Negotiating with Tangerine on rates | Tangerine Bank | Discussion forum

Yes, it is possible. As we all know from personal experience, it's way easier to blow off someone via text than by having a verbal conversation. Try it, be positive and charming, and let us know.

My personal experience shows that Tangerine for sure understand one common language - withdrawal all the money out of Tangerine!

Honestly, as Norman said, Tang is all run by algorithms.
In the past, the only discretion that CSR has ever shown is if you threaten to move OR actually move the money. When you threaten, it SOMETIMES opens some kind of new window for them, provides a new piece of information which is entered into the mix and MAY result in a higher rate. However, it is not always the case. Typically you have to tell them where you are planning to move it and what the competing rate is before the window opens.

However, it doesn't always work. This is because they are also factoring in all kinds of other bits of info into their algorithm, which you will not be aware of or won't know their weight.

Whether you threaten to move the money or actually move it is a cr*p shoot. Sometimes you win by moving it; sometimes by not moving it. There is no consistency or predictability. It's a lottery from the consumer's perspective.

The best thing you can do is call them again later if you're not happy with their answer.

Another thing to be aware of is that they sometimes have special rates which only apply to new deposits after such-and-such date. These are temporary rates, but could be 3 to 6 months. If you have a low balance at the time that one of these offers begins, you can do very well. But if you already have your account topped up at the time, you are SOL.

window: I meant what I said in the rest of the sentence.

What do you mean by "close"? Are you saying you would close the account entirely? I see no merit in that unless you plan to never do business with the again or have more accounts with them than you need. If it's closed, why/how would they offer you anything at all? If you're gone, you're gone.
Tangerine does not require a minimum balance, if that's what you're asking.

They don't really care whether you "mean business". You can't push them into anything. They have their algorithms, and that's all that matters to them. If you meet their mysterious criteria at a given point in time, they will make you an offer. That's it. Nobody knows the real criteria, and all trials have brought inconsistent results. As I said, the best thing is to try again later. There is evidence, however, that you will be punished if you don't accept an offer from them, but even that is not 100% consistent.

It may help to move money out or to threaten to do so, but it may not. That info would just be another input into the algorithm. For a while, it was helpful to threaten to move it out, but that has not been consistent. It may be helpful again later.

One thing that may help is to keep an eye on your profile. Sometimes they make offers that they put into your profile but you wouldn't otherwise necessarily know about.

Loonie said
Honestly, as Norman said, Tang is all run by algorithms.

Again, here is my personal experience with "algorithms".
For almost a year now, my Tangerine savings account has 0 balance.
During that time I received the following promotional offers automatically from "algorithms": 3.00%, 3.50% and right now 2.95% until December 31, 2016.
No phone calls, everything was done automatically.
But, because I do not play Tangerine games anymore, my balance still remain NIL.

Interesting, Winnie, playing hard to get seems to be working for you - but good for you, you are standing on principle! Did you get those offers via email or did you see them when you signed into your Tangerine account (I rarely check my messages there)?

Loonie said

window: I meant what I said in the rest of the sentence.

Still don't know what you mean by "window", what window? I think I get the analogy used, but where is this preverbial window?

Loonie said
What do you mean by "close"? Are you saying you would close the account entirely? I see no merit in that unless you plan to never do business with the again or have more accounts with them than you need. If it's closed, why/how would they offer you anything at all? If you're gone, you're gone.
Tangerine does not require a minimum balance, if that's what you're asking.

By that I meant, to show Tangerine one would be serious about leaving, is the gesture of the threat imply that one must actually close the account and that will trigger this "algorithm" to attempt to retain you as a customer, or does the simply gesture of saying it to an agent enough for Tangerine to then offer a promo rate to a potential leaving customer.

The rest of your post does make sense to me and explains a lot , thank you.

Loonie said
One thing that may help is to keep an eye on your profile. Sometimes they make offers that they put into your profile but you wouldn't otherwise necessarily know about.

Good tip! Thanks!

Bill said

Interesting, Winnie, playing hard to get seems to be working for you - but good for you, you are standing on principle! Did you get those offers via email or did you see them when you signed into your Tangerine account (I rarely check my messages there)?

Bill, I also remember, that about 2 months ago I received via email letter from Tangerine "Please rate us. It will takes about 10 minutes." (something like that)

And, I did promptly completed their 10 minutes questionnaire.
Tangerine received all my rating as "Poor" and "Will not recommend to my friends".
In the Comments section, I stated, that savings account interest rate should be the same for all of their customers.

Probably because of my response, they offered me only 2.95% in October 2016, not 3.00% or 3.50% as it was before my rating them as "Poor".

@moneyhelp- don't worry about "window". It's just a metaphor. My creative writing urge took over. I was thinking about the "cashier's cage" of yore and the more modern bullet-proof? plexiglass which separate us from the money in the modern bank.
You've got my drift.

Different people have had different experiences with similar strategies, and we have not been able to conclude that there is any reliable method of getting a superior rate. Some take their money out and still get good offers; others do the same and get nothing (such as me). This leads Bill to his speculation that it might actually just be matter of luck. I think not, because then it would be like a scratch-n-save, and they would be urging you to check and see what your offer was, which they never do. Threats work sometimes but not all the time (and I think are working less well lately). There is also the unanswered question as to how much the bank needs on deposit at any given moment, and what they're willing to offer in order to get it, which could vary a lot.
Using additional bank products will also have some kind of influence. If you read the annual reports of these organizations, including the credit unions, it is quite clear that their goal is to get you in the front door, even if that involves a loss leader, and then to move you into other kinds of products, the ultimate being to invest in their mutual funds, open an investment account, and so on. If you clearly have a lot of money and fail to take the next step, they will lose interest in you sooner or later. So, you can max out and put 500K in at 3% but you must recognize that it's a promo, and is not going to last forever. Take what you can get while you can get it. If you get tired of that game, or they get tired of you, move on.