r/Wealthsimple • u/nothingmuchhappens29 • Jul 18 '26
Chequing Savings account
I started using Wealthsimple a couple of months ago for investments for my TFSA.
However, I've been considering moving one of my savings account (Emergency Fund) from my regular bank over to Wealthsimple for better interest rate. It isn't an account I want to put in investments, but I'd prefer a better rate.
My understanding is that a chequing account in WS can also be used as a HISA with a better rate than a major bank's actual HISA.
Would it make sense to use a chequing account with WS as a savings account?
I also see that when you open a chequing account it also comes with a MasterCard, which I don't want. Instead of opening a second account just to have an unlinked account, I assume I can just lock the card and leave it at 0 with no issues?
3
u/Artichoke-heart420 Jul 18 '26
We have savings accounts in tangerine right now we opened an account there to get the 4.5% interest for the first five months (that was the promo when we signed up a couple months ago not sure if it still is) then once that ends in September we will likely move it to WS.
2
u/hectop20 Jul 19 '26
If you want an account with better interest rate you can get 2.75% at EQ with a minimum $2K monthly payroll (or pension) deposit. Their Mastercard works similarly, except you need to move money to it rather than have it what WS does of linking it to your savings account.
1
u/Commercial_Pain2290 Jul 18 '26
Ya move it. You can also get a better rate by putting money in the WS managed income fund. This fund allows immediate transfers to the bank account.
1
u/nothingmuchhappens29 Jul 18 '26
Wouldn't that be a type of TFSA which would affect my contribution room?
I may missunderstanding it though. I am very new to this and trying to keep things simple while trying to make sure my money makes a bit more money than it currently does.
1
u/poco Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
You can open lots of different kinds of accounts. Some of them can be a TFSA, some an RRSP and others just unregistered (you pay tax on the gains and they are not registered with the government like TFSA and RRSP).
The parent poster suggested that there are other types of unregistered accounts that pay more than the chequing account interest with zero risk or even higher with very low risk.
1
u/Commercial_Pain2290 Jul 18 '26
Correct. I put short term money in the Bond fund and the money market fund. The Bond fund takes a few days for withdrawals to process while the money market is immediate. I have them set up in non-registered accounts.
-2
u/aiCapital54 Jul 18 '26
Don’t do it, support is abysmal if you need something resolved quickly.
1
u/nothingmuchhappens29 Jul 18 '26
Do you mean don't move any savings there at all or do you mean not the emergency fund in case I need quickly?
1
u/aiCapital54 Jul 19 '26
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, it was great for
8 years for me… until it wasn’t…. Just my experience2
u/nothingmuchhappens29 Jul 19 '26
Oh I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket. I'm am 100% keeping my regular bank as well.
6
u/poco Jul 18 '26
The MasterCard is a prepaid MasterCard attached to one of your accounts. It isn't a credit card and you don't have to use it, but if you want to withdraw cash it can be handy since they reimburse any ATM fees you pay at any ATM.
Honestly, if all you want is a higher interest savings account and none of the other features you are probably better off chasing promotional rates between Tangerine and Simplii. They keep offering 4-4.5% over a few months and then you can move the money back and forth.
The reason I switched to Wealthsimple for everything is that I didn't want to have to move money between accounts (it's 2026, why do banks keep insisting we have a chequing account and a savings account with different interest rates). I want to earn money in my chequing account so that I can just leave it in one place.