I started an account with CEFI in 2004 when my daughter was born. Fast forward to 2022 when she started college. CEFI was very unreasonable to deal with to get funds, "it will take at least 4 weeks", and more. Also their fees are outrageous, they overcharge and nickel and dime for anything, their fees added up to 30% range. DO NOT give them anything, if you do you will be sorry. Be warned, look at other reviews. They continue to screw people, very sad but they get away with it. read more

Don't buy anything from this terrible company. They duplicate charge fees to my plan and lied to me. It is not trustful company. Lied for both its investors and federal government. If you want to invest RESP, please phone bank. Never ever CEFI. It is such a frustrated financial institute. read more

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.) read more

Avoid!! Avoid!! Avoid!! I've been investing since my daughter was born. NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT - in fact, I invested an ADDITIONAL $4K at the urging of CEFI when my daughter was 16. Then my daughter became very ill. I asked if I could transfer the funds to her younger sibling. I was told no. Now, 3 years later, she is still on Chemotherapy but is feeling well enough to attend University. But getting ANY funds out of CEFI has been IMPOSSIBLE...A LITANY OF DELAYS, EXCUSES AND repeated requests to fill out forms (sometimes upto 3 times.). COMPLETE nightmare! Invest in one of the big banks - the BIG BANKS follow the RESP GUIDELINES of the Government of Canada. Which CEFI does NOT do. BTW. read more

If I could give ZERO (or Negative) I would! This company is a nightmare! Please read all the reviews below! In trying to cashing in the RESPs for my children, I experienced ALL the same problems! MY sister did too! I thought CEFI should be reputable. After all, I had received a pamphlet in my "welcome baby" package in the hospital when my son was born in 2000. My husband and I thought we were doing the right thing investing for our child's future from birth. So when our daughter came along, we stuck with what we knew. WRONG WRONG WRONG Decision!! So 18 years later, instead of college or university our son goes into the trades. His employer pays for his schooling and he only goes to "school" for 6-8 weeks per year. With how slow CEFI processes everything, he misses collecting anything the first year. Try Year 2, and it's still a nightmare, but he collects some. Ditto year 3. Year 4, we STRESS this is his last year - please pay it all out - they assure it will be. In Jan 2022, our son completes his last year, and his red seal certification. In Dec 2022, we get notice he has to apply again! I tried calling and emailing, anD 3 months later, I STILL don't know what's outstanding or how to get it, because he's all finished! Thought it would be easier for my daughter when she enrolled in university. WRONG! Even though she has been receiving her funds year after year, there are constantly delays and return trips to University admin for multiple "proof of enrollment". Something is always incorrect or incomplete, and by the time they finally snail mail you everything, you are often missing deadlines. And don't even get me started on the FEES! Never mind the regular fees, which are robbery! Because of delays, you're always late for one thing or another, so there goes another fee. DO NOT DEAL WITH CEFI! THEY SUCK SUCK SUCK read more

STAY AWAY AND SAVE YOUR MONEY !!! My daughter just got her cheque from them and their fees are over 50%. She received $1968 and after their outrages fees she was left with $931.31 SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM read more

CEFI take large amount of money as enrollment and administration fee and will not pay bake when it is matured. we loos all that amount from our principle. Be careful signing with CEFI I will give 0 star if I could read more

Dec 09, 2023: After years of investing when received the money back I got total charges in the fee for 20% , so basically what government gives it goes straight into CEFI. Instead of passing the benefit, CEFI takes the advantage of people. The agents shows rosy pictures and while selling CEFI product said the all the charges will be returned. If you read the contract it says that it is discretionary by CEFI. Means if CEFI decides then they will not give you. My advice to new investors " STAY AWAY". Do your research and ask for what types of fees will be charged and how much percentage of total you invest and get it in writing. Ask question at the maturity how much you will invest and what will be the deduction in fees. Invest with big banks or other investing firm (e.g. Questarade). They charge minimal fees or some self investment plans do not even charge fees. Don't make the mistake which I made. Smart thing to do is learn from others mistake. Dec 13, 2023: Thank you CEFI for replying to my review and getting in touch via call and an email. On the call basically you defended your 20% fees on the deposit I made. Also making me feel stupid that I should have read the terms and condition, not believing what agent was telling me. I agree I should have done that and now I am sharing with others so, that please learn from my mistake. Also once you are in to get out you basically loose half of your money, so it is too late once you are in and get your statements. read more

