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Email this11:44 am
December 12, 2009
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Hi Peter et al.,
I was checking out WealthOne Bank of Canada's GIC rates, which are fairly competitive (besting even Tangerine, Simplii Financial, and EQ Bank) in their own right, and noted an interesting new-ish GIC promotion (as of February 15, 2019) with no defined end date (see: https://www.wealthonebankofcanada.com/Personal/Promotion/GIC/) that will see them pay you a one-time cash back bonus on a GIC purchase of 0.2% multiplied by the number of years in the term. They don't specify a maximum cash back bonus or if you can spread that one-time purchase across several GICs in a GIC ladder, but nonetheless, it's an interesting promotion in that it encourages longer lock-in (the longer and more you lock-in, the more cash back you can receive). You can either add the cash back to your GIC, put it in a savings account, or have it transferred to your linked external account.
Example they show: $10,000 GIC x 0.2% x 5 (for a 5-year GIC) gives you $100.00.
To their credit, though, they do note in the "fine print" that the cash back bonus, while paid immediately, may be considered taxable income (which is good). It could be considered interest income, but some FIs might treat it as a non-taxable goodwill monetary gesture. At any rate, they've disclosed it and that's good. 
Now back to my e-book cataloguing assignment. 
Cheers,
Doug
5:10 pm
October 29, 2017
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Looks like only new deposits though.
6:26 pm
December 12, 2009
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Vatox said
Looks like only new deposits though.
Yes, and that's totally fine. To be clear, though, new deposits from existing customers are fine, if you haven't participated in this promo. It's just that they want it to be "net new money" to them.
Still, would be a good promo to add to the promos page.
Cheers,
Doug
8:07 pm
May 15, 2007
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Thanks. I've added this to the promotions page.
7:44 am
December 12, 2009
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Peter said
Thanks. I've added this to the promotions page.
Sounds good, thanks for doing that, Peter.
Cheers,
Doug
3:07 pm
August 17, 2010
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Just applied and will get a 1000.00 cash back, awesome promo, thanks Doug for the heads up.
Choice of putting the money into the term or your account. It's a promo for the Chinese New Year in February is what the csr said. She opened the account for me over the phone and said I can send a picture of a void cheque to link when the account is set up in 2 days. I'm in BC, there's a branch in Vancouver but I'm too far away, so happy they will link with a picture of a cheque.
3:09 pm
August 17, 2010
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Wanted to add that the 3.45 percent for 5 years is fine for me as I was mainly just looking for another insurer. Thanks again Doug!
5:25 pm
February 20, 2018
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1000 cash back or 100 toto?
5:49 pm
December 12, 2009
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hotmony said
1000 cash back or 100 toto?
Sounds like $1000.00, hotmony. I suspect toto put $100,000 in new money into a 5-year GIC (or five x $20,000 5-year GICs). It is a great promo in that it (a) encourages bringing over additional funds and (b) encourages longer lock-in. You may have to pay it back, if they let you redeem the non-redeemable GIC early, so make sure you don't need the money for 5 years and you'll be fine.
Glad you liked the promo and took advantage of it, toto. Also, WealthOne use MemberDirect for its online banking platform, so if you also have an Implicity Financial or other credit union account, you could probably close the credit union membership since they use the same online banking platform (if you wanted to streamline things).
Cheers,
Doug
6:54 pm
August 17, 2010
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Yes it was 100,000 for 5 years at 3.45 percent
Csr asked if I wanted a joint one to get another 1000.00.
I'm getting the 1000.00 put into the savings account as rate is good.
Customer service was good too, answered right away.
6:57 pm
August 17, 2010
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Also , I opened the account today and they said my cheque will be linked tomorrow!
I'll let you know if this is true.
6:36 am
November 19, 2014
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Ironically, I bought a GIC with Wealth One back in January. About 3 weeks too early for this deal.
However, they did give me 3.47% on a 5 year.
I guess they just decided to lower the rate and give the .02% up front !
Great idea for a promo.
6:42 am
August 10, 2018
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Koogie said
Ironically, I bought a GIC with Wealth One back in January. About 3 weeks too early for this deal.However, they did give me 3.47% on a 5 year.
I guess they just decided to lower the rate and give the .02% up front !
Great idea for a promo.
0.2% not 0.02%
7:15 am
March 30, 2017
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So basically the rate is 0.2% higher than their own posted rate and you receive upfront but no opportunity to compound compared to if its 0.2% higher in the GIC rate.
Interesting promotion. I would bite if its 0.5% 🙂
8:46 am
December 12, 2009
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Correct, Bruford...it's 0.2% per year of the GIC term, to a maximum of five years (1%), not 0.02%. One has to be careful with not mistaking the decimal value you multiply by as the percentage. You would multiply your total deposit by 0.002 and multiply, in sequence, by the number of years of the GIC term and then 100 to get your percentage.
As far as I know, you get their posted promo rate plus this 0.2% per GIC term year (to a maximum of five). They don't have higher rates if you forgo the bonus, from my reading.
Cheers,
Doug
8:52 am
December 12, 2009
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toto said
Also , I opened the account today and they said my cheque will be linked tomorrow!
I'll let you know if this is true.
Sounds good!
If they're fast at linking accounts, whether by cheque or bank stamped Direct Deposit Form, with their MemberDirect online banking platform that is - in my opinion - among the best, you could potentially use WealthOne as your new primary HISA and also as your "hub" to connect your various HISAs.
Cheers,
Doug
8:53 am
November 19, 2014
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Bruford said
0.2% not 0.02%
Yes, you can ignore the percentage sign. You must know that anyway.
12:32 pm
August 17, 2010
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Just emailed them a picture of a voided cheque yesterday afternoon , and first thing this morning cheque was linked!
And yes Doug, I was thinking they would make a good hub with their HISA
1:39 pm
December 12, 2009
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toto said
Just emailed them a picture of a voided cheque yesterday afternoon , and first thing this morning cheque was linked!
And yes Doug, I was thinking they would make a good hub with their HISA
Thanks, toto, for the follow-up. That's a very quick turnaround time!
I was also impressed that the CSR even suggested opening a joint HISA + GIC to receive a second cash back bonus. I wonder if your spouse/partner could potentially open a third HISA + GIC in their own name and get a third bonus?
Cheers,
Doug
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