have no voting rights either unless the bank publicly issues shares and you also happen to be a shareholder. With some, like Peoples, you would never have a say as it is privately held. None of the other credit unions on our list are closed bond. The ability to have a say, even if not exercised, might matter to some forum members.

Carpathia’s (and thus Ideal’s) charitable dollars go to support Ukrainian-Canadians and Ukrainian-Canadian culture, according to C's website. This is not discussed on Ideal's website. I always like to look at where they are donating money, to see if it coincides with my values., since the profits that are used are based on the business we do with them.

No exclusion re: Quebec, which is the case with most of the other MB CUs that we follow.

My assessment, FWIW:
Not as transparent as Hubert or Oaken and does not yet have all the modern conveniences that we might like. Personally, I prefer open doors to closed ones, so would prefer membership and voting rights and for charitable donations to not be ethically restricted. Will require regular monitoring for change in fees etc. I couldn't find where it guarantees the savings rate through 2017 except on the advertising page, but perhaps it is there somewhere. It ought to be in print somewhere other than as a screen saver.
Still, can't really complain about the rate, which is a better offer than anything else at the moment for the period in question and with unlimited deposit insurance, assuming they honour the time period and assuming you are not planning on withdrawals. If not, you pays yer 3 bucks and takes yer money!
Good question as to whether there are monetary withdrawal limits, but I don't see any - so far. At 3 bucks a pop, they might add up.

I will consider it in January, I think. That's when the next round of rate offers should happen, particularly with TFSA/RSP season heating up and with the talk (again!) of the Federal Reserve possibly raising rates. Still, I think I'd limit myself to well under 100K because of the features I don't like. I am nervous about whether they will have the expertise to handle a large influx of money, should it occur, especially since their talent pool is restricted to one ethnic group apparently. I hope some "early adopters" will report back on their experiences.

ertyu said

Can the accounts support online Electronic Fund Transfers in and out, either initiated by Ideal or initiated by an external bank?

Or is the only option to mail in transfer forms?

The Ideal Savings account seems to support electronic fund transfers initiated by Ideal. Ideal calls them Automated Funds Transfers.

This is from their FAQ:

- How do I make additional deposits?

After your initial cheque deposit is made, you can make a deposit by:

Mail
– use the postage paid envelopes we provide to mail in a cheque (no cash please)
– 10 business day holds will be applied to all cheque deposits

Automatic Funds Transfer
– set up a one-time or recurring automatic transfer from your existing financial institution
– same day deposit (initial set up may take up to 5 business days)

Interac e-Transfer ®
– send funds electronically through online banking (transfer limits apply)
– takes 30-60 minutes to receive

At this time we are not offering debit cards.

- Can I withdraw funds?

If you would like to withdraw funds from your Ideal Savings account you may do so with an automatic funds transfer, Interac e-Transfer® or contact us to send you an official cheque by mail.

You may not withdraw funds from a term investment before its maturity date.

According to their fees page, each AFT out to an external account is $3. Each official cheque is $10.

For modest withdrawals (up to $1,000 per transfer, $3,000 per day, $5,000 per week, and $10,000 per month), one could do an outgoing Interac e-Transfer that is $1.50.

I join the others who welcomed Janna to the site, the more info the better. And it's a given that no-one online can prove they are who they say they are or what their motivations are, the Web's been around long enough for us all to get that. I've spoken well of EQ, for example, and there's no way to tell that I (or a relative, etc) don't work for or otherwise benefit from me doing so, even if I declare otherwise.
And I easily found the rate guarantee on Ideal's site, it clearly says "2.50% rate guaranteed until December 31, 2017" so that's good enough for me.
I don't deal with credit unions so I've no dog in the fight, but it's always nice to have more competition for those who will consider dealing with them.

