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Email this5:08 pm
January 30, 2009
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"Whether it is great savings rates or free unlimited daily banking, President's Choice Financial® continues to offer banking that's refreshingly simple, convenient and designed to save you money.
During our 15 years in business, we've† helped millions of Canadians save over $1.8 billion in daily banking fees! We'd be delighted to help you, too.
Need another reason to save with us?
Right now earn 2.6% interest until July 15th, 2013 on new deposits combined across any of these accounts*:
Interest Plus™ Savings
Interest First® Savings Account
No Fee Bank Account "
This starts tomorrow (April 15) and beats ING's current 2.5% promotional offer. It's also interesting that the promo applies to the No Fee Bank Account (previous promotions did not). This applies to both new, and existing accounts (for new deposits only).
10:27 pm
February 22, 2013
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The page with all the terms and conditions is here.
Greg
5:14 pm
January 30, 2009
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Well Greg, the terms and conditions are a bit difficult to decipher.
I just spoke with a PC Financial representative. A few things to note:
1. Whatever you had in your PC accounts on April 14 will not be eligible for the promotional interest. So, let's say I had $100,000 in my account April 14, then April 15, I deposit $10. I would make 1.35% on the $100,000 and 2.6% on the $10.
2. Withdrawing and redepositing the $100,000 wouldn't work to get the interest because you had that amount in your account April 14 (so if you were loyal to PC Financial and kept your money there, you are out of luck for the bonus interest on a large chunk of your money).
3. The bonus interest will be paid out in July. You will continue to make the 1.35% paid out monthly on your deposits, but you need to wait until July to get the other 1.25% for the 3 months of promotional offer. (This differs from ING's current 2.5% offer which is paid out in full at the end of every month.)
4. The interest is calculated on the average daily closing balance across all of your non-registered PC Financial accounts and paid out, as I mentioned, in July.
So, bottom line, if you had most of your money in ING before their promotional offer, I would move it to PC FInancial. If you had most of your money in PC Financial before their promotional offer, I would move it to ING. If you had all of your money somewhere else, then you have a choice to make.
Remember both PCF and ING are covered by CDIC so if you are worried about such things, keep your balances under $100,000 at each institution.
7:55 pm
January 30, 2009
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One more thing: when talking with the PCF representative, she said that I as an existing customer, I have to 'enrol' with her to get the promotional offer. This is not mentioned in the terms and conditions and I'm not sure if this is a marketing ploy (she asked additional information when I told her I would like to enrol). Anyway, I guess it's worth calling to be sure you will get the promotional offer at PCF. It all seems overly complicated to me.
7:58 pm
January 23, 2013
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James said
One more thing: when talking with the PCF representative, she said that I as an existing customer, I have to 'enrol' with her to get the promotional offer. This is not mentioned in the terms and conditions and I'm not sure if this is a marketing ploy (she asked additional information when I told her I would like to enrol). Anyway, I guess it's worth calling to be sure you will get the promotional offer at PCF. It all seems overly complicated to me.
Again, I have to call? I'm going to stick to ING then. Thanks for mentioning.
9:36 pm
February 22, 2013
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Yes - you have to call or stop at a kiosk to "register" your account. Beats me why.
In early March I moved a large chunk to PC Financial for their 2% promotion that runs till May 31st. Then in early April I pulled it and moved it to ING for their 2.5% promotion that runs till June 30th. I bitched and moaned here about my renewed frustrations with PC Financial.
Yesterday when I heard about their 2.6% till July 15th, I considered whether or not it made sense to move back from ING.
The difference between 2.5% and 2.6% is a little under 3 cents per day per $10,000 on deposit. If someone had $100,000 eligible for the 2.5% at ING then moving it to PC Financial for the period from June 30th to July 15th would be worth a little more than $4.00, and likely a little less due to the day or two the money would be in transit.
I am not sure the real trick would be to make sure one has NO money in an ING or PC Financial HISA at the end of a bonus period so one could make a new deposit for the beginning of the next bonus period. June 30th is the end of ING's 2.5%. So I may pull my money from ING on June 28th, making the assumption they will start a new bonus period July 1st.
Greg
11:41 am
February 16, 2013
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Well, I just had an interesting phonecall. Yesterday, I placed a request to transfer funds out of my CDF account (currently at 1.9%) so that I could take advantage of the PC Financial offer. CDF called me today and offered to match their rate with a 90 day GIC for 2.6%! I was pleasantly surprised and did not refuse.
Cheers,
MG
10:29 am
December 29, 2009
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just wondering how many banks and credit union dropped there rates and pc financial 2.6% ing bank 2.5%. where are these 2 banks getting the money to raise there rates when the other 8 banks and credit unions dropped there rates.
