Innovative lender offers big banks’ promo rates as its regular rate

A small bank takes on Canada’s big lenders with its latest offering: 1.95 per cent interest—the usual promo rate among the big banks—as its regular rate.

In an October 13 press release, Alterna Bank announced its competitive eSavings Rate, which the Bank touted as a no-strings-attached policy without “a promotional expiry date or hidden terms within the fine print.”

The launch also came with the Bank’s inauguration of innovative marketing campaign that will aim to enlighten the public on the strategies that big banks use to entice consumers into buying their products.

“More than ever, big banks are using ‘teaser rate tricks’ to capture new customers and create the illusion of saving money for long term capital gain,” Alterna said in its news release.

The campaign is the second half of Alterna’s two-pronged approach towards taking on the industry giants, in keeping with its goal to establish itself as the wave of the future.

“All banks should be working for consumers and not the other way around. By creating transparent, educational savings strategies consumers can feel comfortable knowing they understand their financial plan and feel relaxed knowing that Alterna Bank is not going hide anything in their fine print,” Alterna president and CEO Rob Paterson said.

Among these “teaser rate tricks” are:

- The “sunsetting” of aged (or even defunct) accounts with tempting terms like “Advantage” and “Bonus”;

- Temporary high interest promotional rates, designed to snare bargain hunters;

- Limited-time, short-term bonus promotions that do not have a clear expiry date, after which the rate is set to a lower value than the marketplace offering at the time; and

- Ending promotional offers during Thanksgiving, Christmas, or other busy parts of the year, as consumers are often too busy during these times to adjust their banking strategies.

MBN

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