Personal Finance

Alterna Bank High Interest eSavings Account

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Newbie
Dec 5, 2014
27 posts
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MoneyHypeMike wrote: You can send them an e-mail or phone. There is no online chat.
What's the email? It's not listed anywhere on their website.

Tangerine email money transfers are down so they let me send an interac e-transfer for free. Alterna keeps giving me an error (code 942) when trying to receive the e-transfer. I guess setting up the account wasn't so easy after all? Or maybe their systems are just down, or maybe when setting up the account with me to me transfer I'm expected to make a deposit through there first. I'll have to call when they're open

EDIT: Just got off the phone and yes I have to complete a me to me transfer first for my account to be active.
Last edited by 12345654321 on Mar 18th, 2017 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jul 22, 2015
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12345654321 wrote: What's the email? It's not listed anywhere on their website.

Tangerine email money transfers are down so they let me send an interac e-transfer for free. Alterna keeps giving me an error (code 942) when trying to receive the e-transfer. I guess setting up the account wasn't so easy after all? Or maybe their systems are just down, or maybe when setting up the account with me to me transfer I'm expected to make a deposit through there first. I'll have to call when they're open
Sorry it's not an e-mail, it's an online form.

https://www.alternabank.ca/AboutUs/ContactUs/
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Feb 20, 2011
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If I set up my my account with a cheque am I still getting the me2me option? How does it work? will I see my other account from my other bank in their app an just initiate the transfer from alterna app?

Thanks!
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Dec 17, 2008
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12345654321 wrote: What's the email? It's not listed anywhere on their website.
MoneyHypeMike wrote: Sorry it's not an e-mail, it's an online form.

https://www.alternabank.ca/AboutUs/ContactUs/
Their email address is;

questions@alterna.ca

bobbyg9 wrote: If I set up my my account with a cheque am I still getting the me2me option? How does it work? will I see my other account from my other bank in their app an just initiate the transfer from alterna app?

Thanks!
Your initial deposit cheque whether you mail in the cheque to them or you deposit it via the mobile app taking a picture...it will be linked to your profile AFTER your 5 business day hold is over.

Any additional accounts to be linked to your profile you will have to print out the ME TO ME Form and sign it. Then you can mail the form along with your void cheque to Alterna Bank at 165 Attwell Drive, Toronto, ON M9W 5Y5 or scan your form and void cheque(s) and email to questions@alterna.ca They will then link your additional accounts. The form for Me to Me Transfers can be found at https://www.alternabank.ca/SharedConten ... ccount.pdf

One of the limitations of the Me To Me Transfers at Alterna Bank is you DO NOT have the ability to set up recurring me to me transfers like you can with Tangerine, PC Financial or even other banks that use the same platform as Alterna such as Implicity Financial. So you can only do one time me to me transfers and you will have to initiate a transfer every time manually on Alterna's side.

You also can NOT do a me to me transfer through the mobile app. You have to force your mobile phone to the desktop website or log in on a PC and do the me to me transfer on the computer. They will appear in your drop down list on the desktop website but NOT in the mobile app.

Hope that helps
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May 15, 2013
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Shawguy wrote:
Your initial deposit cheque whether you mail in the cheque to them or you deposit it via the mobile app taking a picture...it will be linked to your profile AFTER your 5 business day hold is over.

Any additional accounts to be linked to your profile you will have to print out the ME TO ME Form and sign it. Then you can mail the form along with your void cheque to Alterna Bank at 165 Attwell Drive, Toronto, ON M9W 5Y5 or scan your form and void cheque(s) and email to questions@alterna.ca They will then link your additional accounts. The form for Me to Me Transfers can be found at https://www.alternabank.ca/SharedConten ... ccount.pdf

I opened an account and 3 days ago I deposited via the mobile app 2 cheques from 2 different banks. So, according to what you say only one of them will pass through and I'd need to mail them again a different cheque of the one did't get link .... Smiling Face With Horns
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iamthebest wrote: I opened an account and 3 days ago I deposited via the mobile app 2 cheques from 2 different banks. So, according to what you say only one of them will pass through and I'd need to mail them again a different cheque of the one did't get link .... Smiling Face With Horns
Correct. I deposited 3 cheques from 3 different banks.... They only linked the first one. I had to scan and email them the other two with the me to me form in order to get them linked.
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Shawguy wrote: Their email address is;

questions@alterna.ca




Your initial deposit cheque whether you mail in the cheque to them or you deposit it via the mobile app taking a picture...it will be linked to your profile AFTER your 5 business day hold is over.

