2007 | Canadian High Interest Savings Bank Accounts

7 tips on how to decrease reliance (and fees) on your chequing account

Posted on October 14, 2007August 19, 2018

With the proliferation of high interest savings accounts, the chequing account is looking more and more unattractive. With zero to low interest and tons of fees (I cringe at the reports that say the average person pays over $200 a year in fees), you’re sometimes better off keeping cash under your mattress. Even the chequing account of all chequing accounts (at Coast Capital Savings) still has some drawbacks. For example, it gives you 0% interest and you have to pay for cheques after your first 10.

The only reason why I keep a chequing account is so that I can deposit the occasional foreign currency cheque with a teller and so that I can write cheques (although some hybrid accounts let you write cheques). However, I try to keep as little money as possible in my chequing account at all times.

Is it possible to experience high interest, no fees, and still have access to your money when you need it? No single account satisfies this, but as with most things in life, you can tweak your habits to improve you situation. Most day-to-day fees and hassles involve debit card and ATM transactions, cheques, bill payments, and transfers. Here are some simple tips that can help you to address these issues to get the most out of your bank accounts.

Use credit cards as much as possible

Stores would probably prefer that you use cash, but to the consumer, using a credit card helps you in three ways. First of all, you can perform unlimited credit card transactions (well, as long as you have the money for it). With many debit cards, your chequing account only allows you a certain number of transactions per month. Second, many credit cards have no annual fee and give you rewards like cash back or points to buy groceries and such. Third, you only have to pay off your credit card once a month. This means that you can continue to earn interest on money that sits in your bank account for up to two months before you have to pay off your credit card bill without penalty.

Of course, you have to be careful with credit cards. If you carry debt on the card, then obviously you are being charged interest. Also, if you have trouble spending money that you don’t have, credit cards exaggerate the problem. But keep track of your purchases and you should have no problem.

Pay your bills online or via telephone

Often, paying your bills online or via telephone is free. You don’t need to write a cheque, you don’t need to mail anything, and you don’t need to drive anything. In addition, online of phone payments are often posted the next day, so you don’t have to wait the week or more with other types of payments.

Use PayPal

With PayPal, once you have linked your bank account to your PayPal account, you can pay people via “pre-authorized payments”. This is different than debit card payments because there are often chequing account limits and fees on debit card transactions but none on pre-authorized payments (although you should check this with your bank).

Although PayPal became big because of eBay, you can use PayPal to pay for items and subscriptions on an increasing number of websites.

If you and your friends have PayPal accounts of the “Personal” type, you can pay each other instantly and without fees via pre-authorized payments. This lessens your need to carry around as much cash (thus lowering the need to go to an ATM) or write cheques.

Try and get your friends to open accounts with the same bank

Often, transfers within the same bank are unlimited and free. I have a friend that I’m constantly lending and owing money to. We pay each other back instantly and without fees through online banking because we both have accounts with the same bank.

Carry some cash around and don’t use other networks’ ATMs!

ATM network fees are a pain. But really, just find an ATM that is part of your bank’s network! For example, if you have an account with HSBC or any of the credit unions, you can use ATMs on any other HSBC or credit union THE EXCHANGE Network (I think it’s officially capitalized) without paying any fees. As another example, if you have an account with PC Financial, you can use any CIBC bank machine without paying network fees.

And if you have at least a couple hundred dollars in your chequing account, whenever you withdraw cash, just try and withdraw larger amounts at a time (like $200 instead of $60). This might sound simple too simplistic, but I used to always withdraw the smallest amount needed; it made a huge difference to withdraw slightly higher amounts in order to decrease the frequency of trips to the ATM.

Don’t be afraid of opening multiple accounts at different banks

Many chequing accounts that have no minimum balance simply limit the number of transactions you can do. So if you have $200, you can just keep $100 in one account and $100 in another account and thus get double the number of allowed transactions. And if you have accounts at different banks, this means that you have probably increased the number of ATMs you can access without incurring network fees.

