Interest rate dropped: Advantage Account | Manulife Bank | Discussion forum

Good catch!

My acc't shows the same, but surprisingly, my wife's acc't now no longer shows the promo rate. On the other hand, the rates page still shows 1.50%.

I don't know what they're up to, but maybe they're selectively cancelling the deal for certain accountholders.

According to the T&C, they can pretty much do whatever they want, but if this isn't a glitch, they're gonna get lambasted & I'd suggest others affected do likewise.

My interest rate has dropped to 1.25; promotional rate to 1.75. Started at 3.25 combined; now 3.0.

Interesting! When they decrease rates, they don't adjust their promotional rate correspondingly upwards. Tangerine (and others), meanwhile, when regular rates increase, adjusts downward the promotional rate by an amount commensurate with the regular rate increase. In short, we get screwed both ways. 😉

This is one of the main reasons why I don't play these promo games anyway for a measily 25-50 bps. Best bet, I figure, is to lock in with the highest GIC rate you can get or accept a lower HISA rate. Life's also too short.

Cheers,
Doug

My funds were in there literally for 10 hours and the rates changed

I posted in the original topic
https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/forum/manulife-bank/3-35-for-6-months-new-acounts-promotion-advantage-account/page-12/#p42821

I won't touch them again

Hi again,
just spoke with a Manulife rep and was assured that the 0.25% reduction in their regular interest rate would be added to the promo rate. When I signed up the regular interest rate was 1.5% and the promo rate was 1.85%. I was assured that my promo rate would be adjusted upwards to 2.1% for the duration of the 6 months term. When I asked if this was confirmed anywhere on their website I was told no, but that the interest paid monthly would reflect the promised rate. I guess we will have to wait until August 1, 2019 to confirm but the impression I got from my conversation with the rep leads me to believe that Manulife will honor their promise.

Here is also why I don't believe it

https://www.manulifebank.ca/campaign/groupoffers/gb-flexible-financial-solutions.html#advantage

MapleOne said
Here is also why I don't believe it

https://www.manulifebank.ca/campaign/groupoffers/gb-flexible-financial-solutions.html#advantage  

Thanks for sharing these, MapleOne.

I hadn't heard of "postimage.cc," but seems like a good quick, forum image hosting service. In case you didn't know, Peter allows us to upload images directly using "upload attachments" on this forum. There's no cumulative upload limit, as far as I'm aware, and I'm not sure what the specific file upload limit is.

Based on what you've shared and my own experience with Tangerine, I'm inclined to think the Manulife Bank CSR with whom @theodor spoke was either (a) misguided, (b) was speaking based on assumptions and logical presumptions, or (c) was correct at the time, but Manulife Bank has since changed their stance with respect to promo interest rate changes (which the T&C state they can do, for better or for worse). It's one of the reason I'm tired of these promo rate games.

The Advantage account is still a good no-fee chequing and savings account for all your day-to-day banking, if you keep $1,000 in it, all transaction fees are waived and there's no monthly fee whether you keep $1,000 in it or not (just per-transaction fees, except on pre-authorized debits and ATM cash withdrawals, which are always free). Would I sign up for it? Probably not, at least not in its current form.

I think you made a wise choice in choosing Motive's Savvy Savings Account and Tangerine's special promotional rate for you.

Cheers,
Doug

It is pretty bad that ManulifeBank has dropped the rate, and not by .1% at a time, but .25% overnight, however at 3.1% (or 3%) it is still the best HISA rate that I am aware of, as of now.
What this means is that I am not moving out my savings ... yet. That will most likely happen next time when they drop rates.

Doug said
Agree, @rk, that it makes sense, if you're already there and have been since the beginning of the promotion, to keep your money there.

Not quite from the beginning, only for 6 weeks or so. And it was hard work to set it up (took one week, several emails and phone calls, even had to be creative to setup the link with another FI, etc...). But this does not mean that I will not move all my money out if-when they will no longer be #1 in terms of rates.

Canadianbull said

I am surprised with your experience. My account was open and active within 10 minutes on Tuesday. Link with another FI's were completed on Wednesday. All funds that I transferred on Wednesday already showing in my account.  

My experience was detailed at the time in a different thread. Long story short, my account is joint and I wanted to link it to an external FI for which I did not have cheques. Although I did exactly what the CSR asked me to on the phone - twice - they have never linked it. The workaround was to link my Manulife account from the other FI. So, instead of a pull, I had to do a push. I had no issue with transferring funds, either. Sometimes the transfer shows up during the same day, which is remarkable.