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Email this10:40 am
December 23, 2011
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I recently opened an online account with Oaken by their invitation as a result of having an RRSP GIC with them. Not so much to bank there but to be able to see my RRSP investments. Yesterday, much to my surprise, I received a statement in the mail for the savings account. The statement as confirmed with Oaken will only show the Savings Account and no investments as they mail a certificate for your investment and you can view them online. I recall reading here that there was a $2 service fee for statements, which quite simply, I will not pay. If there is an online free option, that is ok with me. If there is an option to create your own statement by choosing dates, that too is ok with me. (I also wonder what the minimum legal requirements, if any, are in place to supply a statement.) If the only option is to pay a fee, I will either cancel the savings account and only have registered investments which will likely pose a problem for me to have a RRIF with them (unless I control the amounts to withdraw by purchasing GICS in the amount of the minimal withdrawal required). The $2 fee is just a money grab!!! From their perspective "it might just only be $2" but $2 times Telus x3, BMO, Utilities x 4, plus, plus, is $20 a month!!!!
BUT I was not charged the $2 fee so I asked about it and here is part of their reply "Oaken Financial does charge a $2 statement fee, however at this current time, we are not charging the account. We reserve the right in the future to potentially charge the account in the future. We will notify you of any changes." I also called in regards to some other information that I needed and was satisfied with the call and as usual they asked if there was anything else that I needed help for and I mentioned the $2 fee and was advised that they have not made a decision and all they know is what I have highlighted above.
I would appreciate any thoughts on Oakens "in the cards" plan of a $2.00 fee and other work arounds that you may have used elsewhere.
While I am venting 
it really appears that a huge portion of Canada Posts' revenue has been lost to the internet. While I have succumbed to it, I am beginning to feel that perhaps it is safer to receive information by email and then log on to "an account" to access my statement vs information sitting 1/2 a block a way in a poorly secured box supplied by Canada Post of which they will take no responsibility for theft from it. And so many other companies and advertisers require you to to have internet access. Will there be a day when you or I are not capable "in mind" to use the internet, cant afford the internet, don't want to trust someone else to access your information for you on the internet....then what.....all back in the mail? While we consumers of the internet wanted to use it for "our use" big business has turned it back on us as a requirement to be their customer.
ps. I "thought" I could spell too!!!
6:40 am
February 22, 2013
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Kanaka:
Ah, I see a new business opportunity.
Folks will open businesses to logon to your accounts, download your electronic only statements and print them and mail you the copy, all for only $2 per statement.
For anyone not doing Government of Canada Direct Deposit be aware of the following statement that showed up on a recent notice I received from Canada Revenue Agency:
All Government of Canada cheqeues are being phased out by April of 2016. To enrol for direct deposit, or to update your banking information, go to http://www.cra.gc.ca/directdeposit.
No mention was made of what to do if you do not have Internet access. Surfing to that page does tell you where to go to get paper forms.
GS
11:00 am
December 12, 2009
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GS said
Kanaka:
Ah, I see a new business opportunity.
Folks will open businesses to logon to your accounts, download your electronic only statements and print them and mail you the copy, all for only $2 per statement.
For anyone not doing Government of Canada Direct Deposit be aware of the following statement that showed up on a recent notice I received from Canada Revenue Agency:
All Government of Canada cheqeues are being phased out by April of 2016. To enrol for direct deposit, or to update your banking information, go to http://www.cra.gc.ca/directdeposit.
No mention was made of what to do if you do not have Internet access. Surfing to that page does tell you where to go to get paper forms.
GS
As a banker and taxpayer, I wholly applaud this initiative. Then-Public Works and Government Services Minister Rona Ambrose (when it was announced in 2012, I believe) said over 75% of Government of Canada payments were made via direct deposit. Increasing that to well over 90-95% would save an additional $20 million annually as the average cost to issue a direct deposit is about 0.18 versus well over $1.50 per item when you factor in postage and handling costs (my numbers could be somewhat off, so don't quote me).