Pick a high interest savings account over short-term GICs and pair a high interest savings account with a chequing account in the same bank

This goal of this tip is to help you earn a high rate on your money while keeping the money accessible.

High interest savings account rates are comparable to short-term GIC rates, but of course you don’t have to lock your money in. If you keep as much money as possible in a high interest savings account and have a chequing account with the same bank, you can transfer money back and forth as many times as you want between those accounts either instantly or within 1 business day on an as-needed basis. So if you know you need to write a cheque on a certain date, simply transfer your money last-minute from your high interest savings account to your chequing account. This trades off the additional simple step in order to access your money for chequing needs with the ability to earn a higher rate on your money.

Craig’s ICICI Bank Canada experience

Posted on October 8, 2007August 19, 2018

Taken from Craig’s comments on this post

August 3, 2007

I am in the process of “trying” to open an online savings account with ICICI Canada. I went through their online application about three weeks ago and sent an initial deposit cheque as they instructed. About five days later, I got a generic email from ICICI advising that they received my deposit cheque, but I needed to call them for unspecified reasons before they could process it. I called their “customer service” number and spoke with a lady who had a very heavy Indian accent (I assume ICICI has farmed their call centre to some contractor located in India). She informed me that I needed to send them copies of two pieces of identification, one of which had to be my Social Insurance Card, and the other a piece of photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport. This is the first time I had ever been asked to do this by any bank offering online services, but as I have nothing to hide, and privacy is an illusion in this country anyway, I went along and faxed copies of my SIN and driver’s license to the fax number the lady provided me. That was two weeks ago, haven’t heard a peep from ICICI since. I plan on calling them to find out what is going on. Somehow, I expect to be told that they never received the ID documents, or that they “lost” my deposit cheque.

I agree with other posters about the lack of a “warm fuzzy feeling” when dealing with ICICI. I had originally planned to transfer the cash portion of my RRSP holdings to this bank, but I’m having second thoughts about entrusting ICICI with my retirement savings. I’ve read some other blogs on this bank, most of which lambasted the abysmal customer service. Some posters reported problems getting credit for promotions (e.g. $20 referral for account opening, etc). Others reported intermittent access to online accounts and delays getting funds transferred. I also have a funny feeling about their current 4.5% interest rate. Is there anyone else out there who suspects that ICICI will pull a fast one a few months down the road and lower their rate back down to 4.0%? If you look at their online rate history, you will notice that their most recent jump from 3.75% to 4.5% is way out of proportion with previous rate hikes. I suspect the current rate of 4.5% is really a promotional rate in disguise. Only time will tell I guess. I plan to keep a very modest amount in my ICICI account (if I ever get one) and see what happens.

August 7, 2007

I called ICICI “customer service” and spoke with yet another lady who had a very heavy Indian accent (NOTE: I have nothing against India or Indians, it is just very frustrating having to ask someone to repeat herself 3-4 times so I can understand what she is saying). I advised the lady that I had faxed the identification documents that ICICI requested. The lady put me on hold for 5 minutes while she searched for the fax. When she returned, she advised that they had received my fax, but the ID documents could not be read because of poor fax quality. When i asked why ICICI had not bothered to call or email me to explain this, she advised that it was MY responsibility to call THEM. I held my temper and explained that I had used the highest resolution setting possible to send the fax, but I would try to re-send it again anyway. The lady advised me to call “customer service” about 3 hours after sending the fax to confirm that the fax was acceptable. I’ll probably get around to doing this tomorrow.

ICICI is not making a good impression on me to say the least. If they have further “problems” with my follow-up fax, I may just put a stop payment on my initial deposit cheque and tell them to stuff their savings account. PC financial is looking to be a much better choice at the moment. Their rate is currently 4% (0.5% less than ICICI, and you have to maintain a mimimum balance), but at least they are a subsidiary of a major Canadian bank (CIBC) and their customer service reps all speak coherent english (at least the ones I’ve dealt with).

