Category Archives: Self Directed Investing

Using Free INTERAC e-Transfers to Email Money and Pay Bills from Simplii Financial

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In November 2017, CIBC took over the management and servicing of all of the former President’s Choice Financial accounts. To retain and attract new customers during the changeover, Simplii Financial is offering a 3% annual savings rate on new Savings account deposits earnable until the end of February 28, 2018, and it’s also offering a new service for free email payments. Unlike Tangerine, which only offers free email payments using its own proprietary email system, Simplii Financial is offering free INTERAC e-Transfers to allow customers to email money to pay friends or bills almost instantly.

How Does an INTERAC e-Transfer Work? Does the Person Receiving an INTERAC e-Transfer Have to Pay a Fee?

Sending payments for bills and re-payments of money borrowed by friends via email is becoming common. For example, after my last family reunion, my brothers both paid me back their share of a bill by sending me an email payment.

The person receiving and depositing the email payment does not pay any fee unless their bank usually charges a fee for depositing money.

The person sending an INTERAC e-Transfer may have to pay a fee if their bank charges for the service. Simplii Financial, however, is offering this as an unlimited free service, subject to some maximum amounts daily and monthly. As of November 1, 2017, Tangerine is charging $1 to make an INTERAC e-Transfer, and $0 to send an e-transfer using their own email program.

The person sending the money by e-Transfer only has to type in a question and answer that the person receiving the money can correctly answer. The person sending the money does NOT have to know the bank account information for the person receiving the money. Almost every bank and credit union in Canada will allow a customer to accept and deposit an e-Transfer. The person receiving the money also does not get to know the bank account information for the sender—they only get to know from which bank the transfer is being sent, such as Simplii Financial.

Caution: Some e-Transfers Are Scam Fraudsters Trying to Hack Your Bank Account !

Never accept an unexpected e-Transfer!

There are many scams trying to get you to type in your bank account information and password !

If you get a transfer you don’t expect, get in touch with the sender and ask them whether they sent it and why!

When Can I Send an INTERAC e-Transfer from my Simplii Financial Account?

As of November 2017, transfers must be sent before 8 p.m. ET to be sent the same business day.

Between 8 p.m. and midnight ET, transfers will be dated the following day.

How Much Money Can I Send by Email e-Transfer Daily, Weekly and Monthly from Simplii Financial?

There are limits for total daily, weekly and monthly transfers by INTERAC e-Transfer from Simplii Financial. This is to reduce the risk of losing money due to fraud.

  • In any 24-hour period, you can only send a total of $3 000.
    So if you send a payment of $2500 on Monday at 10 a.m., you can only send a max of $500 on Tuesday at 8 a.m. You have to wait till 10:01 a.m. on Tuesday if you want to send $3 000.
  • In any 7-day period, you can only send a total of $10 000.
  • In any 30-day period, you can only send a total of $30 000.
    This one might be important—you can’t for example, pay someone back $30,000 on November 30, and then pay your rent on December 1 by e-Transfer. It’s not per month; it’s per 30-day period.
    If, for example, you want to make a payment on November 15, they are going to check what e-Transfers you made for the 29 days previous to that and subtract their values from the $30 000 limit to set the maximum for the November 15 transfer.

Simplii Financial INTERAC e-Transfer Terms and Conditions

On November 7 2017, the actual terms and conditions are located at: https://online.simplii.com/ebm-resources/public/content/web/common/pdf/banking/emt/termsAndConditions.pdf

On November 7 2017, there is a lot of information on how the e-Transfers work and what the rules are for stopping payment and reclaiming money at https://www.simplii.com/en/banking-simplii/e-transfer.html

How to Send a Free INTERAC e-Transfer from Simplii Financial

  1. Sign on to your account.
  2. From the menu on the left side of the screen, click on the link INTERAC e-Transfers
  3. Select the desired Recipient for the money from the drop-down list. (Or click on the link Add a new Recipient.)
  4. In the Message to Recipient text box, type a comment for the person receiving the money. For example, I might write “Thanks for helping to pay my way into the movie last night. Now I’d like to pay you back.”
  5. In the Amount text box, type how much money you are sending.
  6. From the drop-down list From Account: choose the account from which you want to pay the money out.
  7. Check that the name and email address shown in the fields Your Email Name: and Your Email Address: are correct. Consider if they are what you want to show the person receiving the transfer. If so, you can continue. If not, click on the link edit to update your profile.
  8. When you’re sure it’s all right, click on the Continue button.