Any additional accounts to be linked to your profile you will have to print out the ME TO ME Form and sign it. Then you can mail the form along with your void cheque to Alterna Bank at 165 Attwell Drive, Toronto, ON M9W 5Y5 or scan your form and void cheque(s) and email to questions@alterna.ca They will then link your additional accounts. The form for Me to Me Transfers can be found at https://www.alternabank.ca/SharedConten ... ccount.pdf

One of the limitations of the Me To Me Transfers at Alterna Bank is you DO NOT have the ability to set up recurring me to me transfers like you can with Tangerine, PC Financial or even other banks that use the same platform as Alterna such as Implicity Financial. So you can only do one time me to me transfers and you will have to initiate a transfer every time manually on Alterna's side.

You also can NOT do a me to me transfer through the mobile app. You have to force your mobile phone to the desktop website or log in on a PC and do the me to me transfer on the computer. They will appear in your drop down list on the desktop website but NOT in the mobile app.

Hope that helps
Thank you sir! To bad you can't me2me with the app.I wonder why they wont allow it.
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May 15, 2013
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Shawguy wrote: Correct. I deposited 3 cheques from 3 different banks.... They only linked the first one. I had to scan and email them the other two with the me to me form in order to get them linked.
Today it's 5 days since I deposited the cheques. I received an email in the morning that my account is now active, however the funds are not available to move neither at least one link has been created.
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iamthebest wrote: Today it's 5 days since I deposited the cheques. I received an email in the morning that my account is now active, however the funds are not available to move neither at least one link has been created.
Same thing happened to me...don't worry it will all be active and funds released in the morning. Your linked account should appear by mid day tomorrow at the latest. The system auto generates the email a day early for some reason. Happened to me too.
Last edited by Shawguy on Mar 22nd, 2017 9:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bobbyg9 wrote: Thank you sir! To bad you can't me2me with the app.I wonder why they wont allow it.
I think it's a limitation of the software by the credit union central (yes even though it's not a credit union... They use the credit union system.) I have another online bank that uses the same mobile app (Implicity) and it has the same limitations with me to me transfers and not being to do them in The mobile APP.

Although With Implicity you can set up recurring me to me transfers yet With Alterna you can not.

Finally when linking Alterna to Implicity and vice versa... The transfers are Instant vs 1 to 2 days with transfers done with other banks... Again I assume because it's all on the credit union central system.
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Shawguy wrote: Same thing happened to me...don't worry it will all be active and funds released in the morning. Your linked account should appear by mid day tomorrow at the latest. The system auto generates the email a day early for some reason. Happened to me too.
Thanks. I'm travelling in a couple of hours, that's why I wanted to have all sorted out.
Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2016
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Shawguy wrote: I think it's a limitation of the software by the credit union central (yes even though it's not a credit union... They use the credit union system.) I have another online bank that uses the same mobile app (Implicity) and it has the same limitations with me to me transfers and not being to do them in The mobile APP.

Although With Implicity you can set up recurring me to me transfers yet With Alterna you can not.

Finally when linking Alterna to Implicity and vice versa... The transfers are Instant vs 1 to 2 days with transfers done with other banks... Again I assume because it's all on the credit union central system.
What do you mean by instant? As in real time? I've noticed with Alterna that if I arrange for a transfer in the morning, the funds are later taken from my HSBC account by the same night.
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Here2day2 wrote: What do you mean by instant? As in real time? I've noticed with Alterna that if I arrange for a transfer in the morning, the funds are later taken from my HSBC account by the same night.
Yes... Instant. Whether I send or pull Initatiating At Implicity Or I send or pull initiating at Alterna... The balances at both Implicity And Alterna are updated within 30 seconds.