Do youself a favour and invest with a bank instead. So many hidden fees with these guys it's so disappointing how little money there is at the end. I understand the markets have performed poorly in recent years and the money invested has returned less than what they predicted when they signed us up but in our case for our first son they estimated around $40,000 and we realized $20,000. Big differnce. We just recieved the first cheque for my second son and somehow $12,327.23 became $9150.82. That's $3176.41 in decuctions off our contributions. Does that seem reasonable?? Off the top is a $1200.00 "Sales Charge." I won't use the term "crooks" but I', VERY disappointed in CEFI. read more

Children's Education Funds - Investing Near Me - Burlington, Ontario

You do not get the original enrollment fee back. I did not. They will say it is discretionary. Even all their estimates seem fake. Always watch for their fine print. If you ask them any questions they will say it depends. If you ask them what I will get next year they will say it depends. I am attaching the conversion quotes that you will get. Either way you get screwed. I am getting 35149 (estimate)for my daughter starting the SECOND year to the fifth (non existent) year of university. If I wanted the money the first year then these are their calculations. read more

Children's Education Funds - You give them $7505 extra to get your amount the FIRST year - Investing Near Me - Burlington, Ontario

Stay away from CEFI. Takes too long to claim! Move your RESP to Global Educ. If you still can! So after waiting for 60 days process the claim, I called them to make sure that I know right away the hold up. And I was right. They said that they are ready to issue the cheque and this will take another two weeks! Wow amazing! In the 60 days processing it doesnt even include the issueing of cheques. I'm sure when two weeks approaches, and i called again, they will tell me again to wait for another week or two?! If I didnt have any line of credit to pay for my son's tuition, my son will end up waiting for the next semestral. read more

DO NOT USE CHILDREN'S EDUCATION FUND How is it possible for a company main purpose is to help parents pay for their children's education can add up deductions and fees that is more than the government grants. The deductions is almost ONE THIRD of your contributions. I lost Money after 18 years of contributions. Why should we use this company? What is the benefits? Is there no regulation from the government on how much fees company can charge. I used another company and they only charged one set fee. read more

HORRIBLE! They amount of fees they deducted from my college funds is beyond me. Daylight robbery.

How can this company still be running is beyond me. My mother invested 20 years ago. I never got my maturity package and they returned her 80% of her investment. read more

Cefi is the worse investment I've made over the years. Their fees end up being 20-25% of the total investment, on hold forever when you try to contact them, disconnected or hung up on when you can reach them. Misinformation a plenty during initial investment. Now that my daughter is accepted into university fir a 3 year course, they say I can only get a 4 year payout and that if she isn't enrolled in the 4th year I will lose that portion. They are a crooked organization, they should be shut down. Stay away read more

we had a very bad experience with the Children's education Funds from Ontario. Our rep in Quebec was awesome but he passed away so the nightmare begun with the service . When we enrolled the Trust funds for our kids we didn't know that our son will be diagnosed with autism and we moved to the US for a better service . When it was time to withdraw the funds that we contribute all these years when our autistic was 18 years . He graduated from High School and enrolled to a transition program for special needs school until 22 years but because it's not a college that was in their list they refused to refund us the contribution. Please choose a bank or an institution that have a clause for special needs program and when you move to another country . read more