August 8, 2007

Tried to re-fax copies of my ID. TWICE. Total of three times. Both cases today were the same. I was expected to fax the info then call THEM. Both times, they said they couldn’t read the fax. The originals are high-quality photocopies. The fax machine I am using is a high-quality office fax. GET A NEW FAX MACHINE ICICI CANADA!!!!!!

So now I have to mail the ID documents in. Maybe I’ll send them COD and see what happens…

Not liking ICICI…

August 13, 2007

Received an email from ICICI Canada on August 11 (Saturday) saying something to the effect of “welcome to ICICI, your new savings account has been opened”. Also noticed that my first deposit cheque was cashed with a posting date of August 9. The email also said that I would be receiving a user ID and password to access their online banking website. Presumably this information will come by regular mail if ICICI follows the standard practices of the other online banks.

These events were unexpected considering the hassle that ICICI is putting me through vis a vis my identification documents (see previous posts). I still have not sent copies of my ID docs by mail. I think I will wait a week or so to see if the account info arrives. Maybe somebody at ICICI actually took a few moments to have a closer look at my faxes and were able to read my ID docs. Or maybe they are just a typical bloated bureaucracy where the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing. My money is on the latter scenario. We’ll see what happens…

August 17, 2007

Received a password to access my savings account on ICICI’s website in the mail yesterday. I guess they figured they were causing themselves as much hassle with the ID documents (see previous posts) as they were causing me…

Thing is, I still can’t access my funds online yet because ICICI hasn’t sent me a “Customer ID Number”. That is apparently supposed to be sent by mail as well. When you first sign up with them by internet, they assign you something called a “Temporary Reference Number” which is not the same thing. Hopefully this “Customer ID number” will be in the mail tonight.

Why do I have a feeling that their e-commerce website is going to be a joke…

August 20, 2007

FINALLY, I have an ICICI “HiSave” account. Yippee.

Received ICICI’s “welcome package” by mail today, which consisted of a one-page “welcome” letter and about three pounds worth of “terms and conditions” pamphlets. The welcome letter also included the “customer ID number” needed to login to the bank’s website.

Of course, when I used the customer ID number and password supplied by ICICI, I got a message saying “Invalid Login ID or Password”. At this point, nothing surprises me with this bank. Their login “help” page says to type in my “ten digit customer ID number”. The number given to me is only nine digits. Hmmmmm. Called ICICI customer service and explained the problem, which, in all fairness to ICICI, was fixed promptly (although no explanation was offered for the cause of the problem in the first place). I can now see my account details, which appear to be accurate, and the interest rate is actually 4.5% as it should be. My linked chequing account appears to be correct as well.

“All’s well that ends well” I guess, although I have to say that of all the online banks I’ve dealt with, ICICI’s application process was by far the worst.

So now I’ll shift my attention to how ICICI delivers their services. I’ll be watching for things like fund transfer time (does the bank show a negative bias towards withdrawals), excessive hold-times on incoming deposits, and whether or not ICICI drops their industry-leading 4.5% CAD savings rate down in a few months to something in the order of 4% to 4.2%. I still have a funny feeling that their current rate is really a promotional rate in disguise. I’ll bet the rate will come down if the Bank of Canada doesn’t raise the overnight rate again in September.

August 28, 2007

Haven’t transferred any money yet, so I can’t comment on whether ICICI’s system works. I’ll be doing that soon enough though.

I wanted to put a quick post up here about the Bank of Canada’s pending rate decision (September 7 I believe) and ICICI’s current direct savings “rate” of 4.5%. There has been a lot of rumbling in the financial press lately that the BoC will not raise the overnight rate, mostly because of the cooling of the US housing market caused by the subprime mortgage debacle (these days, it seems like the only qualification to get a mortgage is that you have a pulse). Anyway, I posted some time ago that I felt that ICICI’s savings “rate” of 4.5% is really a promotional rate in disguise. I strongly believe that if the BoC keeps the overnight rate where it is, ICICI will shortly thereafter lower their savings “rate” down to something in line with the other online savings banks (currently between 3.75% and 4.0%, excluding introductory promotional rates).

