Strange experience of New Account Opening for 6% | Simplii Financial | Discussion forum

zgic said
I currently do not have any idea what to do with Simplii Financial
1. I opened a new HISA to get the 6% for 5 months. The online application was in the end successful but the debit card initial deposit failed.
2. Got an email saying wait for next steps.
3. Got 2 emails saying I was enrolled with only the last 4 digits.
So I tried to see how I can now create an account or login if 1 was already created for me, strange as the site asks for a debit card for login or registration.
For me the MAIN criteria for continuing with an online bank is NO calls.
But I HAD to call to find out what is going on?
The CSR tried to find my account, eventually found it and says I need to wire the funds. I told him I never wired any money before and would not do especially a BIG amount. He said linking the accounts in Simplii is VERY difficult and that he would NOT advise that to me. Again strange and he said it would be only small amount transfers...
Would not give me the account#, and he called back to give me the details.
So I do NOT understand what this process is all about. I don't think I will get a debit card as I only opened a HISA. But the CSR said i should.
But my countdown for 6% for 5 months already started yesterday Feb 29th.

Anyone here had similar experience in opening a new HISA with Simplii and could you please let me know what I am supposed to do now??  

"Large amount"? Don't ever make your initial deposit be a large amount. My initial deposits are typically $100, or whatever the minimum is to qualify for any new client bonus promotions, if any.

I hope you haven't potentially squandered your one-time Simplii Financial new client bonus ($400) because of a botched account opening, though, and just for a temporary HISA promotion. I've never dealt with Simplii Financial, but if I do, I'd be very methodical about my account opening approach.

Did you provide a SIN or name and date of birth? The latter may result in their system not being able to identify you, or the large amount might've triggered a secondary review.

Not having dealt with Simplii Financial, but anecdotally, I have heard they and CIBC may use offshore contact centres. Their agents may be new and poorly trained. Or, their agents may have limited ability to go off-script, which contributed to your poor experience.

Cheers,
Doug

The long and short of it is that you will receive a bank/debit card in the mail about 10-15 days later. You have to use this to continue to the process of accessing your account online. Then you can start the process of linking external accounts.

This last part is best to go online, get and complete the form, then call in to have them create a secure email for you to upload the form and required documents, to expedite the account linking. Otherwise, you have to use snail mail, which takes longer and is error prone. It will then take them several days to activate the links.

Slow process, so you have to have patience.

I just did this in Jan. Not simple.

zgic said

Thanks smayer97.
So will I get a bank/debit card for just the HISA. I did not open a chequing account.
Also my countdown for 6% already started on 29Feb, so I will get this rate only after I am able to deposit some money after this lengthy process.
Will wait and see.  

can u not linked an FI to it ? If so, you sb ableto fund it much sooner ?
Still not know why a simple EFT initial funding would fail tho.

I've noticed that several Financial Institutions make it hard to get cash in and out of promotional accounts (like withdrawal limits and/or fees), or to get HISA accounts at all, unless the client also has a chequing account to move money through. And those accounts carry monthly fees!

Yes, the debit/bank card is needed before anything else can happen as that is their way to valid you as a customer. It applies even if all you have is a HISA.

You can pull funds into a HISA but cannot push out. You do need a chequing account for that. Thankfully, it is a no fee account.

Though it took weeks, start to finish, to set up and fund the promo account, I am still left with at least 4+ months of the promo. Just be sure to take advantage of calling in and having them you their secured email to get the external accounts links. This will shorten the time considerably.

I am unaware of any restrictions but I have not tried personally. Someone else may chime in with experience, or you should call Simplii to confirm.

Their banking info is Transit 30800, Bank/Branch 010.

zgic said

I got the Simplii debit card and I could link my EQ bank account to Simplii HISA. FIs   

May I ask how you are doing this? I thought you had to submit a cheque to Simplii in order to set up a link from Simplii's end. Is there a form that you obtain from EQ to upload to Simplii? Thanks in advance.

zgic said

I have created the external account link in EQ.
 

Thank you for sharing. The issue is that if you pull from EQ, your funds will be subject to the 5 business day hold. I would love to be able to push from Simplii but cannot do so. I believe someone else has done this - just not sure how.