This is MINUS 1 STAR!! Extremely slow processing time. Various deductions & fees that leave you with less than half of what you were expecting to receive. Asked for extension as course enrolment was not available before the application date - Got an extension. Still took them 2 months before they looked at the August application. Have to beg for your funds, takes them even longer to process even though they say they will put a rush on it. Do yourself a favour and invest with a bank. read more

Well, it looks like I'm going to add to their abysmal rating. We invested for both our kids from the late 90's & early 2000's. When the youngest went to school stateside, we found out how inept they really are: 1. First, they would not complete the financial statement forms requested from the school to assure we could make tuition payments. 2. Next, August 27, 2018, (first day of classes) they said they needed an enrolment confirmation from the school, which was supplied the following week. 3. Then they said our 2016 NOA for our daughter was not sufficient as proof of residency, they needed a 2017 NOA. That was sent to them as soon as we could produce it (keep in mind she was already state-side, a 6-hour drive away... but, why would that be necessary?). 4. THEN, April 2, 2019, they email us and say that ALL of our paperwork is outstanding, and NO funds will be released until it is completed and current - meaning bothering the school registrar for yet ANOTHER confirmation, a 2018 NOA, and another completed application form!! 5. Three weeks later, my daughter was DONE her first year of school ... a week after that, we finally got her first year funds. Thank goodness we could cover that first year with some reserves of our own, which we should not have had to do. BUT we now have this issue... 6. Since they were a full year behind on the disbursements, they still have $6,000 of her payouts that they owe for her now-completed degree, and ***they refuse to give it to her because she is completed school and no longer registered in a post-secondary program!*** I'm going to contact an ombudsman, and if they are not effective, my lawyer. That's my daughter's money they are holding hostage. Do not mess with my baby bear's money. read more

This company is totally SCAM. I strongly advise anyone and everyone to keep their money and invest it with banks or other means. I'm not kidding. You can not imagine how much hard time we're having to redeem. They totally rely on VERY HIGH commissions. They will lie to your face. DO NOT BELIVE THEM. I thought this was Government endorsed / certified program. It's not. You do not get your money when you need it. Your maturity happens after your school fees have been paid for from your pocket despite how much your plan is worth. I could go on and on with my horrible experiences. I'm so regretting enrolling my 2 kids in this program. There is no backing out. read more

I got RESP for my son just days before his first birthday. Was told all the "amazing things" happening to us just because we have made this wise decision. I have contributed for 17 years never missed one single payment. My son turned 18 in February and is starting the university in September 2022. I called them to inquire about the payment process. Guess what?? Was told won't get anything before March 2023. Now tell me why?? After talking to 3 different reps on phone and requesting to talk to supervisor (that was initially refused), still waiting for the call. And after I inquire why our plan is going to mature in 2023 while we need money this fall, I was told we have requested the maturity date for 2023. I asked them to send me the copy of the original contract. I came to a very interesting realization. The copy I have and the one they just send me have little discrepancy. Still waiting for call from the supervisor to know what's going on. read more

I would like to leave a review about an agent that has treated me and my son with excellent service. We had a few issues understanding the policy as well as proper documentation. Harpal Variach has helped us every step of the way for more then three years, I can not thank her enough for all she has done for me and my son. read more

This is a scam. Don't buy from these people. Use your financial advisor or go to your bank. Here is a list of fees they charged me when it matured: Sales charge - $403.20 Depository fee - $224.49 Other/Misc charge - 100.25 Foundation Arm Fee - $209.78 CESG ADM Fee - $59.39 Wondering if these charges are even ethical. Greg read more

if it's time to claim the EAP, takes 60 days of processing and starts when they receive all paper works via mail. There is no option for fax or email. Also, customer support sucks. Takes a while to answer the phone. And if you email, it will take them 2 days to respond. Also, do not try to move the maturity date a bit earlier. This will cost you a lot of fees. We made a mistake by moving the maturity date. We lost a lot of money here. What we should have done was to pay the tuition fee out of our own pocket first. Oh well, we learned the hard way and I cannot believe we had all our 3 kids' RESP with CEFI?! But I we're done with them. We managed to transfer our youngest to Global. We're just claiming for our 2nd. I am from Richmond, BC Canada. read more

