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Email thisMotive Financial was formerly Canadian Direct Financial until 2017.
Website: https://www.motivefinancial.com
Headquarters: Edmonton, Alberta
Parent company: Canadian Western Bank
Credit union? No
Available to Quebec residents? No
Founded in: 2009
Disclaimer: Although our best efforts are made, the information posted on this website is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please visit their website for authoritative information.
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Latest discussions about Motive Financial -- view all
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Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 5 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 1.5 years
Why do you bank with them?: Initially the interest rate and now I am very familiar with them and I’m disappointed that they are going to be culled by national Bank
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Everything
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Not going to national Bank
General comments: I have checked into national Bank and they are sixth on the roster while CWB is eighth. I think CWB Could do very well on their what with Motive financial As their E- Bank
Review by Veronica Keaney — September 11, 2024 @ 6:20 am
Customer service: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Account features:
Interest rates (consistency and amount):
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 1 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: I tried but with no success - it was all online, totally impersonal, and bureaucratic to the extreme.
Why do you bank with them?: I was interested in there GIC rates.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: It was Alberta based.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Get some REAL Customer Service. I offered to go to their offices and give them a cheque for $100K to open a GIC but they want to do everything online. And wait until you have to endure that process.
General comments: Not Impressed, AND expect that if my experience is any example, they are losing a LOT of business!!!
Review by Patrick McKenna — December 22, 2023 @ 1:56 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 5 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 6 months
Why do you bank with them?: interest rate; i like their website; allows comments on each transaction; quick transfer time
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: interest rate; i like their website; allows comments on each transaction; quick transfer time
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: nothing
General comments: great bank
Review by bryon — September 11, 2023 @ 5:09 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 3 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 4 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 9 years, including when they were Canadian Direct Financial
Why do you bank with them?: Very good interest rates, no fees for daily banking
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Their interest rates are consistently competitive and it is very easy to reach them on the phone - you don't even have to go through a menu and I can usually get through immediately.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: There are a few limitations if you want to do anything outside of daily banking, for example, you cannot send an international wire transfer (only domestic), and they have no investment services. Some tasks that I would expect to be able to do through a web-form require me to send and receive forms by email, (such as ordering cheques) which is definitely less convenient.
General comments: I wanted my chequings and savings at the same bank. Motive's features have been completely sufficient for my daily banking and I appreciate the low/no fees and free etransfers. They have been consistently at or near the top offerings for interest rates for the whole time I've banked with them. Their phone support is also exceptionally easy to access, as I mentioned above.
Review by Claire — June 26, 2023 @ 2:30 pm
Customer service: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Account features:
Interest rates (consistency and amount):
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 1 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: Tried to bank for a week, but I guess they're too busy to review my application or tell me the status?
Why do you bank with them?: Wanted to get their HISA promo, but unable to reach them to confirm status of my application.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Didn't like they offered a promo to new customers, but are too back up / busy to enrol new customers.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Actually staffing accoringly to allow new customers to join.
General comments: Keep your money where it is, instead of banking here. If they're sign up process is this faulty to get money *INTO* their institution, imagine how difficult it must be to *WITHDRAW* it .....
Review by Matt — May 19, 2023 @ 7:15 am
Customer service: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 4 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: Over 10 years
Why do you bank with them?: Great rates, decent service, much prefer skipping the big banks.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Connected to Canadian Western Bank, which I like. Great rates, without teaser promotions.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Customer service can be hit or miss. Sometimes the staff are great, sometimes not so much.
General comments: Motive has some nice features and some oddities. For example there is no way to modify a GIC purchase unless you call in and speak to someone.
Review by Neil — March 4, 2023 @ 4:20 pm
Customer service: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Account features:
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 4 / 5 stars
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.):
How long have you banked with them?: ~10 yrs (was Canadian Direct Financial)
Why do you bank with them?: High interest savings account
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Good rates
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: n/a
General comments: I only got a Savvy account and occasionally some GICs ... also added TFSA Savings in 2020
Review by HWYC2007 — February 11, 2023 @ 1:07 pm
Customer service: Rated 3 / 5 stars
Account features:
Interest rates (consistency and amount):
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.):
How long have you banked with them?: Setting up an account
Why do you bank with them?: Saving
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: HISA
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Better application process
General comments: Submitted an application received an e-mail stating additional information required Given an e-mail and contact number Contacted the number they have no information and that the application department take 7-10 days to get back to me to tell me what they need so I can start the whole process over again
Review by Paul — September 19, 2022 @ 9:34 am
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 5 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 3 months
Why do you bank with them?: High Interest rates on GICs and daily interest rates
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Great rates and an Alberta virtual bank connected to Canadian Western Bank
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Soft ware but they are improving same
General comments: They are the only virtual bank or brick and mortar that will pay seniors a month distribution on a GIC. That’s a great feature.
