The EQ Bank Personal Account thread - 2.50% (+1.50% direct deposit) - USD account is out: 3.00%
NOTE: EQ has bring back the referral program for the mean time. NO REQUESTING REFERRALS IN THIS THREAD ELSE YOUR POST WILL BE DELETED AND/OR YOU MAY GET AN INFRACTION!
USD account launched as of June 2nd, 2021!
TFSA: https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/tfsas (3.00%)
RRSP: https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/rsp (3.00%)
USD: https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/ ... anking/usd (3.00%)
As there are lots of requests on having a separate thread in the Personal Finance forum, well here is your wish come true
The thread here will be focused on discussions about this account (features, bank linking, etc), where the hot deals forum thread will be more focused on account opening. The link to the hot deals thread is here: eq-bank-online-bank-3-everyday-interest-rate-1903377/
Bank website: https://www.eqbank.ca/index
Interest rate history:
- October 17th, 2022 to Today > 2.50%
- September 6th, 2022 to October 16th, 2022 > 2.00%
- June 24th, 2022 to September 5th, 2022 > 1.65%
- April 11th, 2022 to June 23rd, 2022 > 1.50%
- April 16th, 2021 to April 10th, 2022 > 1.25%
- October 8th, 2020 to April 15th, 2021 > 1.50%
- August 6th, 2020 to October 7th, 2020 > 1.70%
- March 10th, 2020 to August 5th, 2020 > 2.00%
- Jan 23th, 2020 to March 09, 2020 > 2.45%
- May 4th, 2017 to Jan 22, 2020 > 2.30%
- August 25th, 2016 to May 3rd, 2017 > 2.00%
- April 18th, 2016 to August 24th, 2016 > 2.25%
- Jan 14, 2016 (1st day) to April 17th, 2016 > 3.00%
Pros:
- No monthly fees
- No minimum balance requirements
- Free bill payments (Max $5,000 per payment)
- Allows pre-authorized transfers/payments
- Supports direct deposit and joint accounts
- Free EFT transfers on linked accounts (max 100k inbound, 30k outbound per transfer)
- Unlimited Interac e-transfers ($3,000 max per transfer)
- Customer service: 1-844-437-2265 (8 AM - midnight EST)
- Member of CDIC (Under Equitable Bank)
Cons:
- Limit of 10 external linked bank accounts
- EQ needs you to log into your bank site in order to link accounts
- You have to ask EQ to deleted linked accounts
- 5 business day hold on all pulled-transferred funds (though to be fair, standard in the online non-big 5 related-banks banking world)
- No debit card, cannot do withdrawals/deposits through ATM (can be overcame by Interac e-Transfers)
This account is not available in Quebec.
Note: When linking EQ through an external bank, use institution # (623) and transit # (80002)
Note #2: If you decide to close your account, EQ will not let you open one again! So think twice before you close it.
Note #3: A soft credit check is done when opening the account.
Other interesting things about this account:
- For accounts that are opened before Feb 21, 2016, you can only have a maximum of $500,000 in the account (Before interest).
- For accounts that are opened after Feb 21, 2016, you can only have a maximum of $200,000 in the account (Before interest).
If you find anything that I have not mentioned above (or any errors I made), please let me know and I will update the post.
Old stuff:
- Ability to link external accounts through micro-deposits
- 30 minute wait on receiving Interac e-Transfers, no matter the amount
having the birthday bonus every year alone is well worth it for me (though that may be removed in the future), and
5 free Interac e-transfers per month ($1.50 per transfer after)
Note: Do not open the account directly at EQ, as you can get $30 cb from opening the account at GCR (google it yourself) or at High Interest Savings.
NOTE: You cannot just *open* the account now. You have to reserve a spot on the wait list, and EQ will contact you once you can open the account. (Waiting list not needed starting 30/05/2016)
NOTE: EFT Bank to Bank Transfer is not working as of this post's last update time. Interac EMT *should be working* (10/07/2016) (EFT working again as of 13/07/2016)
Update 05/23/17: Starting today there will be a $25 account opening referral (5 referrals only) until June 20th. Do not ask or hint for referrals in your posts/sig, else they will be deleted and you will get an infraction.
Update @ Nov 1st, 2017: The EQ outage incident was on the news: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1249091
So as we all know, the best thing about this account is that it offers 3% interest, although we know that could be lowered anytime. It has been already dropped twice and it's still not been a year yet (refer to below for rate history). Rate as of May 4th, 2017 is 2.30% thanks to the crisis at Home Capital Group.
- $25 birthday bonus every year (Per multiple users, this has been removed starting 08/14/2016)
USD account launched as of June 2nd, 2021!
TFSA: https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/tfsas (3.00%)
RRSP: https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/rsp (3.00%)
USD: https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/ ... anking/usd (3.00%)
As there are lots of requests on having a separate thread in the Personal Finance forum, well here is your wish come true
The thread here will be focused on discussions about this account (features, bank linking, etc), where the hot deals forum thread will be more focused on account opening. The link to the hot deals thread is here: eq-bank-online-bank-3-everyday-interest-rate-1903377/
Bank website: https://www.eqbank.ca/index
Interest rate history:
- October 17th, 2022 to Today > 2.50%
- September 6th, 2022 to October 16th, 2022 > 2.00%
- June 24th, 2022 to September 5th, 2022 > 1.65%
- April 11th, 2022 to June 23rd, 2022 > 1.50%
- April 16th, 2021 to April 10th, 2022 > 1.25%
- October 8th, 2020 to April 15th, 2021 > 1.50%
- August 6th, 2020 to October 7th, 2020 > 1.70%
- March 10th, 2020 to August 5th, 2020 > 2.00%
- Jan 23th, 2020 to March 09, 2020 > 2.45%
- May 4th, 2017 to Jan 22, 2020 > 2.30%
- August 25th, 2016 to May 3rd, 2017 > 2.00%
- April 18th, 2016 to August 24th, 2016 > 2.25%
- Jan 14, 2016 (1st day) to April 17th, 2016 > 3.00%
Pros:
- No monthly fees
- No minimum balance requirements
- Free bill payments (Max $5,000 per payment)
- Allows pre-authorized transfers/payments
- Supports direct deposit and joint accounts
- Free EFT transfers on linked accounts (max 100k inbound, 30k outbound per transfer)
- Unlimited Interac e-transfers ($3,000 max per transfer)
- Customer service: 1-844-437-2265 (8 AM - midnight EST)
- Member of CDIC (Under Equitable Bank)
Cons:
- Limit of 10 external linked bank accounts
- EQ needs you to log into your bank site in order to link accounts
- You have to ask EQ to deleted linked accounts
- 5 business day hold on all pulled-transferred funds (though to be fair, standard in the online non-big 5 related-banks banking world)
- No debit card, cannot do withdrawals/deposits through ATM (can be overcame by Interac e-Transfers)
This account is not available in Quebec.
Note: When linking EQ through an external bank, use institution # (623) and transit # (80002)
Note #2: If you decide to close your account, EQ will not let you open one again! So think twice before you close it.
Note #3: A soft credit check is done when opening the account.
Other interesting things about this account:
- For accounts that are opened before Feb 21, 2016, you can only have a maximum of $500,000 in the account (Before interest).
- For accounts that are opened after Feb 21, 2016, you can only have a maximum of $200,000 in the account (Before interest).
If you find anything that I have not mentioned above (or any errors I made), please let me know and I will update the post.
Old stuff:
Last edited by angel_wing0 on Aug 5th, 2020 2:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.