The Your INTERAC e-Transfer Details Window

  1. From the Security Question: drop-down list select a question.
  2. If you select Create Your Own Question, in the Your Question: box, type your question.
  3. In the Security Answer text box, type the correct answer.
  4. To check your spelling or typing, click on the Show box.
  5. In the Security Answer (please re-enter) text box, type the correct answer again.
  6. Read the Notes at the bottom of the page.
    One interesting bit: “The security question and answer that you choose will apply to this INTERAC e-Transfer, as well as all previous INTERAC e-Transfers to this Recipient that have not been claimed.”
    So you could be changing the correct answer for other previous unclaimed e-Transfers made to this recipient!
  7. Click on the Continue button.

The Send Money – Verification Window

  1. Read the info.
  2. If it is all correct, click on the Confirm button.

The Send Money Page 3

  1. You should receive a confirmation message that your transfer has been sent. You may wish to copy the details especially the Reference Number and keep it safely till the transfer is complete.
  2. Read the other notes at the bottom of the page.
  3. If you are finished banking
  • Click on the button sign out
  • Clear your browser history and cache and close your browser session for increased security.

How Long Will It Take for Simplii Financial to Send My INTERAC e-Transfer?

According to the note at the end of the Your transfer has been sent page, it will be send in about 30 minutes after you see that confirmation screen.

In my test case, I received the INTERAC e-Transfer one minute after I sent it! (This was on a Tuesday morning at 9:24 a.m.)

So it works!

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Canadian Interest Rates Are Rising: Should I Sell My PH&N Bond Fund Units in My Pension Plan?

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The Bank of Canada has raised its prime rate a couple of times so far in 2017. It might continue to keep raising the rate or it might keep it at 1% or it might lower it. If only I was psychic I would know what to expect ! Why does it matter? Because I still hold part of a defined contribution pension in the PH&N Bond Fund. Despite years of being told to dump it in case interest rates rise, I’ve held on. It means, though, that each year I end up asking myself the same question: Is it time to sell by holdings in the PH&N Bond Fund?

Why Does an Increase in the Bank of Canada Prime Rate Threaten my Bond Fund?

At first, it sounds like an interest-rate hike would be a good thing for bonds. If the rates go up, you should get more, right?

And that is true if you were buying a newly-issued bond that is offering a newly-increased rate.

The problem is that I own units in a fund that already owns bonds. The rates on those bonds will not increase–it was agreed on at the time they were purchased. That means that the highest interest rate I can earn with my bond money is already fixed, unless the fund sells some of the bonds it holds and buys some others.

So why don’t they just dump the lower-interest bonds they own and buy new ones with higher yields?

Because they would need someone who wanted to buy the lower yield bonds. Those buyers, though, could also buy some of the newly-issued higher yield bonds. The only way to encourage someone to buy the old bonds is to drop the actual price of buying the principal portion of the bond and the required price drop is calculated to make the overall yield on the deal equal the same as buying a new bond with a higher interest rate.

So my bond fund is essentially stuck holding existing bonds with lower interest rates or selling them for a loss of principal.

Can’t I Just Hold On to my Bond Fund Units at the Lower Yield? Why Do I Need to Sell?

If I’m ok with the lower yield of my bond fund units versus what a fund consisting of newer higher-yield bonds could offer, I don’t need to sell my units, do I?

Well, sort of. It is a “fund” not individual bonds that I hold. So if the other investors in the PH&N Bond Fund start to sell off their units, the fund managers may have to start selling off some of the actual bond holdings to generate the cash to pay them out. And that could mean dropping the performance of the remaining units in the fund, if they have to sell some of their better-performing assets.

In other words, if there is a run on redeeming units in the Bond Fund, I could watch my unit values drop quickly.

Will I Sell My Bond Fund Units in 2017?

I’ve been dithering about what to do with these units since 2013. I have not invested any new money in the fund since then. In fact, each year, I pull out in cash the growth experienced by that fund. In fact, over 5 years, I’ve pulled out cash equivalent to 25% of the amount I had in the Bond Fund in 2013. And the fund units I’m holding still have the same dollar value as they did then.

In other words, if I had $100 000 in the fund on January 1, 2013, I still have $100 000 in the fund now on October 14, 2017, but I also have taken out $25 000 and re-invested it elsewhere during that time.

(I do realize that $100 000 today does not have the same buying power as it did in 2013.)

I’m still not sure whether to start liquidating my bond fund units or not. I need a high percentage of our pension savings in fixed income as we are close to retirement: Picking where to keep that fixed income money is getting confusing !

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