high interest savings account

The Bank of Canada has begun the long, slow process of raising interest rates. While banks are fairly quick to also increase the interest rates they charge customers on lines of credit and some types of mortgages, they are slower in raising the interest rates they pay you for depositing your cash with them. Still, I’ve seen the amount I get paid each month increasing on some accounts even though I haven’t increased the amount on deposit, so I decided to quickly check what interest rate I’m earning for my cash and GICs at BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, RBC Direct Investing, Tangerine, Simplii Financial and EQ Bank to see if I’m getting the best, highest interest rate I can.

Where Can I Get the Best Interest Rate for My Short-term Cash Savings At EQ Bank, Oaken Financial, Simplii Financial or Tangerine?

OK, the first thing I’m going to do is look at the base interest rates without any special promotional short-term interest bonus rates.

For a Savings account,

EQ Bank is paying 2.3 %
Oaken Financial is paying 1.5 %
Tangerine is paying 1.1 %
Simplii Financial is paying 1 %

These rates are as of January 24, 2018.

There are some wild cards to consider though:

some Tangerine customers have been offered 2.5 % (like me) till the end of May 31 2018
some new Tangerine customers can get a promotional rate for their first 6 months of 2.4 % or 1.9 %
all Simplii Financial customers can get a rate of 3 % until February 28 2018.

That’s why we have accounts at all 4 banks and move our money around to earn the highest interest.

For a Chequing account,
both Tangerine and Simplii Financial are still using a tiered system where different amounts of money earn different rates of interest. The highest rate, though, is still much less than their Savings account rate so try not to keep your extra cash in your chequing account.

For reference, on January 24, 2018

Tangerine’s rates for a chequing account are:

0-50 000 0.15 %
50-100 000 0.55 %
100 000+ 0.65 %

and Simplii Financial’s rates are:

0 – 1 000    0.05 %
1-5 000    0.10 %
5-25 000    0.15 %
25 000 +    0.50 %

EQ Bank and Oaken Financial don’t offer a chequing account.

Where Can I Get the Best Interest Rate for My GIC Savings At EQ Bank, Oaken Financial, Simplii Financial or Tangerine?

Be sure to stay below the CDIC limits on total $$ and on length of term (usually 5 years max) to protect your investment at any institution!

Right now on January 24, 2018, the clear rate winner is Oaken Financial.

1 year GIC ~~2.25 %~~ 2.5% as of Friday January 26
2 year GIC ~~2.6 %~~ 2.85% as of Friday January 26
5 year GIC 3.15 % 3.25% as of Friday January 26

Tangerine offers the next best rates.

1 year GIC 2 %
2 year GIC 2.15 %
5 year GIC 2.6 %

Simplii Financial has the lowest rates on offer.

1 year GIC 1.687 %
2 year GIC 1.293 %
5 year GIC 2.228 %

EQ Bank does not issue GICs.

What Interest Rate Can I Get for My Parked Cash In My Online Discount Brokerage Account at BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge and RBC Direct Investing?

Our portfolios include a large chunk of cash and other fixed income investments because we are very conservative. I like to keep some of this cash in our RRSPs and TFSAs partly in case I see something worth buying in a hurry because our contributions are maxed out each year by the end of January.

I also earn dividends in the accounts which I’m not always keen to re-invest immediately.

So I keep the money in high interest savings account mutual funds or in GICs.

This week, on January 24 2018, the following interest rates were available

At all three brokerages, the Canadian dollar high interest savings account mutual funds (AAT770; ATL5000; and RBF2010 respectively) were paying 0.95 %.

At all three brokerages, the US dollar high interest savings account mutual funds (AAT780; ATL5001; and RBF2014 respectively) were paying 0.70 %

The GIC rates were close but not identical. These are the rates on January 24, 2018.

For a 1-year GIC

BMO InvestorLine had the best offer at 2.1 %.
CIBC Investor’s Edge and RBC Direct Investing were tied at 2.05 % (from HSBC Bank.)

For a 2-year GIC

RBC Direct Investing had the best offer at 2.36 % from Home Trust Company.
BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge were tied at 2.35 % from Equitable Bank.

For a 5-year GIC

RBC Direct Investing had the best offer at 2.86 % from Home Trust Company.
BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge were tied at 2.85 % from Equitable Bank.

So it looks like I should re-start my monthly GIC ladder inside our RRSP as the difference between the HISA rate and the GIC rate is starting to be important in total dollars earned.

Overall, our money is in the best places to earn the most interest–for now. In future, I’ll have to keep an eye on the rates to make sure we don’t need to move our funds.

Related Reading

Join In

Do you keep your Savings at different banks depending on the interest rates? Please share your strategies with a comment.

From November 2017 till February 28, 2018, Simplii Financial is offering 3% annual interest on increased balances in your savings accounts. So I’m going to move some money in from our CIBC chequing account, which is already linked, to our Simplii Financial savings account.

Submitting a Pull Transfer Request from an External Bank to Simplii Financial

This is only easy if the accounts are already linked ready to make transfers. Fortunately, when Simplii Financial took over the business from PC Financial, they left the existing links intact. So I can do this transfer quickly.

Sign on to your Simplii Financial account.
On the Accounts Transfer page, there is a box near the right side of the screen called Quick Transfer.
From the drop-down list Choose an account, select your external bank account.
I selected our CIBC joint chequing account.
From the drop-down list Choose an account, select your Simplii Financial savings account.
Type in the amount you want to move in the Amount: text box.
Click on the Continue button.

The Transfers Page
As usual, it will not let you ask for the transfer to occur on today’s business date.

From the Transfer Date: drop-down lists, select the next day.
If the other details are correct, click on the Continue button.

The Transfer – Verification Page

Review the details.
If they are correct, click on the Confirm button.
If not, click on the Back or Cancel buttons.
You should get a confirmation message for a successful transfer.
Copy the Reference Number in case there are any problems over the next few days.
If you have other banking requests, click on the appropriate links.
When you are finished banking, click on the sign out button.
Clear your browser history and cache and close your browser session for increased security.

You’re done!

Related Reading

How to Order More Free Cheques for your Simplii Financial Account

Join In
Have you moved some cash to Simplii to take advantage of the 3% annual interest rate? Do you intend to move it out again if the rate drops to 0.9%? Please share your views with a comment.

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Tag Archives: high interest savings account

With the Bank of Canada Increasing Rates Where Can I Keep My Cash to Get a High Interest Rate?

Where Can I Get the Best Interest Rate for My Short-term Cash Savings At EQ Bank, Oaken Financial, Simplii Financial or Tangerine?

Where Can I Get the Best Interest Rate for My GIC Savings At EQ Bank, Oaken Financial, Simplii Financial or Tangerine?

What Interest Rate Can I Get for My Parked Cash In My Online Discount Brokerage Account at BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge and RBC Direct Investing?

How to Request a Transfer In to Your Simplii Financial Account from Your Linked External Bank Account

Submitting a Pull Transfer Request from an External Bank to Simplii Financial