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Low cost banking

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Canadians have a wide variety of institutions to choose from when setting up their banking arrangements. Costs matter, a penny saved is a penny earned.[1] A wise banking choice has the potential to save hundreds of dollars a year.

Personal banking

For personal banking, many Canadians use the "Big Six" banks (BMO, CIBC, National Bank, RBC, Scotia, TD). These banks usually charge fees for bank accounts, or require that a large minimum amount (e.g., $5,000) be held at the bank in order to qualify for fee-free banking.

Alternative institutions offer no-fee chequing accounts. As of December 2025, they include credit unions, caisses populaires, specialty institutions like the Alberta Treasury Branch, and numerous "virtual banks" like EQ Bank, ICICI Bank, Tangerine (formerly known as ING Direct), Simplii Financial, Wealth Simple, and PC Financial. (EQ Bank will take over the operations of PC Financial in 2026.)

Some of the things to consider when choosing a bank are:

  • Convenience. If you need to access a physical branch for, say, a safety deposit box, how close is it to your home or place of work?
  • Fees, including chequing account charges, extra ATM charges, and electronic transfer charges.
  • Ease of linking to other accounts, including savings accounts, brokerage accounts, and other bank accounts.
  • Credit cards: if you want the convenience of having a credit card from the same bank, you want want to look at the availability of credit cards that suit your needs, such as those without annual fees, or that offer loyalty rewards, or that offer low interest on outstanding balances.

The major banks offer a variety of different accounts, and often have an 'account selection' page to help in choosing the best one for a particular purpose.

They often offer lower-cost accounts for seniors, students, and recent immigrants to Canada.

Saving on banking fees - particularly "extra" fees not part of a package - while not paying for services that aren't used is particularly important for those on modest incomes. For example, using a debit card to get $120 out of the bank's ATM instead of using a 'white' ATM three times for $40 may save a surprising percentage in extra fees.

Commitment on Low-Cost and No-Cost Accounts

The Government of Canada has committed to ensure Canadians have access to modern basic banking services at a nominal cost through low-cost bank accounts and that certain groups have these same services at no cost. The Commitment represents the minimum service level for low-cost and no-cost banking services.[2]

Under the terms of an agreement with the federal government, 14 banks have agreed to offer low-cost account packages to consumers for under $4 per month.[3][4] There are other features, such as a total of a minimum 18 debit transactions per month for low-cost and no-cost chequing accounts, identification of mandatory groups eligible for a no-cost account such as seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) beneficiaries, youth (Canadians aged 18 and under), students and newcomers to Canada (for 1st year in Canada).

However, many other banks and financial institutions also offer account packages with low monthly fees. Your should contact your bank or financial institution to find out if it offers a low-cost account package.

Account and bank comparison tools

Comparison tools for personal banking include:

Business banking

The big-6 banks, many credit unions and some of their online competitors (including EQ Bank) offer chequing accounts for businesses. FWF members' favorite packages are mentioned in the linked topics below. The cheapest big-6 chequing accounts for small businesses have fees in the $5-8 per month range for a limited number of transactions.

Account comparison tools

Comparison tools and lists for business banking include:

See also

References

  1. ^ A penny saved is a penny earned, viewed February 15, 2012.
  2. ^ "Commitment on Low-Cost and No-Cost Accounts". Government of Canada - Canada.ca. 2025-12-01. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  3. ^ "Low-cost bank accounts available at 14 banks". Advisor.ca. 2025-12-01. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  4. ^ Tips About Low-cost Bank Accounts, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Viewed December 4, 2018.

Further reading

External links

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