New linking ability with other FIs | Oaken Financial | Discussion forum

Thanks for letting us know, Jen. Although I've now subscribed to the Oaken Update, since you seem to be a happy Oaken customer, would you mind sharing, in sequence, either (a) a link to the Oaken Update blog post, (b) a link to the e-mail newsletter issue (usually have an online version that's publicly available), (c) a link to the public social media post about it, or (d) a screenshot from the Oaken Update issue, for those of us that don't subscribe and/or aren't Oaken customers?

When I checked yesterday, it wasn't on the Oaken Update blog on their website yet, but Oaken did post a link on their social media pages, which had a link to the online version of the e-mail newsletter issue (https://s614839713.t.en25.com/e/es?s=614839713&e=203559&elqTrackId=c45a66e7162c45d4a3b6085c0ed86068&elq=ede9509bc6974760bc8cbef4b7caed19&elqaid=3980&elqat=1), if anyone's interested.

Have you tried linking an account yet? Any idea how it verifies your account - do they send a micro-deposit(s) to your external bank account, a micro withdrawal(s), or do you have to either send an Interac e-Transfer in from your external bank account or sign-in with your external bank account's online banking credentials (i.e., SecureKey or similar)?

Nice that you can link external bank accounts now, though, and that Oaken apparently doesn't have a limit on the number that may linked.

Cheers,
Doug

JenE said
Not being very tech competent I’m unable to link as requested by Doug. I’ve had a couple of banks linked to Oaken for 1-2 years now, but always had to initiate pulls and pushes from Oaken. Perhaps this procedure has now changed.  

Ah, okay, no worries, thanks anyway, JenE. At least Oaken is now offering an electronic linking ability of some sort.

An RFD forum thread mentioned Oaken's method uses the Flinks third-party authentication technology that EQ Bank uses. Apparently Motus Bank uses micro-deposits.

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
I don't think Motus uses microdeposits, at least not for the first linked account. There has been no evidence of that in my lengthy process of setting up an account with them and I was required to initiate a transfer-in myself from my external account as a pull from Motus.

Hubert uses the micro-deposit, and I'm pretty sure Tangerine does as well.

It's good that Oaken is allowing links to savings accounts as well as chequing.  

Thanks, Loonie...it sounds like Motus Bank uses the same embedded external online banking session to verify your external bank accounts that Oaken uses, can you confirm that?

I've heard that EQ Bank also uses the micro-deposits.

Cheers,
Doug

Can only initiate transfers at oaken end. No branch or bank number to set up at the other end.

Loonie said
I don't know what Oaken does.  

I was just quoting what JenE said and/or what I read on RFD (RedFlagDeals/Personal Finance forums).

Cheers,
Doug

toto said
Thanks for the info Doug, you are very helpful as usual! I was going on what Oaken had told me when I asked for their institution numbers, I wanted to link at tangerine end so I could pull my gic maturity to tangerine and not lose interest, but Oaken told me I couldn't do that . Now I see there is a way.  

Ah, that's weird they didn't want to give you their institution number. Hopefully, you can find out your Home Trust transit number...does it tell you your transit number on your e-Statements, by chance? If not, if you tell them you know the institution and account number, you just want to know the transit number, hopefully they'll help you.

Yeah, I usually like to pull money as well, unless I need access to it right away (i.e., hold), so I can earn interest from day 1 (even double interest for a 1-2 days sometimes!).

That being said, many banks will actually have the ability to set an "interest payment account" on the actual GIC and, often, this can be an external (EFT) account number, so Oaken might be able to specify your Tangerine Savings or Chequing account information by you phoning or e-mailing them. Worth checking out!

Cheers,
Doug

canadian.100 said

I also contacted Oaken some time ago and the agent explained they are not set up with separate coding for Oaken (from parent) so one can only link on Oaken to the other institution to do a push out of Oaken.

The coding suggested by Doug (#9) above will not work for Oaken.  

That's BS - they can do it - seems like they're kinda controlling and wanting to control all "ins" and "outs" from their end; one of those three suggested codings will work, but to ensure it doesn't end up in an unposted, manual EFT posting suspense G/L, it's best to find out which transit you're domiciled to. Keep on them; get which transit you're domiciled to.

I rarely rely on the initial, scripted information from the customer service agents. They're usually only trained in the basic operations and don't have intimate knowledge of minute procedures. I would recommend calling again, asking for a supervisor, and then calling again and again until you get someone like me (at HSBC) who knows what they're talking about. 😉

Cheers,
Doug

canadian.100 said

I did speak to the Supervisor. His pic was on the Oaken site at that time (our Team) so I knew his position and that he was definitely not a junior. Anyways, I can live without the linking done on the external acct - not a big problem for me. I realize some people want to link both ways so they can try to get some duplicate interest from a pull as opposed to a push.  

Whether he was junior or not doesn't really matter. I would still take issue with that. Oaken Financial even promotes the fact that you can have recurring pension income deposited into their savings account, which uses EFT; therefore, it can be done. 🙂

For most things, though, you're right, pushing money works. It's not a huge deal, but I just don't like it when FIs will try and say one thing to discourage something even though it's not correct. And, for toto's purposes, it would be worth investigating if they can enter an EFT account number in the "GIC (annual) interest payment account" field. If they can, then that would fully serve her needs.

Cheers,
Doug

Doug seems overly insistent that fund transfers to/fro Oaken can be initiated externally, but regrettably they cannot.

What Doug may not be aware of is that unlike most FI's, Oaken individual acc'ts are in fact subacc'ts or nominee acc'ts to a master trust acc't in the name of the FI.

Any of you familiar with the Altamira Cashperformer acc't, one of the pioneer HISA acc'ts now widely available thru brokers, was one such acc't. It originally was held @ CIBC in the name of Altamira as a master trust, while we the beneficiaries held nominee acc'ts or subacc'ts with Altamira, therefore, we the beneficiaries cannot have direct access to the master trust since it's not in our name. You can definitely set-up DD to a master trust or to anyone else's acc't if you choose, but you most definitely cannot pull money from an acc't that's not yours.

La Capitale in Quebec, whose primary business is as an insurer for the public sector I believe, runs a similar set-up whereby the master trust is held @ NBC or BMO, can't remember which.

So you see Doug, things are sometimes not as simple as they may appear.

This is offered by a third party. In my opinion it is a convenience that Oaken is offering this and perhaps less work for them BUT keep in mind letting your personal information is always a risk and more so to a third party. Oaken still offers an external link by mailing in a voided cheque.

I don’t see if this set up would allow you to push funds from your external account TO Oaken.

It appears once you logon to Oaken that the Flinks process leads you into your external account ie. RBC and then your account, transit, etc is passed to back to Oaken.