Support Person: For individuals needing a support person when calling our Contact Centre or visiting a branch, Alterna will:

• Permit the support person on premises/on the phone
• Allow support person, if requested by the customer, to attend meetings
• Request permission from customer to discuss confidential account information with support person present
• Ensure the customer and support person understands that the support person is there to accompany the customer and therefore cannot direct or act for the customer

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Braille Statements: Can be requested through our Contact Centre by calling 1.866.560.0120 or if you opened your account in a branch, directly there.

Read more about our accessibility standards.

Help planning your financial future

Here are some resources that will help ensure your financial plan continues to meet your future needs:

• Direct Investing: With Qtrade® Investor, make decisions with confidence and achieve your financial goals with tools and resources tailored to your unique situation.
• Power of Attorney (POA) and Joint Deposit Account (JDA): These may be used if you wish to give someone else authority to do banking for you. Keep in mind, there can be both risks and advantages to POAs and JDAs. You can find important information about POAs and JDAs here
• Financial Planning Calculators: We offer calculators that can help you work out the details of your financial plan and assist you in reaching your goals such as:
  • Mortgage Calculator
  • Loan Calculator
  • RRIF Calculator
  • TFSA Calculator
  • Foreign Exchange Calculator and more.

TIP: The Government of Canada provides programs and services to help you ensure your later years are safe and secure. Visit their website.

Keeping safe when banking online

We are committed to providing you with a safe and secure banking experience that ensures the integrity of your account information. You also have a role to play in staying safe when transacting online.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. There are a variety of methods scammers use to take advantage of their victims. That’s why recognizing and understanding different types of fraud is your responsibility and can keep you and your finances safe. Click here to read more about avoiding scams.

You can learn more about how Alterna protects you and the role you play in protecting yourself by reviewing our: Security and Privacy section.

TIP: To keep up to date with the most recent scams targeting Canadians, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website, www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.

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Once you’ve obtained your temporary password, log in to online banking with 4 easy steps:

• Go to Alterna’s Online Banking page
• Enter in your customer number where it says, “Login ID”
• Enter your temporary password where it says, “Password”
• Update your password and proceed to Online Banking

TIP: Create a Strong Password: It’s important to choose a unique word or phrase that you will remember. You should use a combination of both lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols (such as “!” or “?”). Remember, the more complex the password, the stronger it will be.

Online Banking and Mobile Banking Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Further questions? Click here and select the “ONLINE & MOBILE BANKING” tab to review more FAQs regarding Online Banking and Mobile Banking.

Helpful forms

Here is a list of forms that may assist you when doing your day-to-day banking transactions:

• Direct Deposit/Pre-Authorized Debit Form
• Me-2-Me Authorization Form
• Joint Account Authorization Form
• Transfer your RRSP or TFSA Funds to Alterna (T2033 Form)

Please note: to access these forms, you must first log in to your Online Banking.

TIP: Stay in Touch with Email Updates: Click here to subscribe by selecting the Email Sign Up tab.

Seniors Code

Alterna is committed to supporting seniors with their banking needs. We at Alterna have put in place all of the requirements needed to meet the Code of Conduct for the Delivery of Banking Services to Seniors (“the Code”), which guides Canadian banks in their delivery of banking products and services to Canada’s seniors. 

Alterna has strengthened our policies and procedures to help employees identify incidents of suspected financial fraud, financial abuse and scams, and indicators that a customer may be suffering from diminished capacity. We have also provided details on how to escalate any concerns in this regard. We have updated our branch closure policy to consider market demographics when proceeding with branch closures, including the needs of seniors.

 A Seniors Champion was selected to lead the implementation of the Code; build awareness with Alterna employees of matters affecting seniors; and engage with seniors, organizations representing seniors and subject matter expert. 

We’ve made updates on our public website and to our internal information resources to increase visibility and education around banking for seniors. These include:

• The development of the Senior Support Centre which is a new online resource page to provide wide-ranging resources and support for seniors and their support persons. The resources include self-serve banking, banking package discounts,  online fraud protection, financial planning, information on powers of attorney and joint accounts, accessibility options and helpful forms.
• Internal resources for employees to create greater awareness about the tools, training and resources available to help them assist and protect seniors including consolidating of this information for ease of reference; and
• The creation of a new annual mandatory training module on the Code for all employees covering powers of attorney, joint deposit accounts, supporting seniors with diminished capacity, financial abuse, fraud, scams, financial harm identification, escalation processes, and the available resources for senior customers and employees.

Alterna is proud to serve our seniors as a bank that puts customers before profits with services, products and the total transparency we call the good in banking.