they changed their agreement as they go. your signature doesn't mean nothing. I've had to fill a complaint with the ombudsman to get paid. even with that they would still ask other questing and proof of enrollment after graduating. do you a favor, do not trust these guys, do not put money into this rediculous funds. the agreement was that my daughter could select a 2 years course or a 4 years course, She got the 1st portion and the second year get the remaining or for the 4 years course get the 1st portion and her choice to get the remaining portion on the second year or split in 4 years. yes I did enroll my daughter in 2000 and paid until is was completed. when time comes to get the funds she applied to a course of 2 years and at the last month the course was not being held so she lost her year and got the first payment sept 2018. She applied for another course the year after 2019-2020, but was supposed to get the remaining portion right! but not they said she fall into the 4 years rules. what happen next? she got the 1st portion the year 2018 she wasn't going, she got the 2nd portion on her 1st year of college 2019 and got the 3rd portion in her 2nd year of college in January 2020, but she was supposed to get the remaning portion. then they come up with this ''new agreement rule'' that she must get into another course to get her 4th portion. she was graduated from college, she was done. I've filled a complaint with the umbudsman and finally got an agreement that at the completion of her course she would only have to send a proof of completion to get the 4th portion. now they want a proof of enrollment of January 2021. they don't make any sence since she graduated from college in July 2021, she must've been enrolled in January 2021. Now they need more time to evaluate the situation! still waiting for the remaing portion today! read more

Children's Education Funds Inc. (CEFI) set a wrong maturity date for my RESP plan. We signed a RESP plan with Children's Education Funds Inc. in 2005 when my son was 1 year old. He turned 18 in April 2022 and is going to university in this September. I called CEFI about how to get RESP money for his education and was told he can only get his RESP money next year because the maturity date was set on April 01, 2023. I asked the person how CEFI set the maturity date, she told me it was grade 13 system at the time I signed the RESP plan. I asked her to explain "Grade 13 system". She said a student needed to complete Grade 13 before going to university, that was how CEFI set the maturity date in 2023 instead of 2022. I asked her to fix CEFI's mistake, she told me I need to submit an application and there will be a deduction from my RESP if I want to change the maturity date. I said that is CEFI's mistake. I did not ask for changing the date, I was asking CEFI to fix its own mistake. I should not pay the deduction. She said she would report it and get back to me soon. I waited for three days, but no one called me back to address the matter. No answer for 3 days, I called again. Another lady answered my call took my call, saying since I signed the contract, it was not CEFI' fault. She would have a quotation done to see the cost of changing the date. Next day, I got the quotation. I don't think anybody can understand it. I called again for clarification. A lady explained some items on that quotation. I asked her again about the maturity date. She said that when I signed the plan, CEFI added 18 years to calculate the maturity date. That totally confused me. Two different explanations, none of them makes sense. No matter how CEFI made the maturity date one year longer, the fact is that CEFI set customer up so they can collect significant amount of money later. Humara S. Any other thought to solve the issue? read more

customer service response right way but process time too slow and charges administration fee lot Customer service response right way but process time too slow, they did not inform us when we enroll plan. they charge let document fee but they payment time very long. they suppose to stop let document fee charge. read more

A total scam! Over the course of three weeks, I sent two emails attempting to get a hold of someone, I finally hear back two days before all my information is due! Only to find out, I am missing a document from my school's registrars office. The Customer Service Line is fraud, no one answers and you call the "CEO" and it is just a regular voicemail. Impossible to get ahold of anyone. After almost four years of dealing with Children's Education Fund, it is safe to say the company's entire purpose is to NOT give you your funds. read more

