Equitable Bank has already established to add staff to its account opening operations and call centre after being overwhelmed with individuals attempting to make the most of a new checking account that pays three percent interest.
Equitable Bank is creating a splash using its 3% interest rate – here’s how they do it
High-interest savings accounts is one method to grab attention in the financial services world, and Equitable Bank is the latest to embrace the strategy by having an eye-popping three-per-cent rate.
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“Processing account openings did get supported soon after launch,” Andrew Moor, Equitable’s leader, told the Financial Post.
He said the extra staff had “just about caught up” using the backlog Wednesday night.
Now, work is embracing explaining to customers whenever they can expect their new accounts to be opened.
“Our call centre has been unable to cope with emailing our customers and supplying the service we feel our customers deserve and should expect,” Moor said.
Additional call centre employees are being deployed “to ensure we can deal with concerns as they arise,” he explained, adding that there’s a lag of about five business days to process a cheque and open a new account even when the operation is working smoothly.
“We need to do a more satisfactory job in becoming absolutely clear on these timelines and are working on that,” Moor said.
“This is not an immediate process but we are working on it tough.”
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Debra Powell, a Kamloops, B.C., resident, said she put a stop payment on her behalf cheque earlier this year after waiting about two weeks for a new account at EQ bank to become opened.
“I thought, I am not feeling that comfortable,” Powell said in an interview, adding that they searched for an email address online and contacted the bank.
“They responded a few days later that they are so overwhelmed they couldn’t keep up,” she said.
Equitable, an established player in the alternative mortgage space, launched the new internet banking venture in January underneath the banner EQ Bank.
The target would be to open 10,000 accounts this season by tapping approximately $400 billion relaxing in Canadian bank accounts that pay hardly any or no interest.
Still, Moor allowed that demand for EQ Bank’s high-interest savings account “surprised us a bit.”
Most high-interest savings accounts are marketed as promotional, or short-term, but Equitable didn’t put a timeline on its offer to pay more than traditional accounts.
Moor told the Financial Post last month that the bank can make cash on multiplication between your high rate paid around the savings accounts and the interest charged on many of its mortgages, that are extended to clients whose credit profiles are too thin or weak to secure lower-interest loans from traditional banks.
Still, he explained EQ Bank’s savings account rate would probably be reduced at some point.
