In September, 2016, PC Financial offered a short-term incentive to park cash in a daily interest savings account. I thought Tangerine might match it but they haven’t, really. This fall, Tangerine doesn’t seem to be interested in truly competing with PC Financial, but they did make some interest rate promotional offers.
Tangerine Offers a Good Rate for Daily Interest Savings Accounts for New Customers
Starting in the fall of 2016, Tangerine has made an interesting offer for people who have never had a bank account with ING Direct or Tangerine. If a person opens a new Savings Account at Tangerine, they can get 2.4% annual interest on their savings, but only for six months. After that, the rate will drop to their usual interest rate which right now is 0.8% annually.
Just to clarify, the money in the account does not earn 2.4% in six months. It earns half of that. So if you opened an account and deposited $1000 and left it there for the first six months, you’d get about $12. (It would be a bit more or less depending on how many days were in each of those six months, and how many more cents you’d make as the interest earned and paid into the account each month in turns earns a little more interest.) If you open an account and only put the $1000 in on the last day of the sixth month, you’d get almost no interest at all.
Why Don’t Existing Tangerine Customers Get 2.4% on Their Savings?
That’s a good question. Tangerine might prefer it if you didn’t ask it!
PC Financial is offering a promotional rate of 2.25% annually to EXISTING customers for a bit over three months on all of their savings.
Tangerine has sent out targeted messages to only some of its customers offering them a rate above 0.8% a year but below 3.1%. Not everyone was offered the same rate. And not everyone was offered any increase. (They didn’t offer me anything!)
Basically, Tangerine is betting you won’t be bothered to move your money out to earn more interest.
In my case, they are wrong. I moved my money out first to Oaken Financial, which has been paying a high interest rate for over a year, then to EQ Bank when it was offering 3% for a few months, and now to PC Financial for their 2.25% offer.
Some people have had luck phoning Tangerine to ask for a higher interest rate. (Check RedFlagDeals for details.) I haven’t bothered, yet.
Related Reading
- PC Financial Starts the Interest Wars With a 2.25% Offer
- Who Has a Better Savings Account—PC Financial Or Tangerine?
Join In
Do you prefer to keep your money in an account that pays a steady high interest rate like EQ Bank or Oaken Financial? Or do you move it whenever a higher rate is offered elsewhere? Please share your strategy with a comment.
