Oaken Savings Account rate change | Page 2 | Oaken Financial | Discussion forum

blake said:
"But I can’t get my head around a non registered HISA and non registered GIC each having there own CDIC coverage. I thought that all non registered funds were only covered up to $100,000."

To further clarify and hopefully add something to what cgouimet posted, one can have with Oaken a non-registered Home Bank account which has a hisa and GIC's. The sum of the hisa and the GIC's is CDIC protected up to the $100,000 limit. The same thing is true with Home Trust. The non-registered hisa and GIC's are not CDIC insured separately.

I also have a Home Bank TFSA which is separately CDIC insured from my other two Oaken accounts. I could also open a Home Trust TFSA and it would be CDIC insured from my other 3 Oaken accounts. And so forth.

So I like Oaken because of the two CDIC entities and the generally good rates. But a problem that others have mentioned is that there is no hisa that is available inside the TFSA. So I have to reinvest or withdraw the money at maturity. I do complain to the customer service people who apologize but the apology is useless. I opened another TFSA with CIBC Investor's Edge and they have no problem with have a place for cash in the TFSA. That cash does not earn interest but it gives me time to organize my thoughts and act when I am ready.

cgoiumet wrote:
"That CIBC HISA TFSA ...
Can you use that as a linked external funding source and redemption destination on creation of the Oaken TFSA GIC or do you have to have to redeem and add to your TFSA with the associated CRA year-end timing issues?"

My CIBCIE TFSA account is just an investment account. So there is a place for cash. I would not call it a savings account as no interest is paid on the money deposited. I opened it as my second TFSA in early 2021 as I was unhappy with the GIC rates offered by Oaken then and because of their lack of a TFSA savings account. The money deposited to the CIBCIE TFSA in 2021 and again in 2022 was used to purchase preferred shares. The quarterly dividends paid I either withdraw (mostly) or accumulate for reinvestment (as I did in July with $500 accumulated in just over 3 months). I am comfortable with this type of investment but I know it is not for everyone.

So this is not away to get around the lack of an Oaken TFSA savings account. My CIBCIE TFSA is just linked to my CIBC chequing account and my non-registered Investor's EDGE account. The two TFSA I have are independent of each other. I do not believe I can link the two but I have never tried.

I recently had an 18 month GIC mature in my Oaken TFSA. I called Oaken to give instructions because I decided 5 year at 5% was okay and I wanted to reestablish a 5 year ladder so I also wanted a 4 year GIC. Of course, the 18 month GIC had been set up to roll over into another 18 month GIC. That was not my choice. I would have been happier with a place for my maturing GIC cash to just sit. Other than the Oaken CSR not asking if I wanted annual pay it was a reasonable experience. I called again two times because I wanted to choose annual pay GIC's and this has been somewhat unsatisfactory to resolve. I find it easy to keep track of the TFSA amounts withdrawn. I then reinvest them next year along with the new contribution room.