SImplii Financial - 3.0% Interest on New Deposits until February 28, 2018 | Page 7 | Simplii Financial | Discussion forum

Sorry, originally posted here in error.

gipper said
Without a doubt, from all the online banks, Simplii has to be the most difficult to deal with. I'm an old PCF account holder, and trying to add a link to transfer a large sum to Simplii from other banks is next to impossible. not interested in small amounts that they allow by Interac or ATMs.
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The Simpii HISA can accept electronic direct deposits and deposits at a CIBC ATM.

One could deposit a cheque drawn on the account at the other bank.

If the other bank also supports linked accounts, then one can link the Simplii HISA at the other bank and push funds at the other bank into the account.

Shame on President's Choice.
Notice that the blog indicate 3% without the asterisk- the large print giveth and the small print taketh away.
There is a big problem with the fine print.
If you think you are getting a daily interest of 3%, you're wrong!!!
You're going to love this- this is the new banking.... the interest is the average daily balance over the full period, so it isn't calculated daily it's over the full period.... so if you started with a balance of $10,000. and added $10,000. in the first month, but at the beginning of the third month you needed the $20,000 for a medical emergency, then at the end of 4 months your average daily balance would be zero ($10,000.+$10,000.-$10,000.-$10,000.) so you'd get no interest for keeping $10,000. in the account for 2 months.
Scenario 2: You put the money in at the end of the third month- you get an equivalent of 3/4% (3%x(1 month)/(4 months)), so every day that you wait to put your money into the account is a day that the proposed 3 % interest is decreased. The only way to get 3% is to have the extra money in the account for the full 4 months- any days less means you do not get the 3%
Would you consider this a scam, given the deceptive nature?

Winnie said
From Simplii 3% "Legal":
1. The Promotional Interest is calculated on the portion of the Eligible Savings Account’s average daily closing balance during the Offer Period that exceeds the closing balance as at October 31, 2017 ...

From Simplii current regular 1% interest rate:
Interest is calculated on the daily closing balance ...

So, that additional 2% interest will be calculated on the average daily closing balance during the whole Offer Period.  

Sounds like a scam. Glad I didn't sign up.

I am the primary holder of my own HISA and my wife is the primary holder of the joint HISA.
Does each account have 500000 max limit ? or is the 500000 applies to both accounts?

Thanks

Norman,
1) There would be a lengthy withholding period for a $500,000 cheque to clear.
2) Why the hell would I want to make a deposit to a Simplii checking act when I'm only interested in the 3% promo?
My point was that Simplii does not allow direct transfers from HISA accounts of other online banks. They only allow transfers from checking accounts which take time to set up, and could delay the overall transfer time.

Bill said
Winnie/Rick, I don't see what you're seeing - help me see how this is a problem/scam. The calculations have been discussed earlier in this thread and I don't remember it was concluded there was subterfuge, aside from the fact some compounding is lost (minimal effect).  

Do you mean these calculations by Norman1?:
For example, the interest for a three-day period with daily closing balances b1, b2, and b3:

(b1 * 2%/365) + (b2 * 2%/365) + (b3 * 2%/365)
= (b1 + b2 + b3) * 2%/365
= (b1 + b2 + b3) * 1 * 2%/365
= (b1 + b2 + b3) * 3/3 * 2%/365
= (b1 + b2 + b3) / 3 * 3 * 2%/365
= (average of b1, b2, and b3) * 3 * 2%/365
= (average of b1, b2, and b3) * 2%/365 * 3

Are you kidding me? Even Tang interest calculations aren't that complicated. I'm not an accountant, just an ex bus driver. Here's my calculation for monthly interest at Motive - amount X interest rate divided by 365 X days in the month. Easy-Peasey. I have to do 120 calculations to figure out interest not paid until the end of the promo? Not likely. On top of that, the word "average in the T&C is bothersome, unless I misunderstand the meaning of the word average. How would that affect an account that had significant withdrawals/deposits every day/week/month?
I went against my better judgement and applied to yet another bank to take advantage of a promo. Within days I regretted my decision after reading the posts in this forum. These are the issues that concerned me.
1) Took 3 weeks after initial application to even hear from them. When I finally did, there was at least another week or more before the account would be opened.
2) Can't apply for a joint account until initial account is up and running, which means it would be even longer before it was fully set up with joint status and checks. How can you properly determine eligibility for an overdraft on a joint account when you only take into account the credit rating of the initial applicant?
3) Go to the post office...seriously??? It's not 1968. What kind of "on-line" only bank requires me to even leave home to confirm my identity.
4) Can't fully link with other banks to push and pull from either side.
5) MAIL??? in a void cheque to link? Again, it's not 1968. I e-mailed a void check at one of my other banks and had it linked within the hour.
6) Simplii pays and posts interest on the last day of each month, calculated until the second to last day of each month. WHAT!!!??? WHY??? Just simplii (sic) no need for that. Another complication I don't need to deal with.
7) Their regular interest rate is 1% which means I will be chasing rates or hoping they will keep offering promos. Tang is all I can handle in that department.
8) Only CIBC ATM's are "ding-free"? Not interested if that's true.
9) Several examples in this thread of mis-information or conflicting information by CSR's. Not a good sign. May improve in the future as they become more familiar with their own rules, but not a good start.
10) Tang lost all my registered business after ING because of poor rates, new fees and lousy service. Probably not a good idea to start a new relationship with an institution that has all three of those boxes checked to start off.

Their whole system of operating an "on-line" bank service seems more like a snake-oil salesman or sleight of hand designed to confuse and confound, somehow to their benefit. Is that a scam? Maybe not, but looking at all those reasons, I'm still glad I didn't follow through and open an account with them.
Besides all that, as I posted earlier in this thread, I already deal with 4 other FI's. That's enough. How many is too many and how many do you patronize? Just curious...no one answered last time I asked.

tc, I didn't look right now but my recollection of the t&c is that the limit applies to accounts where you are the primary holder.

Update: I just looked at post #7 here, it has your answer.

Bill said
tc, I didn't look right now but my recollection of the t&c is that the limit applies to accounts where you are the primary holder.

Update: I just looked at post #7 here, it has your answer.  

Thanks Bill,
In short,I get 500k and my wife (being the primary holder of the joint account) also gets 500k limit.
Is that your understanding?

Bill said

Winnie/Rick, I don't see what you're seeing - help me see how this is a problem/scam. The calculations have been discussed earlier in this thread and I don't remember it was concluded there was subterfuge, aside from the fact some compounding is lost (minimal effect).  

Bill, at this point I'm not sure if this is a problem/scam, when that additional 2% interest will be calculated on the average daily closing balance during the whole Offer Period.

That additional 2% interest in March 2018 should be exactly 2 times of the regular 1% interest received during 120 days promo. It is my very simple calculation formula for Simplii "Get 3%" promotion.

If Simplii average calculation will be less than double of the total regular interest, I will contact Simplii and at that time this promo can be declared a problem/scam.