Tag Archives: savings

How to Cancel a PC Financial Automatic Savings Transfer

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When I first opened our PC Financial no fee chequing account they were offering a high “bonus” rate of interest on new deposits. Of course that only lasted a few months. Now that the promotion is over, I want to cancel our PC Financial automatic savings transfer from our chequing account at another bank to our savings account. Here’s how to stop the transfers.

Stopping an Automatic Transfer to Your PC Financial Account

  1. Sign in to your PC Financial account.
  2. From the list of links on the left side of the screen, select: transfers
  3. From the new list under transfers, select: upcoming transfers
  4. A list of your automatic transfers will be displayed.
    1. Click to select the radio button beside the automatic transfer that you wish to cancel.
    2. Click on the continue button.
  5. Review the details of the transfer you are cancelling. Read the informational messages about when a transfer will be effective. If the information is acceptable, click on the cancel selected transfer button.
    For example, PCF says

    • Cancelling one upcoming transfer of a series will cancel all of the remaining scheduled transfers. You will have to set up a new automatic transfer if you want to cancel just one transaction and then start transferring again.
    • because transfers begin at least one business day before the date the money moves to your account, you cannot cancel a transfer that is already partially in progress using this method
    • if your money is on hold or if there isn’t enough money in your account, the transfer will not proceed
  6. If desired, make a note of the Reference number for the cancellation.
  7. If you are finished banking, sign out of your account. For increased security, close your browser session.

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Do you use automatic savings transfers to simplify your investing goals? Do you find you frequently have to cancel the transfers due to changing circumstances? Please share your experiences with a comment.

Back to School and Registered Education Savings Plans

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I’ll admit it: Saving for our children’s education was not a priority for me. In fact, I didn’t open an RESP until my oldest child was 9. We had a mortgage to pay, some large expenses the average Canadian family does not have to pay, and RRSPs and TFSAs to fund. We’d also heard quite a few horror stories about group RESPs so we weren’t sure where to start.

When I was ready to commit, I started by reading through the useful and informative articles on Mike Holmes website Money Smarts. I strongly recommend others do the same.

His introductory article How To Set Up The Safest, Simplest And Cheapest RESP Account  is particularly useful to time-strapped worried parents.

What Happens to Your Children’s RESPs if You Die Before They Use Them?

Kati Basi, in a guest post at the Blunt Bean Counter, says:  “Many of my clients assume that their children (as the beneficiaries under their RESP) would automatically receive the RESP upon their death, just as if the children were beneficiaries under their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (“RRSP”). This assumption is, for the most part, dead wrong.” Read how to protect your children’s RESPs, especially the grant money, in “New Will Provisions for the 21st Century – RESPs .“ Then update your will or ask the person who funded your children’s RESPs to update theirs.

Group Scholarship Plan RESPs Versus Bank RESPs

Before banks started offering no fee RESPs where investors could buy GICs or mutual funds, and long before self-directed brokerages allowed RESPs, the only choice most parents had was to enroll in a Group Scholarship Plan. These plans are much riskier than bank RESPs. You don’t get all of your money back if your child does not go on to post-secondary education. You also may have to pay very large fees if you want to transfer your plan elsewhere.

Ellen Roseman details a good example of these unexpected costs in Roseman: [Group Scholarship Plan] RESPs are easy to start and hard to leave.

CBC News provides an in depth look at these group plans in Group RESPs: reading the fine print: Popular plans aren’t for everyone .The plans are not actually evil they just sometimes seem that way particularly if a person signed up for one without really understanding how they work.

Using the RESP Money for Education

Big Cajun Man describes some of his personal experiences with taking money out of his children’s RESPs to pay for their university enrollment. While the government’s required paperwork was short, he was startled at how much other paperwork TD required. So was I! You can read the details at RESP: and More Trees Died.

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Are you contributing to a RESP for your child or children? Or is your plan helping your children pay their way through school? Are you happy with the process? Please share your experiences with a comment.