PC Financial launch new Interest Plus savings account

I went with a friend today to a local PC Financial kiosk to have him set up with a new bank account to earn a better interest rate on his cash savings. When we got there, the sales rep informed us of a new Interest Plus Savings Account.

The account pays 4% interest as long as there is a balance of $1000 or higher. If the balance falls below $1000, the interest earned is 1%. It has the same no fee structure and like the Interest First savings account, an individual has access to the funds at any time after one business day. A new nationwide marketing campaign is being launched July 15th to promot the new account

I immediately opened an account and transferred my cash from my existing Interest First savings account. I was just about to send in a cheque to Altamira to take advantage of the High Interest Cash Performer earning 3.75%. From what I can see the new Interest Plus Savings account has the best interest rate offered on any Canadian bank accounts and also beats 1 year GIC rates.

Second Quarter in Review

3 months since my last post. Not exactly what I envisioned but I've been pretty busy. Despite the end of personal tax season, I have been extremely busy at work working on corporate year ends and in my spare time I've been wedding planning and enjoying the summer.

Here's what I've been up to over the past 3 months
- A savings rate of 43%, excluding wedding expenses a savings rate of 53%

- My investments have lost 5.5% or $2,400 since March 31st. This actually had been closer to 10%, but thanks to the late week rally after Bernanke's 25bps rate increase, I recovered some of the losses.

- I've got $20,000 in cash, earning 3.1%. I'm looking into improving this by considering the Altamira Cash Performer which Canadian Capitalist talked about this week. I won't be using my brokerage account but rather will invest directly with Altamira by linking to my chequing account, so I am not concerned about the redemption fees. I am also considering the GIC ladders but for my very short-term time frame I don't think it will be worth the hassle.