Most weeks, the story for savers is the GIC table. Not this week. Every top GIC rate is exactly where it was two weeks ago, but the interesting moves are happening in regular savings accounts.
WealthOne Bank and Manulife Bank now share the top standard high interest savings rate at 3.00 per cent, nudging aside Saven Financial, which had held the lead at 2.85 per cent for several months.
WealthOne’s RRSP High Interest Savings Account pays 3.00 per cent on any balance with no minimum. Its Non-Registered HISA uses a tiered structure: 2.60 per cent on balances under $10,000, 2.75 per cent from $10,000 to $24,999, and 3.00 per cent on balances of $25,000 and above.
Manulife’s 3.00-per-cent rate applies to non-registered accounts only, with no minimum balance required, though it is valid only for two years on new deposits.
Fintechs are aggressively competing, too. Neo Financial gets close by paying up to 2.75 per cent once your balance tops $20,000, while KOHO actually outpaces the traditional players at 3.50 per cent — though that top rate requires a $14.75 monthly plan.
Promo savings accounts still win on headline rate, but that rate lasts only three to five months. BMO just bumped its promo savings offer to 4.75 per cent for four months, trailed by a 4.60 per cent tie from Simplii (five months), RBC (three months) and CIBC (three months). These are handy for short-term cash, as long as you move it once the promo ends and the rate collapses.
The GICs, meanwhile, haven’t moved a hair. The best one-year GIC is still 3.65 per cent from MCAN, with Achieva and Saven tied behind at 3.60 per cent. If you have TFSA room, TFSA GICs are worth a look too, since the interest comes out tax-free.
The middle of the curve remains flat. The best two-year GICs and three-year GICs both pay 3.90 per cent, shared by WealthOne and MCAN, with Saven holding the second place at 3.85 per cent for each.
The best five-year GIC is 4.10 per cent from WealthOne, ahead of a 4.05 per cent tie between MCAN, Achieva and Saven. WealthOne is everywhere on this table right now.
One last thing worth noticing: longer GICs now out-earn fixed mortgages. The best five-year fixed mortgage rate sits at 3.94 per cent and the three-year at 3.84 per cent, both below the comparable GICs. So the money you lock away is quietly earning a little more than the money other people are borrowing.
Interest rates are provided by WOWA.ca, which gathers, aggregates and freely disseminates data on mortgage rates, savings accounts, and GIC rates from 50+ Canadian financial institutions.
Sanika Purohit is a writer and content developer at WOWA.ca, a Canadian personal finance platform.
