No customer service, new login, I'm leaving | Motive Financial | Discussion forum

"They went with the useless and abysmal @ factor Auth which has been proven to serve no purpose other than forcing people to have a phone in their hand 24/7 and locking out seniors everywhere. Also, its LESS secure. That's right, I work in this tech, I can spoof a SIM card way easier than I can get into someone's head for their password."

Is a landline much safer than a cellphone?

Thus the need to add CWB rates to the chart to deal with them at a store front.

I predicted this would happen with their mandatory two-factor authentication and only SMS-based mobile phone or e-mail verification. If customers chose incorrectly, they`d have to call during their very limited Monday to Friday office hours, and try to get through to a team of less than 10 (maybe less than 5!). Talk about overworked!

Alterna Bank may not be competitive on HISA rates, but at least their contact centre is fully staffed and they`re open seven days a week, so I`d high and away recommend Alterna Bank before the clusterf*ck that has become Motive Financial.

Cheers,
Doug

We are well into the 21st century and digital age. Landlines will likely be gone in the not so distant future and we will only have mobile devices. Well over half of our close contacts no longer have landlines.

The numbers probably vary on a regional basis. For ourselves, we do not know any adult that does not have a smartphone and many of them are our peers in their 70s and a few in their 80s.

There's no option less secure or reliable than E-mail! Financial institutions routinely end their E-mails or other communications with reminders that you E-mail at your own risk.

Home phones, unlike mobile phones, don't carry their numbers (or - horror! - banking apps) with them if they are lost or stolen. I'm always willing to have a customer agent call me at my number on file, but never by SMS. I do have a very cheap ($15 monthly) mobile I need to communicate with those rude and inconsiderate buggers who choose to NEVER answer their phones, but I'd never give its number to any corporate entity.

I'm happiest visiting bricks-and-mortar branches, getting documents on paper, and developing a cheery relationship with agents. We old folks are happy for every human contact we get!

Will everybody be forced to go digital in the future? The less we consent, the slower it will happen. They said we'd all be driving front-wheel-drive cars by now, but that hasn't happened. 😀

(I drive a rear-wheel-drive motorcycle...)

I wanted to buy a Motive 35 month GIC (@ 5.70%, with monthly payment at no penalty and payment on maturity to my Motive Savvy Savings account). This equals or exceeds anything offered for a 3 year GIC on this forum's GIC chart.

I also wished to test the original poster's complaint about bad service. If I would have received bad service I would have transferred out the funds in my savings account and bought a similar GIC elsewhere.

My call was answered in 10 minutes. I was prepared to wait some and read a book while I listened to the annoying voice mail message on repeat. The GIC was set up with the terms I wanted by a friendly CSR in five minutes. A paper document for the GIC will be mailed to me. I am satisfied with the process.

When I logged into Motive the 2 and 3 year GICs were quoted as below:

"$1,000.00 - $100,000.00 24 to less than 36 months 5.700%"
"$1,000.00 - $100,000.00 36 to less than 48 months 5.400%"

Each GIC was quoted over a range of months. With the yield curve inverted, one month less for .3% more per year looked like a good deal. If the yield curve were normal I would just do three years.

I did not negotiate for anything.

RAV4guy said
When I logged into Motive the 2 and 3 year GICs were quoted as below:

"$1,000.00 - $100,000.00 24 to less than 36 months 5.700%"
"$1,000.00 - $100,000.00 36 to less than 48 months 5.400%"

Each GIC was quoted over a range of months. With the yield curve inverted, one month less for .3% more per year looked like a good deal. If the yield curve were normal I would just do three years.

I did not negotiate for anything.  

Thank you. That is a new discovery to me.
So the posted rates for GICs i.e 2 yr and 3 year, the durations you lock the GIC in for is actually a choice made within a range e.g 24 to 35 months.

Does that apply to all FI GICs or is Motive an exception?

althisa said

5.70 is a good rate indeed for 35 mo (compared to other posted 3 yr rates) .
People on this forum get all kinds of premium rates that are not 'advertised'
https://www.motivefinancial.com/en/rates
I need to develop that negotiation skill (or grow my accounts to the size where the FIS need to negotiate a better rate or risk losing my business).  

Althisa, I have enjoyed your thoughtful posts since you joined this forum earlier this month. I admire your willingness to learn about the best way to pursue your savings goals. I'm certain that you are much younger than me - one of the oldest members here. You have time on your side and your continued due diligence will reward you in time. Stay with it - you will be rewarded.

I don't think you have it right though that 'negotiation' with FIs is necessary to achieve some 'hidden' rate. It is true that, in some cases, having a sizable amount to invest can result in higher rates. Since 2013, when I finally managed to 'buy' my way out of a full-service investment account at a big bank, I have relied heavily on GIC investments to make our money work for us so we don't have to. Contrary to many on this forum, I have not participated in the traditional 'ladder' approach to GIC investment. Since 2015 we have opened 119 GICs - none of them more than a 2-year term. Mostly 1 and 2-year terms with the odd 3-month and 18-month term. Currently we have 32 active GICs participating in my 'Horizontal Ladder' strategy which is practical for older investors. The traditional ladder is appropriate for those with a longer time horizon.

None of the rates in those GICs were negotiated. I did have one FI volunteer to rate match competitor's offerings. I took them up on that but the last time I checked with them they were no longer offering rates other than what they listed.

As old as I am, I am still learning too. This year, thanks to members on this forum, I was alerted to superior savings and GIC rates at BMO Investorline - where I already had an account. I have also branched out, thanks to this forum, to GIC brokers to get higher rates on my GIC purchases. In this era of increasing interest rates I keep a running record of interest rates at all FIs I am interested in dealing with. Recently, I have found it necessary to update this list one or two times a week to keep current. This is the way I am able to ferret out the best interest rate for my purchases. But none of them were 'negotiated'.

I hope this clarifies the point about 'negotiating' for better GIC rates. I wish you well on your savings goals. Have fun!