Review by Gordon — September 5, 2022 @ 10:16 am
Customer service: Rated 2 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 2 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 2 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: One month
Why do you bank with them?: Best savings account rate and among the best GIC rates
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Interest rates on deposits
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Customer experience
General comments: Their interest rates on deposits are awesome! The customer experience is poor. 1. To setup externally linked bank accounts to transfer funds requires a paper form to be hand filled for each external account. Motive took two weeks to set it up via two small deposits into the external account after Motive confirmed receipt of the form. Both Tangerine and EQ enable the link to be setup full digitally 24 / 7 and only require one to two business days. 2. To complete the external link via verifying the small deposit amounts, a call to Motive is required during business hours. Their telephone system does not have a que which requires the customer to keep calling back or leave a voicemail. Tangerine enables the confirmation deposit amounts to be entered digitally 24 /7. 3. The Motive app does not have functionality to transfer funds between external accounts. These transfers can only be done with the desktop interface. Tangerine and EQ have full functionality in their respective apps to transfer funds between external accounts. 4. GIC purchases force an auto renewal at the time of maturity without clear instructions on how to prevent an auto renewal. Both Tangerine and EQ enable choice to either auto renew or put the funds back into the account they came from. Overall, a negative customer experience to get the set up with Motive relative to competitors.
Review by Bilat — August 12, 2022 @ 3:56 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 2 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount):
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.):
How long have you banked with them?: 4 years
Why do you bank with them?: Best Interest rates
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Easy to deal with.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: They need USD Accounts
General comments: They must get USD accounts for us traverlers.
Review by cecil Vassallo — July 11, 2022 @ 9:54 am
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 5 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 4 years approx
Why do you bank with them?: Great interest rates, great overall service, they do have a mobile app. Free banking.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: One of the highest interest rates available and always remain competitive.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Photo Check Deposit.
General comments: Motive has a good history of remaining very competitive as far as their HISA goes. That's what I like.
Review by Lucas — January 18, 2021 @ 3:49 pm
Customer service: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 4 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: Since 2019-10-01
Why do you bank with them?: high interest rate, no fees
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: interest rate
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Scheduled external account transfers and account opening could be streamlined.
General comments: Motive Savvy Savings 2.8% CDIC insured Interest rate is great and has been consistent so far. The scary sounding $5 transaction fee can be avoided by transferring to Motive Cha Ching Chequing (free) and doing transactions there where it's free and unlimited. On the downside, opening the account took three weeks and involved snail mail in both directions. Mailed void cheque to link one external account. For a different account, I had only a direct deposit authorization form which required further verification via micro-deposits - why couldn't it all just be via micro-deposits in the first place and skip that extra mailing? Immediate external transfers in and out are straightforward and work fine. However, the most annoying thing about this bank is that scheduling future transfers to or from external accounts is extremely clunky. For some reason, you can't use the usual transfer page. You have to fill out an online form where you need to reenter the full account numbers even though the account is already in the drop down for the immediate transfer. This is ultimately reviewed and entered by a human. They will not schedule transfers for the future unless the required balance is in the account now, which kind of defeats the purpose of post-dating the transaction. This matters because you'll want to transfer out of chequing to avoid fees, but keep the cash in savings until the transfer date for the interest.
Review by Kevin — February 4, 2020 @ 3:31 pm
Customer service:
Account features: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 4 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 1 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: Have not used the service. Attempted to setup a TFSA account online
Why do you bank with them?: Would bank due to competitive TFSA interest rate.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Competitive TFSA interest rate.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: The online account setup process needs to be improved. Unable to link TFSA account directly to external back. Requires cheques or forms to be "mailed" in to complete the setup.
General comments: The online process needs significant improvement. Motive need to add the ability to transfer from external source directly into a TFSA, both during setup and after the account is establish. Motive also require forms to be mailed in to complete setup.
Review by Em — November 16, 2019 @ 6:03 am
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 4 / 5 stars
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 4 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: Started out a couple months ago.
Why do you bank with them?: 2.8% hisa
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: service has been good
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Security protocol is weak.
General comments: I opened the hisa at 2.8% and now it's been lowered to 2.5%. Not sure why, maybe in the fine print. It's still a good rate but it isn't the 2.8% we are all being told about. It wasn't sold as a promotional rate.
