The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, July 31, edition that EQB's EQ Bank is the latest financial company to introduce First Home Savings Accounts. The Globe's Rob Carrick writes that today's high rate environment makes the EQ FHSA worth considering. Mr. Carrick, however, warns against the potential drawbacks of keeping your home down-payment money in savings or GICs. The introductory FHSA savings rate at EQ was 3 per cent, which beats EQ's usual savings rate of 2.5 per cent. A 3-per-cent return in a tax-free FHSA beats the current inflation rate is defensible, given that your money is covered by deposit insurance and that inflation is running at 2.8 per cent. However, you can count on the 3-per-cent rate falling as soon as the Bank of Canada cuts rates, possibly some time next year. EQ's GIC rates are very competitive -- you could get between 5.05 and 5.5 per cent or slightly more as of late July for terms of one through five years. That is very good, considering that the risk level is virtually zero if you stay within Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. limit of $100,000 in combined principal and interest. The drawback is that these are not cashable GICs. For now, EQ does not offer these.