Achieva Daily Savings Account Info & Reviews

Information about the Achieva Daily Savings Account

Product Name	Achieva Daily Savings Account
Available In	Canada (All Provinces)
Offered By	Achieva Financial
Product Page	Achieva Daily Savings Account
Interest Rate	2.85 %  Interest Rate Increased from 2.4 % to 2.85 % on September 9, 2022 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years All Data
Minimum Balance	$25
Withdrawal Fee	$1.00 (1 Free/Month)
Other Fees	Cash withdrawals at any Credit Union ATM in Canada: $0.60 Cash withdrawals at other Canadian ATMs: $2.60 Cash withdrawals at American ATMs: $3.50 Cash withdrawals at ATMs in other countries: $5.00 Payments using an Interac debit card: $0.60 Bill Payments: $0.50 Cheque Stop Payment: $10 - $15 Non Sufficient Fund Charge: $35 Account Closing: $10 (if done within 6 months of opening the account, free otherwise) Inactivity Charge: Entire account balance if balance is less than $25 (no charge if balance of 25$ or more is maintained)
Fund Transfers	Deposits: Electronic Funds Transfer Direct Deposit Automated Savings Program Credit Union ATM Mail Withdrawals: Electronic Funds Transfer Credit Union ATM Debit Card Cheque
Deposit Insurance	DGCM
Additional Notes	Achieva will pay you $1.00 a month if you choose to receive electronic statements instead of having them delivered by regular mail.
Editor's Review	Achieva Financial (along with the other prominent virtual Manitoban Credit Unions such as Outlook Financial and MAXA Financial) has always offered the highest interest rates of any savings accounts. As of the writing of this review (June 23, 2011), Achieva currently offers an interest rate of 2.00% on its daily savings account. This is the same rate as Ally and higher than most other high interest savings accounts. It is a higher rate that that offered, for instance, by ING Direct (1.50% currently) and Canadian Tire Bank (1.75% currently). A big advantage that this account has over other high interest savings accounts is that it can also be used as a chequing account (albeit one with high fees). Achieva provides you with a free cheque book so it is possible to write cheques directly from your Achieva savings account. They also offer a credit union bank/debit card which makes it possible to pay for retail purchases directly from your savings account using direct debit and lets you withdraw cash from any ATM. Lastly, Achieva's online system lets you pay bills directly from your high interest savings account. (This last feature came in handy when paying my rather large annual tuition fees at the University of Toronto when I was a student). It is not possible to have this level of convenience with other high interest savings accounts. For example, Ally and Canadian Tire bank do not allow any such transactions (no bank card is provided) and ING Direct only allows cash withdrawals from ATMs. Although Achieva does charge fees for most of these transactions (1 free cheque is allowed every month), the fees are reasonable if you are only using these chequing account features once in a while (for example, in emergency situations). One downside with this account used to be that you could not do an electronic funds transfer between your regular chequing account at your regular bank and your Achieva savings account. To deposit money, you had to mail a cheque to Achieva's P.O. Box in Winnipeg and to withdraw money you had to write a cheque to yourself and have it cashed at your regular bank. This issue appears to have been resolved recently with the introduction of electronic funds transfers at Achieva. The main downside to this account is that it is not insued by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). Although it is insured by the Deposit Guarantee Corporation of Manitoba(with no limit as to how much money is covered per account), this provincial insurance may not be as strong as that offered by the CDIC. While the CDIC is backed by the Canadian federal government (which can draw on a tax base of over 30 million people), the Manitoban credit union insurance fund would, at best, be backed by the provincial government of Manitoba (which can only draw on a tax base of a little over 1 million people if it needed to bail the fund out in case of mass bankruptcies in the Manitoban credit union system). To put this into perspective, consider that the entire province of Manitoba has a population that is less than half the size of that of the city of Toronto. For these reasons, SiliconGuide.com recommends only keeping modest amounts of savings at Achieva Financial.

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Reviews and Comments for the Achieva Daily Savings Account

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Alexander on October 29, 2012	Overall Rating:
Don't waste your time opening an account at Achieva. They'd require copies of SIN, Driver's license and.... Birth Certificate (why???). I have a perfect credit rating, my information can be easily verified. Yet, I had to cancel my application after 2 weeks waiting for them to process it. Customer Service:   Cost/Rates/Value:   Convenience:   Features:
Eric on September 22, 2012	Overall Rating:
I agree with you Marcel. It is nice that Achieva pays us $1.00 every month for choosing electronic statements over paper statements. What a refreshing approach! With everyone else, you are either offered no incentive at all to switch to electronic statements or you are charged a monthly service fee for staying with paper statements. I prefer carrots to sticks. Customer Service:   Cost/Rates/Value:   Convenience:   Features:
Marcel on August 7, 2012	Overall Rating:
I opened an Achieva daily savings account in Feb. 2012 and so far I am very pleased with this institution. I like the 2% interest rate they offer, which is higher than anyone else. I also have an RRSP and an TFSA account with them at 3.5%. I am also impressed with their $1.00 a month electronic statements instead of having them delivered by regular mail. Customer Service:   Cost/Rates/Value:   Convenience:   Features: