Customer ReviewsforChildren's Education Funds Inc

***** ******** Advertise that you can transfer to another child. **** * ****  Did not want to give oldest sons funds to him as it was a 2 year program. Had to fight for months. Now second son doesn’t plan to attend post secondary and they won’t let me transfer to his brother: **** *** **********   * **** **** **** ****** ******** ** ** **** *** ***** ** **** ******** **** ******  So disappointed. ** *** **** **** * **** ** **** ******** **** * *****

Dear ******, We understand you would like to proceed with a beneficiary replacement, however due to government regulations both the original Beneficiary and the new Beneficiary need to be under 21 years of age; and (ii) the new Beneficiary is the brother or sister of the original Beneficiary… According to our records, the current beneficiary is over age 21 and therefore we can’t proceed with a beneficiary replacement. Please give us a call and we will be pleased to go over the options available to you.

Terrible customer service. No statements provided; no mail or email correspondence - you have to reach out several times and to several people to get any answers. For point of reference, my other son has an RESP with a competitor. I applied for the payment online and received the money direct deposit within 2 days. This company ignores your emails, has an expected service delivery of 3-5 business days and then charges you fees for late applications - that you didn't know had to be in by a specific date because they don't send anything to you to tell you. I can't even get an answer as to how much remains in the RESP to withdraw. * ***** **** **** **** *** * **** ** *** ****** *******

Like all other subscribers, you were provided subscriber statements every year and they are available on the subscriber portal. According to our records, we sent the EAP Package directly to the beneficiary back in May 2023 with complete information about how to access the remaining payment from the plan. We are pleased to say that it should be easy from here on out. Thanks for taking the time today to discuss your son’s 2023 EAP with us and not to worry, your son provided the EAP forms and everything was smoothly processed! We thank you for choosing CEFI and we wish your son the very best in his upcoming school year!

Over 18 years contributing to this plan for two children and short story is we we lost money and they gained. For one child we contributed over $8400 and we just got back about $6200 from that after fees. Not only did they take over $2000 in their many fees, but the value of the money has dropped over these years. One child's grandparents added a $1200 unit to the plan. We just saw the return of $647 from that. Now we we wait to see what a hassle getting the investment money (or EAP) is. I suspect it is also meager. Would have been better just placing the money in a savings account. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY FOR YOUR CHILDS EDUCATION FUND!!!!

We have reviewed your children’s plans with us. Without disclosing your plan specific information, we would like to say that your children’s plans were opened when they were much older than new born babies. As a result, your plans had less time to grow. Our plan fees are competitive. The difference between us and other non-scholarship plan dealer RESP providers is that we are transparent about the fees and disclose them at the point of sale, annually during the life of the plan and at the time of maturity for the entire life of the plan. Please note that the plan is designed such that you pay fees on your contributions, government grants, and income on them. The plan asset value has not decreased over the life of the plan. The projections have changed as expected due to change in the interest rate environment and market conditions. Updated projections were communicated to you annually via annual subscriber statements. It is unfortunate that you find applying for EAPs a hassle. Government rules require all RESP providers to collect evidence that the child is in fact enrolled in Eligible Studies at an accredited post-secondary institution. The child has to apply for their EAPs so that post-secondary enrolment and residency can be verified. Like all RESP providers, we are unable to determine to pay EAPs without applications. Should you require additional information, please call us toll-free at ###-###-####.

Started our Plans in 2001 and 2003. Lets say its not what was stated at the start of the Program. ** ***** **** **** **** **** *** **** **** **** ***** **** *** **** *** * **** ******** ** ******* **********

We disagree with your conclusion that bank-offered products are better. The projections you received were neither a promise nor a guarantee of investment performance and this fact was disclosed to you at the point of sale. Investment performance of securities is not guaranteed. GICs are guaranteed income certificates, not securities. It is not reasonable to compare apples to oranges. We are confident that stock brokers, mutual fund dealers and banks don’t guarantee performance of any securities they sell. To keep you aware, your annual subscriber statement contained updated projections every year to reflect investment performance and changes in the market conditions.

*** **** **** **** * *** **** **** **** ******** **** *** ********* ** *** ******* *** **** **** ****** ******* Their performance is exaggerated and their fees end up eating most of the grant money. ** **** **** *** **** *** *** ****** ******** ***** ***** **** **** **** ** ***** And getting the money released is no picnic either. **** *****