Strange thing is pulling to Implicity or sending from Alterna to Implicity the funds are available immediately (Implicity normally has a 10 day hold on all deposits), yet if I pull to Alterna or send from Implicity To Alterna.... There is a 5 day hold, which is strange because normally sending from your other bank (example PCF to Alterna) it's treated as a direct deposit and funds are available immediately, yet With Implicity deposits that is not the case at Alterna.

Yes with my other Banks I notice sometimes that sending money from Alterna to that other bank will show up same day in the evening.... Yet pulling to Alterna from that bank will post the next day.
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What type of overdraft does alterna echequing offer?
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Latebuyer wrote: What type of overdraft does alterna echequing offer?
They bill you every month $2.50 whether you use it or not...not like PC FInancial or Tangerine who only bill you if you use it. It looks like they approve $500-5000 amounts. I didn't apply for Alterna Overdraft because I don't want to pay a fee for something I would never use.
https://www.alternabank.ca/Personal/Eve ... rotection/
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May 3, 2016
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Anyone tried their USD savings at 0.95% rate? Can you link your USD external bank account with them so it won't take days to clear the USD cheque/bank draft?

It's not covered by CDIC though, my only concern. However, don't know better alternative for USD cash.
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wyho007 wrote: Anyone tried their USD savings at 0.95% rate? Can you link your USD external bank account with them so it won't take days to clear the USD cheque/bank draft?

It's not covered by CDIC though, my only concern. However, don't know better alternative for USD cash.
Alliant Credit Union (in the US) pays 1% and is insured. Check 'US bank account and credit card for Canadians' thread for details. You can open account by mail.
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Sep 19, 2009
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I am having some issues with a joint eSavings account and I was wondering how other people are dealing with them. My wife is primary and I am secondary on the account.

  • I am not able to do m-2-m deposits into the joint account although it works fine for my wife and I can do in my single account. I had two long calls with the bank troubleshooting the issue and now their IT is investigating.
  • The account number for the joint account is identical with my wife's account number - they do not assign a new account number - and this creates huge problems. When, from a different bank, I initiate an withdrawal on that account number I don't know if the amount is going to be drawn from my wife's savings or from joint savings.

Looking for some ideas about how to deal with these issues. TIA.
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andrew4321 wrote: I am having some issues with a joint eSavings account and I was wondering how other people are dealing with them. My wife is primary and I am secondary on the account.

  • I am not able to do m-2-m deposits into the joint account although it works fine for my wife and I can do in my single account. I had two long calls with the bank troubleshooting the issue and now their IT is investigating.
  • The account number for the joint account is identical with my wife's account number - they do not assign a new account number - and this creates huge problems. When, from a different bank, I initiate an withdrawal on that account number I don't know if the amount is going to be drawn from my wife's savings or from joint savings.

Looking for some ideas about how to deal with these issues. TIA.
How can the account number for 2 accounts be identical? You mean they are both "1"? Maybe there are some prefix digits they aren't showing you that differ between joint and non-joint.

Isn't that how chequing vs savings works for direct linking from Tangerine/EQ's side?

See:
Shawguy wrote: Chequing is 40(xxx)(mmmmmmm)
Savings is 41(xxx)(mmmmmmm)
TFSA esavings is 43(xxx)(mmmmmmm)

X is the account number...savings 1 is 001, savings 2 is 002, etc

M is your 7 digit member ID.

Bank is 608. Transit is 00016.

So if your member number is 1234567 then your account number for Savings account 1 would be the following: 410011234567
So my theory is if you see two savings with account "001", then the joint one has a different prefix, like "42" or "44".
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ace604 wrote: So my theory is if you see two savings with account "001", then the joint one has a different prefix, like "42" or "44".
Actually you are almost right. When you have multiple accounts, same type, the fifth digit identifies the account. So, "eSavings 1" is 41001, "eSavings 2" is 41002 and so on. The thing is that you don't see that logged online.

Thanks.

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