Concerning Terms of Service at Neo Financial | Neo Financial | Discussion forum

I have decided not to sign up with Neo Financial after reading through their “Neo High-Interest Savings Account Agreement” which was last updated on December 4th, 2023 (https://legal.neo.cc/neo-hisa-agreement).

There are several particulars in their Agreement which I’ve not seen before with other financial institutions and make me uncomfortable and make Neo seem sketchy:

18. Clearing, settlement and payment

We may make available through Third Party Service Providers,
services such as EFT or other features that are used for, among other
things, sending or receiving payments. We will not be responsible for
any errors that may occur during the performance of these third-party
services, nor will we be responsible for any loss, theft, destruction, or
delay in delivery of any Instrument while in process or in the

possession of another financial institution or other third party. If an
Instrument for payment presented on your behalf by us or a third party
to another financial institution is refused, or if the other financial
institution does not provide payment, you will remain responsible to us
for the amount of the Instrument that we have credited to your
Account.

If it's refused or the other financial institution doesn't provide payment, then why would a client still owe Neo money? Isn't that what hold periods are for in the first place?!!!

22. Information requests

[. . .]

From time to time, we may have to respond to requests or demands
from third parties seeking documents or other information relating to
your Account. You will pay our costs of complying with court orders,
warrants, summons to witnesses, subpoenas, or statutory demands,
or responding to any legal proceeding in which we are asked to
provide copies of your financial information or records. The costs we
may charge include reasonable legal fees, service provider fees, fees
for administrative time and copy charges.

Why should clients have to pay for third-party-initiated access requests? So, for example, if the government requests info about my account I have to pay to provide it?!!! Seriously?!

25. Indemnity

You, your heirs, and your estate representatives indemnify and save
harmless us and each of our directors, officers, custodians, agents,
and employees from and against all liabilities of any nature
whatsoever (including all expenses reasonably incurred in the defense
thereof) that may at any time be incurred by any of us, or be brought
against us by any person, regulatory authority, or government
authority, and that may in any way arise out of or be connected in any
with this Account Agreement. If we are entitled to and make any claim
under this indemnity, we may pay the claim from your Account. If there
are not sufficient funds in your Account, you agree to personally pay
the amount of the claim and we may apply monies held for you in any
other account with us or any affiliate, other than a registered
retirement savings plan or registered retirement income fund, to
eliminate or reduce such claim.

You agree that Neo is entitled to the same rights of indemnity from you
as we have in this section.

So, if "anyone", including the government pursues legal action against Neo or has a dispute with them then I have to pay--even if I'm not not one who started the legal action?!!

26. Liability for forgeries

In addition to the above, you acknowledge that we will not, under any circumstance, be liable to you for any loss, even if we are notified within the time periods required by this Account Agreement (under ‘Online Account transaction records’), arising from:

1. a forged or unauthorized endorsement, impersonation or any
material alteration of an Instrument; or

2. Instructions we act on; unless you have established to our
satisfaction that you are not responsible for the disputed item and that
you took all reasonable steps to prevent the forgery or impersonation
and the resulting loss, and that despite that fact, the loss was
unavoidable.

You agree to cooperate fully with us in any investigation that may be
required, including any police investigation. Any liability that we may
agree to will be limited by a maximum liability equal to the amount of
the disputed item and rules established by Payments Canada in effect
at the time applicable to the forgery or material alteration including a
90 -day limitation on disputes arising from material alterations.

So, in conjunction with section 18, if bank employees for example decided to forge and cash a cheque with my signature then I'm still potentially liable to pay the bank for the amount. Also, the fact Neo leaves it up to itself to decide what is reasonable and what in terms of subsection #2 of section #26 means that it's my word against theirs and if they're doing fraud than I'm out to lunch 'cuz they wouldn't be telling the truth. All that seems a little bit too loosely-goosey for my liking.

31. Pay into court

If there is a dispute or any uncertainty about who is entitled to the
money in an Account, who is able to provide instructions on an
Account (including due to your alleged or actual incapacity or any marriage/common-law partnership breakdown), or who is legally entitled to apply for and accept payment on your death, we are entitled to either apply to court for directions or to pay the money in the Account into court and be fully discharged. In either case, unless you reside in Quebec, you will pay us any legal and other costs we incur.

So, without any proof of incapacity--just heresay--my money gets paid into court and I have to pay Neo for legal costs and other costs?! And this bit about common law relationships--what if I'm living with someone and the government mistakenly classifies us as common law but we're not?! These kinds of provisions make me uncomfortable.

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In conclusion, I'm no expert but I looked over terms for other financial institutions like EQ Bank, Motive Financial, etc. and I didn't see these kinds of provisions. This is unique to Neo as far as I know.

I don't like the idea of owning money simply for disputing something with Neo or if a third-party does or requests information. Etc. Etc. I dunno, Neo's terms as written do not fill me with ease. I'm also unhappy that their contact info was a bit hard to find; also not a great sign.

Ultimately, I'm skipping Neo.