The plan’s investment objectives are always set up to achieve long term growth of income on subscribers’ net contributions while ensuring the preservation of that income. The Children’s Educational Foundation of Canada (the Foundation) utilizes the investment advisory services of portfolio advisers to achieve its investment objectives. The portfolio advisers are required to manage the assets within the guidelines of the Foundation’s investment policy statement. The net contributions and government grants paid into each plan are invested only in one or more of the following types of securities in accordance with the undertaking: 1. “Government securities”, as such term is defined under National Instrument 81-102 – Investment Funds (which include debt securities of Canadian federal and provincial governments and debt securities of, or guaranteed as to principal and interest by, the federal government of the United States) 2. Certain guaranteed mortgages 3. Mortgage-backed securities, where all of the underlying mortgages are guaranteed mortgages 4. Cash equivalents 5. Guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) and other evidence of indebtedness of Canadian financial institutions where such securities or the financial institution have an approved credit rating In addition to the above-noted securities, income of each plan can also be invested in one or more of the following types of securities in accordance with the undertaking: 1. Debt securities of corporations, provided those corporate bonds have a minimum credit rating 2. Exchange-traded equity securities listed on a stock exchange in Canada such as the TSX 3. “Index participation units” provided that (a) the index participation units are securities of a mutual fund (exchange traded fund or ETF), (b) the ETF trades only on a stock exchange in Canada such as the TSX, (c) the ETF’s investment objective is to replicate the performance of a specified widely quoted market index of Canadian or U.S. equity securities. While the portfolio advisers strive to ensure strong plan performance, no investment is guaranteed. This is disclosed in the Prospectus. The prices of the investments held by the plan can and do go up or down. Some of the risks that can cause the value of the plan’s investments to change, which affect the amount of Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs) available to beneficiaries include interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk and other price risk (equities). Interest rate risk is the risk of a lower return from interest-bearing fixed income securities as a result of fluctuations in market interest rates. Yields on bonds continually decreased for 20 years before the unprecedented increase in interest rates in 2022. For example, the yield on a 10-year Government of Canada Bond decreased from approximately 8.6% in 1995 to around 1% in 2021. This decrease in yields has directly impacted the investment income available in the plan pool to distribute as EAPs as well as funds available in the Scholarship Enhancement Fund. In spite of these all-time lows in bond yields, our group option plan has performed in a satisfactory manner. Bond prices have an inverse relationship with interest rates and the sharp increase in the interest rates led to a sharp decrease in the market value of the bonds in 2022. Your investment portfolio performed better than the applicable index. We disagree with your assertion that plan performance is exaggerated. EAP values per unit are determined each year, and reviewed by our auditors, and are comprised of investment income of plans eligible for EAPs, attrition income from cancelled plans and payment from the Scholarship Enhancement Fund. The RESPs are designed for funding a child’s post-secondary education. If a child does not pursue post-secondary studies, government rules dictate what happens to the government grants, income earned in the plan and taxation of it. Banks also have to follow the same rules. The fees charged by our plans are competitive. We are completely transparent about them and disclose them to you at the point of sale, on yearly basis and at the time of maturity. We disagree that bank RESPs are better or cheaper. In the fiscal year 2022, the Canadian banks collectively made an adjusted net income of $60.7 billion. Clearly, banks have fees too.

**** ******* Too easy for them to take our money. Too much trouble to get money to pay for college fees. Not transferrable to another child. 2 agreements funds invested almost 30 years, CEFI only willing to refund 60% of total investments. They made so much interests from our money since 1999.

****** ****** **** **** ****** ** ******* *** ********** ******** * ***** Keeping your information current and providing documentation to us in a timely manner to access your funds is your and your beneficiary's responsibility. The income earned in the pool is shared among all beneficiaries in the pool and not kept by us as you assert.

** ********** **** ***** **** ** * ******** ******** You will pay them for 18 years. When the time to get your money back, you will hear the stories which were never told when you were enrolling with them, I had a very bitter experience with this company still going on. Just a teaser. My son has completed 1 year of university but I did not get the first check yet. Can you imagine to accumulates money for education but it was not available when you needed it most? ** ******* ** ********** ** ** ********** **** **** *** ** *** ********* *** **** **** ****** **** ******** They have so many insane fine prints which are not told when selling you the membership. You may never have imagined these ***** things existed. **** *** **** ** **** ***** **** **** *** **** ** ******** ***** ***** ** **** **** **** *** ***** ********** ********* **** **** ** ****** ******* **** **** ****** ****** ******

It is unfortunate that you feel the way you do, however, we see no evidence of an unreasonable delay. The payment in question was processed expeditiously and sent to the subscriber via ********** free of charge after the stop payment procedures were completed. Within 2 days of being notified that the cheque first mailed was not received, a replacement cheque was provided and expedited to the subscribers. CEFI provides all the information and disclosure required by law in the appropriate font size or higher. Providing transparent information to subscribers is a priority for us. If you have any concerns that you would like for us to address, please reach out to us at ###-###-#### or at ****@****.ca.

This company is a high-interest loaner. Of the Total Contributions of $19,466.13, only $12,657.97 was returned and $6,808.16 was taken as fees. The fee is 34.97%!! Total Government Grants Received $3,676.81 EAP $0 (They say it's gone forever because I didn't apply for a deferral.) Are you kidding?

CEFI is not a lending institution and we do not enter into lending arrangements.

The fees you paid were on ALL assets in your RESP – your net Contributions, government grants, income on your net Contributions and government grants, and any other monies in your plan. Therefore, presenting fees as a percentage of your contributions is not a fair representation. The fees you paid in your plan were over the life of the plan, that is, more than 17 years.

Our records indicate that the fees were explained to you in November 2020 after you had escalated the issue to BBB in October 2020.

So far, you have only received back net contributions because you did not apply for Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs) which include investment income, Government grants, attrition payments and your share of payment from the Scholarship Enhancement Fund.

In order to be eligible for an Educational Assistance Payment
i.  An RESP beneficiary must be enrolled full-time or part-time;
ii. In a qualifying educational program at a post-secondary educational institution (eligible studies)
Qualifying educational program and post-secondary educational institution are defined by the Canada Revenue Agency.

In July 2021, we explained the EAP deadline and EAP forfeiture if you failed to apply for an EAP or postpone your EAP. Despite numerous follow-ups by us, you failed to respond and did not choose either option. As a result, you lost your first EAP. As per the terms of your RESP, the forfeited EAP was paid to the other beneficiaries in the cohort who did follow the process to receive their EAP.

Presently, there are 2 EAPs left in the plan and all forms are due by Aug 1 in the year in which you apply. Government grants can only be paid with EAPs.

If you need help, please feel free to call us at ###-###-####.