A CEFI sales agent misled my parents to sign up for a later maturity date. This led us to lose 2 years of pay out for both myself and my younger sibling. The sales agent said extra years increase the payout and we can always use the unused years when we do a masters program afterwards. I later found out that I cannot use the amounts because I'm not doing a master's program in the year immediately following. Not 1 person advised my parents or myself of this. This includes the sales agent and the customer services agents I spoke to when I called to double check. Our payout is less than 40% of the projected amount on our original contract. My parent's return of contribution amount, after deducting a long is of fees, was less than 50% of what they paid in. I called customer service to ask they retrain agents not to mislead families to select later maturity date. The first rep was not helpful. She forwarded my call to her boss who was unsympathetic and not interested in retraining staff. He said my parents were irresponsible for trusting the sales agent (Who is their employee). He said the contract terms has maturity date and details so my parents should have had common sense in questioning the agent's advice. And said they can't retrain their agents because their agents are all already very well trained. All in all, monetarily - we would have been better off by investing through a major bank's RESP, a TFSA, or even a standard savings account. Service - we'd likely be better with a bigger company (Sunlife, Manulife) that cared about their reputation. read more

Please stay away from this company, literally the biggest SCAM for any parent looking to save for their children's education. You're promised all this money after years of investing just to get charged through the most ridiculous service charges and at the end you are left with less than you initially invested. Absolute scam. People who work here obviously don't care about childrens education and just charge people fees that such as deposit, withdrawal, typing, reviewal, anything they can do to take your money away. read more

This is simply a scam. They will get you through convoluted process that will make sure to suck more from your fund. They will ask for enrollment letter in August with penalties if not done by August first. Well, in Ontario education starts in September and registrar office does not fill any paper work before the first week of Sept. In brief, high fees, low return, you will be dam lucky to get what you paid. Government grant and any income will evaporate in front of your eyes.. SCAM read more

One of the worst company's to deal with. They make you run back and forth for your money and claim they never received emails and documents you've sent them, even though you've received confirmation emails that you have. Employees constantly lie over the phone and do not want to help. Seriously avoid this company or any money you invest will be gone forever. read more

Beware of CEFI! These people are scammers! They charge for everything!! I missed a payment so when I made a bank bills payment they put it on the wrong plan because my daughter has 2 plans with them with the same plan number. I called to request them to fix it then after that they are telling me that I still owe them something because they have to make a letter which they have to charge around $18 for typing, they have to look at my account so they have to charge something again and they are saying that I didn't provide my daughter's SIN when I opened it 10 years ago so they are charging me again for that around $30. Stay away from CEFI they make up lots of things to charge people. They are not helping parents but obviously just wants more money. read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY !!! These people are horrible, I am the first of 3 sisters in university and working with these people is honestly so frustrating. They are so quick to take your money but when you want it back they make you fill out forms on forms on forms. They won't even call you back to tell you which forms are missing or which ones were not filled in properly, weeks later when you try to ask them why the money hasn't come in they tell you all this bs. These people honestly scam you and I would advise everyone to work with a bank instead like TD Canada trust were everything is soooo much more simple. I'd honestly give them a rating of 0 but can't do that on here. Customer service sucks, wait time is wayyy too long and overall they really are the worst. read more

stay away from this high admin cost, very low return and take longer time to receive government grant if you really want to help your children's future education. read more

Horribleeee...Stay away. There are many other more professional organizations that have way better services and don't steal your hard earned money. read more

Excellent communications if any questions you can drop in and see some one that day. They do advise well on lead times to apply or make changes. The dates are firm make sure to follow them failure to do so is not thier fault. I found the staff is very upfront and transparent. I have dealt with Puja Dhillon most recently and she was able to relay clear answers to me and give dates all must be done by and when the payment will be recieved. Remember you must be dilligent in looking for answers prior to payouts. I have recieved in mail many letters of reminders with ample lead time when actions were required. All is great this far. read more

I can't believe that I got scamed. Payed for years trying now to claim. There inventing more forms to fill out that will cost me more money.

