Motive Financial new account opening process and timeline | Motive Financial | Discussion forum

November 20

Email arrived from Motive telling me that my application for the Motive Savvy Savings Account has been received and processed, effective today.

Email has two attachments: Signature Card and Declaration of Tax Residence for Individuals.
They expect me to fill those and send back by mail, email, or fax - but both these forms ask for account number. I do not have it yet.

Now that application was processed and account was created - my Welcome package should be on its way. Email states my Client Card will be mailed in 7-10 business days. Fingers crossed, continuing Canada Post rotating strike would not delay it much.

November 26

My Welcome package from Motive arrived in the mail today, way sooner than I expected. Slipped through rotating Canada Post strike just between closures of mail processing facility serving my area.

Welcome package is nothing as fancy as Prag received 8 years ago. It is just debit card (a.k.a. Client Card) and few pages of small print defining rules and responsibilities of both parties. Letter also re-iterates that PIN and temporary password for web banking (a.k.a. Access Code) will arrive later, in a separate envelope. It also recommends to activate debit card by calling Motive.

The debit card does not have my name preprinted on it. Last eight digits of the card are login name for Motive web banking. My guess would be, by not printing cards customized with account holder name they could have quicker turnaround in account creation process. They must have pre-printed debit cards ready to be send to new account holders.

I phoned Motive same day. Just like Prag's experience, the person on the other end of the phone line was clearly Canadian. She activated my debit card, whatever it means, also asked if I had a chance to login to web banking page. I said "not yet" as I am still waiting for letter with Access Code.
Then, I asked if she can provide me with temporary password - and she agreed to. She went with me through multiple questions confirming my identity before giving me temporary password.

I logged to my account at Motive web banking site. I saw my deposited cheque, still on hold, and account number - which is included in account name. Quite convenient.

Hint: If you don't want to wait till second envelope will come with temporary password for web banking (a.k.a. Access Code), just call Motive. They'll give you temporary password, which will save you few days if you are eager to see their web banking interface and your new account number.

November 27

Two small deposits arrived to Motive account from EQ Bank today. That was fast.
I now have EQ linked with Motive, can send money back and forth. As soon as my cheque at Motive is off hold I'll pull few dollars from Motive to EQ to see that ETF works without issues both ways.

Unfortunately, my EQ account is not the one from which money will be going to Motive. It will be account "at another Canadian bank", initial cheque I sent to Motive was from it. I do not see link to that "another Canadian bank" set in my Motive account.

Why did I link Motive to EQ, then? Because, if Motive drops their rate below what EQ has, my money will flow from Motive to EQ.

November 29

I still do not see link to my "another Canadian bank" set in my Motive account. I can't move my money to Motive yet.

Phoned Motive. Got through right away, just like last time, with no waiting on hold. An agent was absolutely not in a rush and was ready to spend as much time with me on the phone, as necessary. That was nice experience.

He told me that I must submit Money Transfer Authorization request, even for a cheque I sent when opening an account. This is different from how some other banks do - they deposit your cheque and automatically create link to the bank which issued it.

Motive FAQ says I do not have to re-send a VOID cheque if it is a link for the same bank my initial account opening cheque came from. I asked agent to verify, to my surprise he told me that they do not have my cheque on file: they did not scan it before sending somewhere (I didn't ask, where).

He also confirmed that three forms I faxed yesterday arrived and now on file.

OK, so turning on my fax machine again and faxing Money Transfer Authorization form with yet another VOID cheque attached, right away.

Conclusion

In November of 2010, 8 years ago, it took Prag 22 days to set an account with Canadian Direct Financing (now Motive Financial). He had to mail a cheque, make a phone call to activate Debit Card. He must have sent them few filled forms, as well, but he does not mention it.

Fast forward to 2018. It took me 15 days to set an account with Motive Financial. I had to mail a cheque. I made two phone calls, one of them would not have been necessary. I sent Motive a couple of filled form.

So, there is an improvement - bank acts faster for new client. Not sending fancy welcome package might have helped.

The process to open an account was not that challenging or time consuming. Yet, I have not done so much paperwork with any other bank lately, and I mean paperwork literally: all those forms I had to fill, print, sign and deliver to Motive.

It almost feels like a bank of old good pre-Internet days, which tries to get up to speed with the new times without spending much on changing its process flows.

I am not complaining, just forgot how it used to be and got reminded.

Also, from Motive Financial I am getting debit card and free cheques. They have very friendly and helpful client service agents.
Not every Internet bank delivers you that. Considering that, who cares if opening an account takes few forms to print.