Motus has launched | Page 9 | motusbank | Discussion forum

Here is a list of their fees, in case someone wants to know before they get involved:

• Account and transaction fees
High-interest savings account transaction fee $0.00
Cheques (Transaction fee) $0.00
No-fee chequing transaction fee $0.00
Foreign debit transaction surcharge 2.50%
ATM - Interac transaction fee $2.00
Send Interac e-Transfer (Just for Savings accounts) $1.25
ATM - US transaction fee $3.00
Record keeping (Paper statement monthly) $2.00
ATM - International transaction fee $5.00
Online cheque viewing (With online statements) $0.00
Point of Sale transactions $0.00
Request Interac e-Transfer (For each fulfilled request) $1.25

Other fees
Incoming wires $10.00
Stop payment: partial details $15.00
NSF fee $45.00
Replacement debit card $5.00
Accepted NSF (Overdraft handling fee) $5.00
Coverdraft $2.00
Canadian Dollar (CAD) draft $6.50
Overdraft interest rate 21.00%
Post dated cheque held for deposit $2.00
Closing account within 90 days of account opening $25.00
Charge back (Retail) $0.00
Balance of account transfer $15.00
Cheque sent on collection $20.00
Inactive account fee (Annualized fee) $30/year
Stop payment: full details $12.00
Cheque Order (Additional orders starting at $34.80) First 25 free

Registered Plans
Registered balance transfer to another financial institution $50.00

Note for the first free cheque order, you have to order it by phone. They don't have their online banking system configured, apparently, to waive charges on the first order, according to RFD.

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
My $1 transfer-in arrived from TD today, on time.
My debit card, which I specifically did NOT request, arrived today, PIN to follow,
$35 rebate from Peter arrived by email today and was easy to deposit. This was faster than expected. Thx!  

Oof, that is a long time (the $1 credit to your Motus Bank account)! Interestingly, Briguy said his debit to his Meridian account from Hubert was debited within 2 business days. This took 4 business days. It's odd Motus Bank's EFT processing time is double that of Meridian. 🙁

For that reason, and no access to deposited funds limits, I won't be creating a Motus account. I'll follow up with them and recommend a few changes, but for now, I've got my eye on Motive Financial. 😉

Thanks for the continued updates, though, Loonie! Very helpful!

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
I would consider that the transfer took 3 business days. since I initiated it after "bankers' hours" in Ontario (where the bank is located) on a Friday and the money arrived the following Wednesday. Three days is what they promised, and that's what they delivered. I too wish it were faster, but that will do.  

That's true, it's accurate to say it's what they promised, and that's a good point that you initiated the transfer after cut-off time on Friday so you really have to count Monday as day 1. It's just very odd that Meridian Credit Union is 2 business days since they're the same company. Hopefully they'll improve that within a few months.

Cheers,
Doug

Doug said
Oof, that is a long time.....For that reason, and no access to deposited funds limits, I won't be creating a Motus account. .... 

My thinking as well, prompted by my previous experience with Meridian that took too many days, compared to other FI's to post incoming EFT's and mobile deposits.

I wrote an extensive review with specific examples and comparisons that I sent to Meridian management, in anticipation of their Motus launch, thinking they would employ similar policies. I received no feedback or acknowledgement of my comments, and it appears they employ the same slow transfer protocols.

Yesterday, for example, I pushed funds to and from a couple of FI's that posted overnight in the receiving end.....one of which was done after business hours!!

Stephen

Loonie said
Early this morning, I phoned Motus to ask them to email me an RIF transfer form as many FIs have their own forms which they prefer.
The CSR was not permitted to do anything at all in regards to RIFs. This had to be routed through an advisor.
However, no advisors were available.
She said she would forward to them my request.
I told her I didn't have a lot of time and needed this to be dealt with quickly.
So, she then told me the advisor would require me to send them a copy of my statement from the transferring FI as well as the transfer form. In over 40 years of dealing with RSPs and RIFs, I have nee been required to provide this before.
It's now 5pm and I have heard nothing further from them. Another day lost.

It is now 9 days since I began dealing with motus, for the sole purpose of opening an RIF. Sadly I am no further ahead on that particular goal.

If I had gone into a branch of almost any FI, the whole thing could have been dealt with at once. And this is why I choose to open accounts in person wherever possible.

So much for "making banking easier".  

Although your RRIF doesn't, I'm assuming, have any regulated securities in it (i.e., mutual funds, bonds, etc.), I can why they'd route your call to a more senior level staff member (i.e., "financial advisor" or whatever they're called at Motus Bank) because of the tax implications with RRIFs and in order to ensure that the correct explanations are (hopefully!) given and procedures are (also hopefully!) followed--and in a timely manner.

Unfortunately, RRIFs seem to be Motus' one product they can't fully do online, in terms of applications and transfers.

Overall, from what Loonie et al have said and what I've read, it sounds like Motus' strengths include the following:
* Slick, all-digital account opening and mortgage origination system;
* Slick electronic account verification process* (*notwithstanding 1-2 extra business days for processing EFT DRs and CRs);
* Nice website and colour scheme; likely pretty e-Statements;
* Great rates (for now, at least) for deposits and mortgages; and,
* Relatively decent customer service.