7:48 am
March 2, 2013
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Simple --- it is a teaser rate. They offer the 2.5% only on new money (not existing funds on deposit) and after the three months revert you back to a sub-par rate well below what the virtual credit unions offer. This is an old bait & switch game from ING & PC.
10:09 am
December 29, 2009
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what is stopping me from just thowing my money in there for 3 months and just switching it back to my other account that just pays more interest. does pc financial think that after 3 months your just going to leave it in at 1.35%. it does not make any sense to me
11:31 am
February 22, 2013
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doc said
what is stopping me from just thowing my money in there for 3 months and just switching it back to my other account that just pays more interest. does pc financial think that after 3 months your just going to leave it in at 1.35%. it does not make any sense to me
Many people are the victims of their own inertia. I have accounts with half a dozen institutions and move my money to wherever the best rate is being offered. It takes work that some folks are simply not able or willing to do.
Greg
4:44 pm
December 17, 2012
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James said
One more thing: when talking with the PCF representative, she said that I as an existing customer, I have to 'enrol' with her to get the promotional offer. This is not mentioned in the terms and conditions and I'm not sure if this is a marketing ploy (she asked additional information when I told her I would like to enrol). Anyway, I guess it's worth calling to be sure you will get the promotional offer at PCF. It all seems overly complicated to me.
As you say the terms and conditions don't mention that, and the promo email I got makes no mention of enrolling. Also it says "Don't delay, make a deposit today!", implying (though not stating) that the rate would apply to deposits made immediately. I think they would be in a heap of trouble if they said all of this and then in the end say "Oh, well we didn't tell you this but you had to enrol." So I'm thinking that if there's anything sneaky going on, it's with the reps making you think that you have to sign up... maybe they get some kind of commission? Or there could be a simple misunderstanding somewhere? I think it must be that you don't need to enrol! ???
7:04 pm
January 30, 2009
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Hey m,
What happened was, I called to ask about how the interest was calculated on that offer because I needed to compare to ING's offer. After the rep answered these questions, I thanked her and she said 'Wait, so do you want me to enrol you for this promotional offer?'. I said 'What do you mean enrol? It doesn't say I have to enrol anywhere. Are you telling me that if I don't enrol, I don't get the promotional offer?'. She said 'Yes, that's right. You must enrol to get the bonus interest'!
I agree their legal standing for not giving the bonus rate to those who don't enrol would be dubious.
7:59 am
January 30, 2009
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MG,
Very interesting that CDF offered to match PCF's rate with a 90 day GIC. I actually asked ING to do this for me and they refused. I wonder if CDF would match the offer for new clients.
7:56 am
February 16, 2013
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James,
After my positive experience with CDF, I also called my "Big Bank" and told them I was thinking of moving my money to PCF to take advantage of their 2.6% offer. My Bank counteroffered with a 90 day GIC for 2.5% which again I accepted. Even though it is 0.1% lower, it saved me the trouble of moving the funds. This points out that it never hurts to ask...
Regards,
MG
11:26 am
May 27, 2013
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Hi everyone, first time poster here.
The topic about having to "enroll" or "register" your account in order to quality for their promotional interest rate scared me, so I decided to join this forum and I gave PCF a call a few minutes ago.
The representative on the line told me no enrolling or registering was needed, and that their promotional interest rate would automatically be applied to any new funds deposited to my account.
I'm not sure if anyone else has called them to confirm for themselves but this is what they told me today.
5:12 pm
January 30, 2009
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Hey, welcome to the forum Gino!
Were you an existing PC customer before you called to inquire or did you just start up with them? I was an existing customer - maybe that makes a difference?
8:33 am
May 28, 2013
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Hi - another newbie here.
I too had deposited money with my exisiting PCF account a month ago, and was concerned with a possible requirement to 'enrol' after reading this forum. Turns out this is not needed, as I just confirmed over the phone with a PCF rep. They assure me that no additional enrolment is required for existing accounts.
The extra interest is paid out AFTER July 15, with a delay of a week or two. Presumably this means I can take my cash back out of my PCF account and move it back to Hubert after July 15. I'm sure not going to leave it at PCF to earn a very low rate!
10:34 am
February 22, 2013
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One thing I have been thinking about is the "roll over" effect. The current PCFin offering was rolled over from the previous one. And, if memory serves me correctly, the end date of the previous offering was one day before the start of the new offering. So, if one were to leave ones money till the "last day" one would miss having a low balance at he start of the next offering.
I currently have my cash at ING (their current offering ends June 30th). I have been considering moving that money June 28th to PCFin with the possibility of moving it back to ING for the start of their next offering (assuming they will re-do the offer). The current offerings at both PCFin and ING do not appear to have a requirement to keep the cash in place till the end date. They just "bonus up" their current interest rate.
Greg
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