The first year you receive your deposits, minus enrolment fees, minus administration fees, minus insurance fees, minus, minus, minus. I lost 27% in fees. And forget about getting the enrolment fee back. In 2008 CEFI started adding "discretionary" to your annual statements, so you are not going to get it back. Doesn't matter if everything you signed and all the information they provided say you will get it back - you will not. You will have to go to small claims court to get it back. Paul D. seems to think you will get the enrollment fee back, but you won't. you have to fight and have kept all your documents and marketing material that clearly says you will get it back, but you won't. What about Ombudsmen for Banking and Investments or OBSI? Please, you will be "exhausted into submission". When we first started receiving annual statements, CEFI made them and still makes them so confusing. We were told not to pay attention to the Annual Statements. We were told that Conversion Quotes would give us a more accurate picture of the value of our plan. We paid for a Conversion Quote -3 times- because our son was going to begin University before the "maturity date' of "the plan'. The Conversion Quote seemed too good to be true. To have the Plan mature sooner, and if we kept the same number of "units" and we paid an additional $8000.00 we would get an additional $12,000.00 in interest. Thankfully we didn't! You see the conversion quote is a complete fabrication. I hired an Actuary to decipher what CEFI sent because CEFI and OBSI(the place you go to complain about CEFI)both said I do not understand the complexities of Actuarial Assumptions. The only reason I could not understand the Conversion Quote was that it was all rubbish! Seriously, mine was so fabricated, that in my opinion, that it could border on fraud because it is all lies! All of it! And once saw to see how they lied for the sole purpose of getting me to shell out lots more money, then screw me, it gets me so angry. What about the Government? This is not a Federally Regulated industry. The Ontario Securities Commission is supposed to be the watchdog, well, they have had these guys on their radar for a very long time, and have been fined and had to pay serious money, but I was never notified when the OSC found them guilty of so many, many things. But the OSC is not watching, CEFI is still lying, still telling new people that they will get the enrolment fee back, that they pay the highest of RESP's, BOLLOCKS and lying on Conversion Quotes. RUN AWAY, GO TO THE BANK or CREDIT UNION, or even put it under your mattress, it is much safer and wiser than joining CEFI. read more

This is a very bad place to invest for your kids college savings. Go to the bank and they will give you a way better RESP plan that has less fees and you can withdraw all your growth minus tax if your kids dont go to college. You will lose everything in terms of growth to this unethical CEFI thief and another 25% in fees or even more of your principal if you withdraw. Buy only individual or family plans offers by banks because they dont lock you in for 18 years and charge you 50 dollars and heavy penalties for every single missed payment. NEVER EVER BUY GROUP RESP!!! unless you want to pay 25% out of your pocket to have someone use your hard earn money and loose all your earnings to the company. Take it from me I have been ripped off for the last 15 years and there's no backing out any more. Regret to this day. ( there were not enough reviews on these products for me to do my research back then) read more

i think it is the worst company I ever used. I bought Education fund for my children 18 years for their money to university.When maturity up to release but, My daughter took 1 year off before she went to university. That's find to us fund still there with no interest but, when we applied to get maturity back for second year. We sent a application for maturity in April of this year but still waiting for acceptance letter from U and we received it on August 17. We sent out the school registered form to the company.They said 60 days to proceed the application. Until now my daughter almost finish first semester and fee for second semester almost all the way but have not received fund yet. I called in to ask : why they hold our principle for that long? they are there to help children or take advantage them? Children need fund to pay for their school fee but they still holding them( principle fund). Luckily, I bought for my daughter with HERITAGE FUND EDUCATION too and they released the maturity in a week when we sent out forms and school registered the same time to 2 companies. Heritage is not good too but still a lot better than CHILDREN'S EDUCATION FUND INC. read more