Tag Archives: Oaken Financial

How to Buy a Guaranteed Investment Certificate, GIC, at Oaken Financial

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Well it’s December already so it’s time to buy another GIC for our emergency fund. We know it’s very unlikely that we would need our entire fund at the same time so we are investing 80% of it such that part of it matures each month. If, for example, we lost our jobs, we would be able to access some of our emergency fund each month as that month’s GIC matures. In the meantime, the money is earning a slightly higher rate than it would in a daily interest savings account at Tangerine, PC Financial or Oaken Financial. Because I just want to buy a regular GIC, not one in a registered account like a RRSP or TFSA, and because I already have a savings account at Oaken Financial, it’s very easy for me to buy another Guaranteed Investment Certificate.

Buying a GIC at Oaken Financial If You Have a Savings Account with Them

Sign in to your Oaken Financial online banking session.

Click on the Open New Account tab.

Rats.

You can’t actually buy the GIC online. You can phone them or you can mail in an application form.

Click on the link: Log out

Clear your cache and close your browser session.

Sigh. Time to pick up the phone.

How Easy Was It to Purchase a GIC from Oaken By Phoning?

Because we already have a savings account at Oaken and because the funds were already in the account, it was extremely easy to purchase the GIC by phoning.

The phone was answered in less than one minute.

The security questions were easy to handle.

Within another minute, two at the most, the 1-year non-redeemable GIC was purchased and all was done. No one tried to sell me anything or up-sell me to a longer term etc.

Do remember to tell them:
If you want the principal and interest paid out into your savings account at maturity or re-invested.

They asked, which was great, but it’s a good idea to make sure of that detail with any financial institution. (I hate it when GICs auto-renew!)

The representative told me that the GIC purchase confirmation notice will be mailed to me for our records.

UPDATE: On the morning of the following day, the GIC is now listed on my Home page.

Do I Have to Wait for my Funds to Come Off “Hold” Before I Buy a GIC?

No.

Once you’ve deposited funds into your account you can buy a GIC even if the funds are still on hold. (Which makes sense because they can always ‘take back’ the GIC if your funds do not clear your other bank properly: they are just switching the ‘on hold’ status from the bank account to the GIC.)

How Long Do Funds Stay on Hold at Oaken Financial?

According to their website, funds from

  • A cheque will be kept on hold for up to 5 business days.
  • An electronic fund transfer will be kept on hold for up to 3 business days.

My first funds were deposited by cheque on November 24, 2014.

My funds came off hold on December 5, 2014.

That’s actually 8 or 9 business days depending how you count them but this was the first thing I did when I was opening my account so it may have been slower.

My funds came out of my “big bank” account on November 26, 2014, by the way.

I’ll test the hold time on an ETF soon and try to update this with the results.
So far:
Friday December 5: Requested transfer in.
December 6 and 7: Money not in yet and no listing in “Pending” section of Transfers.
Related Reading

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Do you have any of your emergency fund in GICs? Is it easy to buy them or do you have to sit through a long sales pitch first? Please share your experiences with a comment.

How to Set Up Online Banking with Oaken Financial

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This is out of date and needs to be revised.

A few days after I mailed in our application to open a joint savings account at Oaken Financial, a letter arrived in the mail. It had instructions for how to set up our online banking access. Here’s how I set up our online savings account at Oaken Financial and what their website looks like when I got into it.

What Do I Need to Start Online Banking with Oaken Financial?

  • Your date of birth
  • Your email address
  • Your “Online Banking Enrollment Number”

Signing In to Your Oaken Financial Online Savings Account for the First Time

  1. Go to the Oaken website at: online.oaken.com/enrol
  2. In the Enrollment Number field, type the number Oaken sent you in your welcome letter.
  3. In the Email Address field, type the email address you used on your account application form.
  4. Complete the Date of Birth field.
  5. Click on the Continue button.
  6. Sign in to that email account to retrieve a temporary password and find a link.
  7. Click on the link provided in the email.

Set Your Password for Online Banking

  1. In the Temporary Password field, type in the password provided in the email note.
  2. In the New Password field, type the password you want to use for online banking.
    NOTE: it must be 8-15 characters and contain at least 1 number and 2 letters. 1 letter must be Uppercase.
  3. Click on the Continue button.
  4. Read the message and click on the Continue button.

Create a Userid for your Online Banking

You must now create a unique username for your account.
NOTE: it must be 6-16 characters and contain uppercase letters and numbers but not special characters.

  1. In the Create Username field, type the id you want to use for online banking.
  2. Click on the Continue button.

The Create Your Secret Phrase Page
Your secret phrase is used during sign in. It must be 6-20 characters long and cannot be all spaces.

  1. In the Enter Secret Phrase field, type the info you want to type each type you sign in.
  2. Click on the Continue button.

The Choose Your Security Questions Page

  1. From the drop-down list for Password Question 1: select a question.
    In the Password Answer 1: field, type the answer.
  2. From the drop-down list for Password Question 2: select a question.
    In the Password Answer 2: field, type the answer.
  3. From the drop-down list for Password Question 3: select a question.
    In the Password Answer 3: field, type the answer.
  4. Click on the Continue button.

The Terms and Conditions Page
Read the 11 page (!) document of Terms and Conditions.

If you can live with them, click on the Accept button.

You are now enrolled. Click on the Continue button to see you bank info.

What Does Online Banking at Oaken Financial Look Like?

The actual banking website seems clean and bright.

The Home Page shows

  • your Savings Accounts, if any
  • your Non-registered Accounts, for example our GIC shows up
  • your Registered Accounts, for example a RRSP, RRIF or TFSA account

Tabs across the top of the Home Page include

  • Home
  • Account Management
  • Transfer
  • Service Centre
  • Open New Account

Links provided on the left side of the Home Page include

  • Current Interest Rates
  • Applications and Forms
  • Oaken FAQs
  • Message Centre
  • Set Up Alerts

I did click on the Transfer tab to see if our link with our “Big Bank” account has been set up. It has!

Sign Out Securely

  1. Click on the Log out link at the top right of the screen.
  2. Clear your cache and close your browser session.

How Long Did It Take to Start Saving with Oaken Financial?

Here’s a recap of the timeline:

  • Friday November 21: Dropped the application form into the big red Canada Post box. (I doubt it was picked up till Monday.)
  • Monday November 24: GIC issued. (!)
  • Wednesday November 26: Our cheque cleared out “Big Bank” so the money should be on its way to Oaken.
  • Thursday November 27: Received Enrollment information in the mail. I could have signed in immediately.
  • Friday November 28: I actually signed in for the first time.

So it took less than a week to set up the account by mail. Not bad!

Related Reading

  • How to Open a Higher Interest Daily Savings Account at Oaken Financial

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Are you shopping for a new place to park your emergency fund? Where did you pick? Please share your experiences with a comment.