Loonie said

…
Yes, I thought the inactivity period was too short also, but forgot to mention it earlier. You'd need to transfer-in a dollar every 5 months to be on the safe side as withdrawing money will cost you. Between that, the withdrawal fee, and their management style, I can't say I like the institution, but, like all of them, there are trade-off s you have to make sometimes. If they want to grow and KEEP their new clients over time, they should get rid of these annoyances.

Inactive doesn't necessarily mean dormant for the purposes of account closing and fees. Achieva charges the balance of the account on accounts with $25 or less that have been inactive for six months.

Would an Ideal Savings account with a significant balance, like $20,000, really be charged $18 and closed after 6 months because of no client initiated activity?

Perhaps Janna could clarify this.

Janna gave their contact info. When I emailed them on Friday, they responded to my 5 questions within 45 minutes - not a bad response time. With the negativity towards Janna and the credit union she works for, I can't see how one could expect the rep to continue to answer questions on this forum. Many of the financial institutions I've dealt with have vague descriptions of what a dormant account is. If you're that concerned, shoot them an email.

I think I'm the only one who expressed reservations about Janna's OP. I also stated my own analysis of the institution. In post #21 above, I suggested we might consider a place on this forum where people like Janna could post some introductory information, bearing in mind that ultimately the institution must speak for itself publicly and identifiably. I acknowledged that we have not fully solved the dilemma between advertising and information. If we can't provide such a place, then perhaps the feeling is that it really is just advertising.

Janna seems to have hastily decided to pack her bags. I agree that it would be best if she did answer the questions people have raised AND directed them to where these answers could be found on the website or at least told us that she would ask that they be included. We will not be the only ones raising these questions, and our feedback could improve the quality of their website if they are able to hear that. If they aren't, well, perhaps that too tells us something about how they operate, absorb new information, and whether/how we want to do business with them.

I have to conclude that the function of a marketing department must be to control the message and to disappear when they can't. If you're going to participate in a forum, you have to expect that there will be a variety of opinions and that there will be criticisms. We can't suspend our critical abilities just because an employee decides to join the forum, as that would defeat the purpose of the forum.
If the moderator had decided to cut off posts from people identified with particular FIs, then that would have been done. There is no reason why she can't continue. It's her decision.

Loonie said

I think I'm the only one who expressed reservations about Janna's OP. I also stated my own analysis of the institution. In post #21 above, I suggested we might consider a place on this forum where people like Janna could post some introductory information, bearing in mind that ultimately the institution must speak for itself publicly and identifiably. I acknowledged that we have not fully solved the dilemma between advertising and information. If we can't provide such a place, then perhaps the feeling is that it really is just advertising.

Janna seems to have hastily decided to pack her bags. I agree that it would be best if she did answer the questions people have raised AND directed them to where these answers could be found on the website or at least told us that she would ask that they be included. We will not be the only ones raising these questions, and our feedback could improve the quality of their website if they are able to hear that. If they aren't, well, perhaps that too tells us something about how they operate, absorb new information, and whether/how we want to do business with them.

I have to conclude that the function of a marketing department must be to control the message and to disappear when they can't. If you're going to participate in a forum, you have to expect that there will be a variety of opinions and that there will be criticisms. We can't suspend our critical abilities just because an employee decides to join the forum, as that would defeat the purpose of the forum.
If the moderator had decided to cut off posts from people identified with particular FIs, then that would have been done. There is no reason why she can't continue. It's her decision.

Actually when you think about it Janna did a horribly poor job from the get go and I doubt if she has been exposed to any marketing education.

Here is the link to Carpathia's Annual Report for last year
https://www.carpathiacu.mb.ca/cms-assets/documents/234964-906198.43194-ccu-annual-report-2015forweb.pdf

They acquired 225 new Associate members last year, for a total of 1330 associate members by 30 Sept 2016. Associate members are people like us who would be clients of Ideal but would not be members of Carpathia.

I found no mention of any intentions to open an online FI in this report. Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see it. There was very little about future plans of any sort. I find this odd. There are many pages in Ukrainian but I think they are just repeats of what is in English. I don't think there is hidden info there.