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Coast Capital’s new Elevate Chequing Account is designed to help unlock financial opportunities for Canadians.

Photo courtesy Coast Capital

Coast Capital introduces first-of-its-kind account that aims to help people earn more

By Richmond Sentinel

Published 10:19 PDT, Fri April 12, 2024

Last Updated: 10:20 PDT, Fri April 12, 2024

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Canada’s largest federal financial cooperative and Certified B CorporationTM, Coast Capital, has launched its new Elevate Chequing Account*, designed to help unlock financial opportunities for people in Canada.

The launch comes as Canadians continue to struggle financially. Nearly half (47 per cent) of Canadians indicate they are living pay cheque-to-pay cheque and nearly a third (33 per cent) report not making enough money each month to cover their bills and debt repayments.

An Omnibus commissioned by Coast Capital further demonstrates the seemingly impossible financial situation many are facing. The study found:

72 per cent of Canadians do not believe that better budgeting or increased savings alone would improve their situation.
48 per cent believe that obtaining additional education or skills training would help them increase their current income.

Recognizing these realities, Coast Capital has reimagined everyday banking with an account that gives its members the power to elevate their earning potential through access to education and skills training. The Elevate Chequing Account has banking features like free Interac e-Transfers and identity theft monitoring, plus it comes with free access to Coursera’s global online learning platform.

With Coursera, Coast Capital members can access more than 11,000 world-class courses and job-ready professional certificates across sectors and industries from the world’s top universities and companies, including The University of Alberta, McMaster University, Yale, Princeton, Google, Microsoft, and Intuit. A proven platform, 77 per cent of Coursera learners report career benefits, such as getting a new job, earning a promotion, gaining applicable career skills and more, while 30 per cent of unemployed learners were employed after completing their most recent course or program on Coursera.

“We’ve been told that if we just budget more effectively or skip our morning coffee run, we can get ahead financially,” explains Catherine Wood, chief strategy, product & marketing officer, Coast Capital. “Budgeting and saving are important but in many cases these strategies are no longer enough. With more and more people unable to keep up with the rising cost of living, it’s clear that Canadians need to earn more to improve their financial reality. At Coast Capital, we believe that starts with access to education and training that empowers people to begin, advance, or even change their careers.”

The Coast Capital study also revealed that while 38 per cent of Canadians have been considering pursing additional education or training with the aim of increasing their current income, 86 per cent of those considering pursuing additional training feel that there are significant barriers. The most common roadblocks among Canadians is the cost of education (52 per cent), available time (46 per cent) and lack of motivation or confidence (24 per cent).

“With the Elevate Chequing Account, individuals and entrepreneurs can learn in-demand skills and earn industry micro-credentials on Coursera to boost their earning potential for no added cost,” said Leaf Belsky, chief revenue officer at Coursera. “We’re excited to partner with Coast Capital to provide more value to their members, offer scholarships to underserved populations, and create more pathways to economic opportunity for Canadians across the country”.

Extending the impact of the partnership with Coursera and within the wider community, Coast Capital is providing more than 7,000 free Coursera subscriptions to community partners, equity-deserving groups, and undeserved communities across Canada, including organizations such as the Construction Foundation, Indspire, and DIVERSEcity.

Maureen Young, vice president, social purpose, Coast Capital, added, “There is a tremendous alignment in values between Coast Capital and Coursera, with our respective missions and purpose going hand-in-hand. Through this multifaceted partnership, we can offer our members, employees, and communities access to Coursera’s extensive online catalogue, driving our social purpose of building better futures together.”

The Elevate Chequing Account is part of Coast Capital’s new full suite of chequing accounts. Visit coastcapitalsavings.com to found out more about the accounts and the limited-time offer where new Coast Capital members can also get up to $600 when thy join and open select new accounts.

Learn more at coastcapitalsavings.com/campaigns/elevate.