Motus' weaknesses, which are significant if used as a day-to-day banking account:
* No access to deposited funds (pulled EFTs and/or cheque deposits) limits;
* 1-2 extra business day (apparently) processing time relative to even Meridian Credit Union and certainly other major Canadian banks and credit unions;
* They apparently do not adhere to customers' requests to not receive a debit card; and,
* They should pick a capitalization and spacing regime for both their legal name and their branding name and stick with it. At the very least, they could choose not to capitalize their branding name, but should apply a space between "motus" and "bank" to reduce confusion in terms of CDIC deposit insurance purposes (i.e., "motusbank" does not exist in that form as a CDIC member).

Nevertheless, I do share your frustration, Loonie, particularly where you write that you're no further ahead in your Motus Bank RRIF opening process, which was your original goal. Sure, your external account(s) are verified, you and your spouse have been verified for AML/KYC purposes, you have debit cards (which you didn't want, though maybe you need them for online banking? still, they should say that in the account application, eh!?), and you have a chequing and/or savings account, which will seldom get used, I suspect. I'm surprised you've never been asked to provide an account statement for your RRIF - might be trying to cross-sell you on something, or just double-check your RRIF account number, I suspect.

Cheers,
Doug

threeoakwest said
But don't forget you are still getting interest from where you sent the money.
I just did the same as Loonie, transferred last Friday evening and it was taken from my BNS account on May 8, and deposited in my motus account May 8, therefore no loss of interest.  

Hrm, maybe the slowness, then, is just in the initial account verification and a Motus Bank employee not processing the request right away? I'd be curious, if you don't mind, if you were to do a DR or CR EFT (push or pull) of, say, $5-10 (something small; amount doesn't matter) before 6 pm Eastern time (likely Motus Bank's cut-off time, from what I've read) on a Monday-Friday business day and see when the DR/CR appears to each of your respective banks.

Cheers,
Doug

Nehpets said

Doug said
Oof, that is a long time.....For that reason, and no access to deposited funds limits, I won't be creating a Motus account. .... 

My thinking as well, prompted by my previous experience with Meridian that took too many days, compared to other FI's to post incoming EFT's and mobile deposits.

I wrote an extensive review with specific examples and comparisons that I sent to Meridian management, in anticipation of their Motus launch, thinking they would employ similar policies. I received no feedback or acknowledgement of my comments, and it appears they employ the same slow transfer protocols.

Yesterday, for example, I pushed funds to and from a couple of FI's that posted overnight in the receiving end.....one of which was done after business hours!!

Stephen  

Thanks for sharing the story, Stephen. Can you confirm if it still takes 3-4 business days to DR/CR your Meridian account for a bank-to-bank transfer? I'd like to confirm if maybe it's just an account opening delay (i.e., slow paper-pushers).

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
Briguy, I don't need what Alterna offers right now.

Doug, the transfer form should be downloadable from the Motus website. That would be the "easy" way.
They shouldn't assume we are all stupid and can't fill out a form correctly. They are just getting in my way. If this keeps up, I'll just have to move it to Hubert anyway, which is very easy as their form is available online and doesn't require sending a statement or talking to a waste-of-time "advisor".  

I agree you with, Loonie, especially on the point of making available all forms on the website in PDF format (fillable or just blank forms). You shouldn't have to ask for the forms. An online RRIF application could come later, but they need to at least get all the forms on the website, possibly in a "Forms" section of the RRIF product page and/or a "Forms Library," sub-arranged by product.

I can potentially see the need to ask for a statement, but at a minimum, surely they don't need to speak to you. Couldn't they just have a CSR say, "E-mail us a recent RRIF statement as part of our supporting documentation requirements, along with your completed & signed RRIF transfer form, and we'll pass it on to the advisor, who will follow up with you only if (a) you've requested it specifically or (b) your application is missing something / needs clarification."

While not online, Oaken does at least provide the RRIF forms on their website.

It's just too bad that Oaken didn't offer a RRIF savings account and that Hubert didn't offer a 1-year RRIF GIC. Isn't your existing RRIF at Oaken...have you thought of just leaving it there? What happens if your RRIF GIC matures without a maturity instruction, will it sit there in the matured GIC not paying interest, or will they at least renew it to a 30-day cashable GIC? Would that work as a potential alternative to no savings account and have you considered just leaving it at Oaken? Their rates seem relatively decent these days.

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
Oaken is useless for my purposes.
I require both a one-year or 18-mo. and an RIF savings acct. but if I can't get anywhere with motus, I will put it in savings RIF at Hubert and maybe transfer some out later for the GIC

Is that, in part, due to your desired RRIF payment frequency (i.e., semi-annually)?

I suspect the reason Motus doesn't have the forms online is because they don't want you go be able to access them without passing through an "advisor" first - except that there seems to be a shortage of them.  

That's a good assumption. I'd hoped this was a mere mortgage and deposit book loan growth play, but it could well be that Motus intends on making a play for investments (i.e., mutual funds, VirtualWealth robo-advisor service, Qtrade, etc.). You can probably confirm this, but I suspect Meridian advisors have tried to peddle mutual funds and/or some other investment/service to you, eh?

So, currently, your RRIF is at Oaken, but due to both the lack of an 18-month GIC and a RRIF Savings account, it needs to move. Ideally, you'd prefer Motus due to their 1-year RRIF GIC and RRIF Savings account (with competitive rates, at least for now), but will move to Hubert if Motus doesn't get its act together, right?

Cheers,
Doug