Review by bobby — August 18, 2019 @ 10:02 am
Customer service: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 3 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 1 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 1 day
Why do you bank with them?: high
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: high
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: application process
General comments: three weeks to open an account
Review by steve — March 7, 2019 @ 12:18 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 3 / 5 stars
Fees:
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 5 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 3 years
Why do you bank with them?: originally for the interest rates. Now it's because they have a great on-line system with moderately decent interest rates.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: On-line system is great.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: they need to increase their interest rates on savings accounts. They are among the lowest right now.
General comments: CDIC insured. Great on-line system.
Review by Robert — January 31, 2018 @ 10:14 am
Customer service: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 4 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 2 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 6 months
Why do you bank with them?: Combination of relatively high interest rates, CDIC insurance, and based in Western Canada
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Easy to contact on the phone the rare time that is required
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Money transfer to other financial institution is cumbersome
General comments: May 2016 banking system transition was a total fiasco. Transfer delayed by as long as 7 business days, and then the money was transferred the wrong direction.
Review by mr roboto — May 11, 2016 @ 9:15 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 5 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 5 years
Why do you bank with them?: High interest rates
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: The customer service is FABULOUS.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: The rates are no longer quite as competitive as they once were (0.25% lower than a few other online options).
General comments: Overall, I am quite pleased with this bank.
Review by D. Irvine — August 8, 2015 @ 11:33 am
Customer service: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 1 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 3 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 3 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 1 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: No longer
Why do you bank with them?: Not anymore
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Nothing
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Customer service, and respect for the client
General comments: I had opened both a checking and savings account with Canadian Direct. Any deposits were made into their parent company's (CWB) ATM. On numerous occasions, holds were placed on cash deposits, and remained on hold even after the ATM had been serviced. This not only happened to me, but to my brother as well in another Alberta city. In addition, my brother checked his account one day, and found a hold placed on his funds for no apparent reason. Canadian Direct could not provide my brother with a reason as to why the hold was placed on his account. I brought my problems to Canadian Direct attention. They were surprised at the problems my family was experiencing, and admitted that this should not be occurring. Even after the discussion, the problems still continued. I finally sent a terse email to their parent company, Canadian Western Bank CEO, how did they handle the problem?? they just shut my account down. Placing a hold on cash deposits is the equivalent of going to the supermarket, paying with cash, only to be informed by the cashier that they would have to hold my milk, meat, and eggs until my cash clears in five days. Absurd to say the least. I contacted their ombudsman, no resolution to the matter.
Review by taxed — May 8, 2015 @ 7:50 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 3 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 1 year
Why do you bank with them?: High interest
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: High interest,no fee and trustworthy
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Online banking interface and feature need to improve.
General comments: Overall is good.
Review by RYAN D — February 7, 2015 @ 3:15 pm
Customer service: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount):
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 4 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 5 years
Why do you bank with them?: High interest rates, stable organization, nothing flakey.
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Good customer service, better than average interest rates, good web interface.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: The signup process is long and via snail mail. They should have virtually everything done through their website. Transfers could be easier, especially internal money transfers. Broad ATM access.
General comments: All round, the best combination, imo.
Review by PJW — December 29, 2014 @ 5:05 am
Customer service:
Account features: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 5 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.):
How long have you banked with them?: Over 6 years
Why do you bank with them?: Higher interest rates
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: Good customer service at my branch and higher interest rates
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: Try to match higher interest rates offered by smaller institutions
General comments: Good customer service at my branch and higher interest rates compared to big 5
Review by Deepak Dilawri — September 11, 2013 @ 9:07 am
Customer service: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Account features: Rated 4 / 5 stars
Interest rates (consistency and amount): Rated 4 / 5 stars
Fees: Rated 5 / 5 stars
Interface (online, telephone, in-person, etc.): Rated 4 / 5 stars
How long have you banked with them?: 6 months
Why do you bank with them?: High interest rates
What do you like about this bank / credit union?: High interest rates, but also that they use the familiar MemberDirect online interface.
What could be improved about this bank / credit union?: 1. Offer a more convenient way to link external accounts 2. Polish the online interface (for example, you cannot open a TFSA from within your standard account interface; you cannot determine what to do with GIC money after the term has expired) 3. Offer a competitive RSP savings account rate
General comments: Canadian Direct Financial has a very attractive offering as a "virtual bank". But they just need to add some more polish as noted above. In general, they require a mix of mail, phone, and online interaction, and not everything is properly documented. For example, they've waived the monthly fee on their chequing account since several months ago, but they still haven't updated their website to reflect this change.
Review by Peter — April 13, 2013 @ 10:33 am