To be rather blunt, there are a lot of curmudgeonly, "stuck-in-their-ways" old farts (not you, Greg, you're very tech savvy who I'm sure gets all his banking & investment statements electronically, pays his bills electronically and you've said you even use RBC Direct Investing, which is impressive) that have refused to accept direct deposit. The worst offenders actually hang on to their CPP, OAS and GST cheques (issued monthly and quarterly, respectively) for many months until they have a use for the money for no other conceivable reason other than they like to tangibly exchange a paper cheque for cash, when the same objective could be achieved by directly depositing the funds into a savings account not linked to their debit card and transferring funds over to their operating/current account on an "as needed" basis!
Anyway, enough of my "rant"...Then-PWGSC Minister Ambrose (which is also the Minister that serves as Receiver General for Canada, or the holder of the federal government's purse) had said what would happen to those that hadn't signed up for direct deposit by the final deadline of April 2016. While the details hadn't been specifically hammered out, essentially, the Government of Canada will "hold back" any monetary amounts due to a person or corporation that hasn't signed up for direct deposit by that date in an account for that person and paid out electronically once they do sign up. The only exception are those in remote communities without access to a financial institution branch within a certain number of kilometres (it's unclear if provincially-regulated credit union branches are included within that calculation), such as a distance greater than 100 kilometres.
As for charging for statements, I don't mind this practice and have grown to encourage it. As long as they offer a free PDF eStatement alternative, that's all that matters. I'm sure Oaken Financial offers this. I wouldn't worry about it. Remember: paper statements can be and are destroyed by home fires!
Cheers,
Doug
8:12 am
February 22, 2013
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It takes about 50 years to make the sort of changes we are seeing.
When I was in my 40's and debit cards were being introduced I carefully evaluated the idea and decided it wasn't for me. I spoke with my parents who were in their 60's then and they said there was no way they would ever get such a card. My daughter who was in her late teens went to get a bank account and came home and showed my what all she had done and when she got to her debit card I said, oh, you decided to get a debit card" and she said, "wasn't I supposed to, they just told me I needed it".
My parents are both gone now, I continue to not use a debit card and my daughter uses her (presumably wisely). in 30 more years, I, too, will be out of "the system" and so "everyone" will then be using a debit card.
My 90 year old aunt's peers still go to the bank to get their books marked up because that is what you needed to do in the 1930's to make sure your money was safe and secure.
The 'curmudgeonly, "stuck-in-their-ways" old farts' (with whom I closely associate) are generally doing stuff because that is what they were trained to do by their parents. See this link for more detail.
Greg
9:46 am
December 23, 2011
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To be categorized as a curmudgeon, old fart or technically challenged you really need to know that person and their background, before you bring out your paint brush!
Technology is relatively new and since it seems it is very difficult to rob a bank, the dishonest folks have focused on stealing information at ATMs or debit card devices and so on. So prudence in the use of technology is a wise choice.
I also remain, that charging 2, 3 or 4 dollars for a statement is purely out of greed. The cost of a statement should remain as a part of doing business. BUT if a business wants to offer a an email notice to obtain a PDF statement and the business will give you a 2, 3 or 4 dollar credit for doing so, I would accept that. And likely the latter would create a more amiable relationship between the business and customer and is much fairer to all. For you folks that accept surcharges are you willing for Home Depot to charge you a dollar to produce your receipt and if you live in BC, an additional enviro fee??
Personally, I like getting the online version of a statement as you get them faster and more secure than left in a Canada Post mail box. Of which some have a fee to mail and some do not.
I too, own a number of debit/ATM cards and can tell you that over the years my wife and I have, at the most, only used them for a purchase 3 or 4 times. There are far more benefits and securty features to use a credit card over a debit card.
If Oaken applies, the 2 dollar statement fee without a free option, I will cancel the banking portion of doing business with them which will likely hinder having any RRIF business with them. But would continue to have RRSP GIC's with them if their rates are competitive.
