Personal Advantage Account – Fall 2022 Interest Offer 4.50% (was 3.75% and 3.50%) | Manulife Bank | Discussion forum

Terms & Conditions here:

https://advisor.manulife.ca/content/dam/manulife-advisor-portal/documents/en/marketing-materials/bank/advantage-account/updf/bank-advantage-account-terms-conditions-tc025e.pdf

"Manulife Bank will pay the Promotional Interest on Net New Deposits
made during the Promotional Period, up to a cumulative total of $500,000 (“Eligible Deposits”) into your Eligible Account during the Promotional Period. "

Greedy Guy said
Link to open a 3.5% HISA for 150 days:

https://client.manulifebank.com/edo/#/productCatalogue/BANK_ID=MNL&LANG_ID=001

Far far easier to get 3.5% here than getting 3.5% with Tangerine!  

Seems like one has to open a new Advantage account even if one already has an existing Advantage account. Yes?

Careful how you get your new cash into the new account, in case you already have an existing Advantage account. I made the mistake a few years ago in one of their promos by transferring new cash into my existing Advantage account from an external FI and then transferring that to my new Advantage account. That does not work - they count this money as already having been at Manulife, and you will not get the bonus interest. You need to transfer new monies directly into the new Advantage account from your external FI.

(I did eventually argue with their rep, showing that the money was new to Manulife, and they did give me the promo rate, but it took a phone call)

I can honestly say that I've scarcely heard of Manulife Bank. Why are they not included in any of the rate charts? I just skimmed through their ratings and there isn't one that is above a single star and very lengthy complaints. What am I missing?

JohnnyCash said

I've taken advantage of Manulife offers on a number of occasions and for the most part I think it's a great offer. Like the banks, I have no loyalty and move funds where the interest rate and offer period meets my requirements. It's imperative that all T&C's are read and understood before depositing any funds, irrespective of the financial institution in question.  

Agree

That recent rank for the Manulife Bank Advantage Account at 1¾% is more because of disinterest in savings deposits from LBC Digital, EQ Bank, Alterna Bank, and Ideal than from Manulife Bank's competitiveness.

The Manulife Bank Advantage Account had a regular rate of just 0.15% in September 2020. None of those four competitors lowered their HISA rate to anywhere near 0.15% during that time.

"Offer Period" is August 24, 2022 and October 31, 2022. But, the "Promotional Period" is 150 days:

… The Promotional Interest will be calculated daily and paid monthly beginning on the date the account is opened and continuing 150 days (“Promotional Period”) on Eligible Deposits made during the Promotional Period. …

Lamaison said

I have no idea what you're trying to say here. This site is pretty useless if it only includes financial institutions based on what their rates were 2 years ago!! Are you saying that 1.75% is not their current non-promotional rate and it's not higher than several of the institutions currently shown?  

I'm just a member on this forum like you and take no position on the matter, other than to say FI's seem to have made their way on the the HISA list if they consistently offered rates of 1%, or better. Manulife only in the last few months moved above the 1% rate, otherwise for the last couple of years have been not been much better than the Big 5. If Manulife were to consistently going forward stay above 1% on a non-promotional basis, then yes, I could see them getting added at a later stage. Who knows, maybe the threshold to maintaining a presence on the list will increase and other FI's currently on the list will drop off. I don't think anyone has an axe to grind with Manulife.