This week, I opened a new bank account at EQ Bank. (This is not an affiliated link. I will not get paid if you click on it.) This bank pays its customers higher interest than the other banks. The added cherry on this sundae is that this bank will not charge you bank fees.
I check my bank balances every day. It’s habit that soothes me. I like to know how much money I have, and how close I am to meeting my financial goals. I have different accounts for different purposes: emergency savings, travel, home maintenance/repair, vehicle replacement fund, retirement savings, fun money. Each account is dedicated to a particular financial goal. Thus, I’m able to pay cash when it’s time for me to spend my money on achieving each goal.
(For the record, I bank at several institutions. It’s my slightly irrational belief that it’s best to spread my money around. If one of them goes down, then I’m not completely screwed by losing access to every single penny beyond what’s in my wallet. And if all the banks go down at the same time, then that means the extra-terrestrials have landed and I’ve got other things to worry about!)
Last week, for a lark, I decided to find out how much interest I was being paid on each of my savings accounts… When I found out the posted rate for one of my savings accounts, I was not amused.
One of my banks was paying me 0.010% per annum… No, that’s not a typo. They literally only pay 1/100 of a percentage point for balances over $1,000. For balances less than $1K, the bank pays 0.005% per annum.
WTF?!??!
Instead of getting mad, I decided to be proactive. I could have railed against the “greedy banks”, but why? Being enraged about interest rates offered by the banks has never resulted in those rates going up. I realized that there was no need to be angry or upset. It was easier and less stressful to simply solve the Problem of Low Interest Rates by moving my money to another bank.
The question then became, which one?
TLDR – I found a bank with higher interest, no fees.
Enter EQ Bank.
You may be asking yourself how EQ Bank earned the privilege of being the repository of my emergency funds. For starters, EQ Bank pays a rate of 2.30%, regardless of the balance. No matter whether it’s a dollar in the account or $200,000 in the account, I’ll earn 2.30% on my money. That minor detail certainly caught my attention.
Secondly, EQ Bank doesn’t charge its customers bank fees. For the uninitiated, you should know that I don’t pay bank fees as a general rule. Back in the Stone Age, before e-transfers became common, I might have purchased a draft or a certified cheque. Fine – an occasional hit to the pocketbook for something out of the ordinary. I didn’t like it, but I could tolerate it.
Paying bank fees month-in-and-month-out? To make my own deposits, my own withdrawals, transfers & utility payments?
Uh, no thank you! I have options, like banking with Tangerine and Simplii Financial. (Again, these are not affiliated links. I will not get paid if you click on them.) These are two of the best-known online banks in Canada. Their interest rates are higher than the brick-and-mortar banks, and they don’t force you to pay monthly bank fees. I’ve been banking with them for years.
However, EQ Bank pays a higher interest rate than both of them. If you want to get technical, EQ Bank’s rate is 2X higher than that of the other online banks at the time of writing this post .
Do Your Own Research
In the eternally wise words of a very dear friend, don’t be a Dum-Dum.
If you decide to switch banks, then read the information on your chosen banking institution’s website. The information is there so read it before you make any decisions. It’s your money so you have to be responsible for it.
Once again, for the cheap seats in the bank, EQ Bank offers you higher interest with no fees. For those still in doubt, trust me when I say that 2.3% is more than 0.010%.
If you’re satisfied with the rate your bank is paying you on your money (and you shouldn’t be if that rate is less than 2.3%), then do something about it.
Like I said earlier, you’ll earn 2.3% at EQ Bank even if you only have $17.58 in your account. And who could argue with that?