3:24 pm
July 14, 2014
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My name is Benjy Katchen. I am the Vice President of Deposits for Home Trust and I lead the Oaken Financial business. I would like to respond to all of the comments about the $2 paper statement fee.
When we launched Oaken Financial in late 2013, our intent was to both offer a competitive alternative in terms of rates, but also to provide clarity and transparency that we believe is missing amongst Canadian financial institutions. Many bank accounts that offer free monthly paper statements either charge monthly account fees, offer very low interest rates, or require minimum balances. Oaken financial requires none of these! In fact it offers one of the highest savings rates amongst CDIC member institutions. Furthermore, we are quite serious about our "No teaser rates or complicated promotions" advertising campaign that we currently have in the marketplace.
Last month we launched Oaken online banking. Customers can easily download thirteen months of transaction history. At a later date we will be putting our actual statements online. When we do that, we would like to recover the cost of postage and handling in order to continue providing great rates to all customers without offering teasers or promotions just to some. We will only consider doing this when we are certain that our statements are easily available for free online. Rather than sneakily add a fee later, we thought that it would be fairer to our customer to be transparent and up front about it when they open their accounts. That way there are no surprises down the road.
8:58 pm
December 23, 2011
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bkatchen said
My name is Benjy Katchen. I am the Vice President of Deposits for Home Trust and I lead the Oaken Financial business. I would like to respond to all of the comments about the $2 paper statement fee.
When we launched Oaken Financial in late 2013, our intent was to both offer a competitive alternative in terms of rates, but also to provide clarity and transparency that we believe is missing amongst Canadian financial institutions. Many bank accounts that offer free monthly paper statements either charge monthly account fees, offer very low interest rates, or require minimum balances. Oaken financial requires none of these! In fact it offers one of the highest savings rates amongst CDIC member institutions. Furthermore, we are quite serious about our "No teaser rates or complicated promotions" advertising campaign that we currently have in the marketplace.
Last month we launched Oaken online banking. Customers can easily download thirteen months of transaction history. At a later date we will be putting our actual statements online. When we do that, we would like to recover the cost of postage and handling in order to continue providing great rates to all customers without offering teasers or promotions just to some. We will only consider doing this when we are certain that our statements are easily available for free online. Rather than sneakily add a fee later, we thought that it would be fairer to our customer to be transparent and up front about it when they open their accounts. That way there are no surprises down the road.
Thanks Benjy. That is a reasonable compromise and explanation. As you can see some of us are concerned about the never ending fees, taxes and surcharges are eroding our after tax dollars. This is something that needed to be clarified for peace of mind to allow us to prepare for future deposits and I hope you can pass this commitment on to your folks on the frontline who respond to emails and answer the phone. I have found the folks to be very helpful.
5:37 am
August 13, 2013
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hey dudes, I'm a "curmudgeonly, stuck-in-my-ways, old fart" ... you got a problem with that?
So while I'm looking around, looking for something to be curmudgeonly about, my experience yesterday at Canadian Blood Services comes to mind, but this isn't the right forum for that .. maybe another time.
10:21 am
September 5, 2013
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I have some experience with HomeTrust/Oaken, PeopleTrust, Canadian Direct Finance, PCFinancial, Canadian Tire, Hulbert, etc. The first three of them are the best. They have good responses and offer the high interest rate without my hidden charges. Personally, I think charging $2 for a paper statement is reasonable if someone needs it. We need to support these low cost financial firms so that the big six cannot hold us hostages. Just look at big three telco, and you will know what I mean.
5:06 pm
August 5, 2014
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Brimelychen, we have to support the competition that pays high interest rates to us or we will always get less and less interest even if or when interest rates rise.
Every financial institution can have problems with customers but how their service and policies are corrected is what matters.
You have to compare the overall costs and benefits to see if it is worth doing business with Oaken or others.
Please write your comments in the forum.