I suppose one could argue that there is nothing wrong with ICICI attracting new customers this way, but I think it’s highly unethical if not illegal (all the other banks lure customers with promotional rates or one-time cash payouts to sign up with them). I originally planned to deposit the cash portion of my RRSP portfolio with this bank, but I am holding off for this reason (some banks charge a fee to transfer out RRSP accounts, and they take forever to process the transaction as well, sometimes as long as a month).

September 21, 2007

I see from looking at ICICI Canada’s homepage that I’m not the only one who thinks their current interest rate of 4.5% is really a promotional rate. ICICI is telling people through their site that their rate is not a “promotional time offer”. I’m still not convinced. Isn’t it interesting that every other bank and credit union that offers high-yield savings acocunts offer rates that are below the Bank of Canada’s current overnight rate (4.5%)? To my knowlege, the next highest-yielding Canadian savings account is offered by Achieva Financial, an arm of a Manitoba Credit Union. Their rate is currently 4.35%. My gut feeling is that ICICI is subsidizing this current rate from other sources of revenue to try and lure as many depositors as they can. When they reach some critical mass of depositors (as determined by their bean-counters), they will yank their rate back down to something in line with the other online banks, and hope that you can’t be bothered to transfer-out all your savings when that happens. We’ll see what happens in the next several months.

On another note, I opened an online RSP savings account with ICICI, and funded it with a small amount from my existing ICICI online savings acocunt. The RSP account was successfully created in 2 days. There is a problem though. ICICI’s web interface allows me to transfer funds in to the newly-created RSP account, BUT IT DOES NOT ALLOW ME TO TRANSFER FUNDS OUT! I’m going to give them a call and find out what gives. All the other online banks allow you to electronically transfer funds out of RSP savings accounts through their website (less the statutory withholding taxes of course). If it turns out that ICICI insists that I fill out and mail a form to transfer funds out of my RSP account, I am going to be pissed. One of the reasons to have part of your RSP holdings in cash is to have liquid funds that are available in an emergency should the need arise. I don’t want to wait weeks for my money if I have an emergency and need it NOW.

September 24, 2007

I spoke with a “Customer Service Representative” at ICICI today and asked the person why I could not electronically transfer-out funds from a RSP Savings Account. The representative indicated that they “do not allow that”. Apparently, the only way you can get at your RSP funds is if you send the bank a “letter of direction” stating that you want to withdraw funds. The bank will then issue a bank draft, less the witholding taxes. The bank does not even have a form to help you with this. They make it very easy to get money in, but it’s not so easy to get it out when you need it. Granted, registered funds are supposed to be long-term investments, but if you have an emergency and you need access to your RSP funds in a hurry, your only option would be to drive to an ICICI bank branch (very few of these) and wait in line. If you live far away from major centers like Toronto where the branches are, you can forget about quick access to your cash. Other online banks (e.g. ING Direct) let you do an online transfer out of your RSP account to your other online accounts or your linked chequing accounts, and the system just deducts the appropriate witholding taxes at that time.

I’m not yet abandoning the idea of putting RSP cash in this bank, but this is really giving me pause.

September 27, 2007

I had actually gone so far as to fill in an ICICI application to transfer a large amount of RRSP savings funds from another bank to ICICI, and had sealed the envelope and put a stamp on it. That was two days ago. Instead of mailing the envelope, I set it aside for some sober second thought. Am I glad I did that! I figured that I would be more comfortable with my money at a Canadian bank where people speak coherent english (most of the time), and that I would be willing to forego a few tenths of a percentage point on the interest rate to make that happen. I just finished opening an online RRSP Savings account at PC Financial, and I just came here now to post that fact. I considered opening one at Achieva Financial at 4.35% (a credit union in Manitoba), but they are not set up to do online RSP fund transfers between linked accounts (at least they were up-front about that, unlike ICICI), so the money would not have been readily available in an emergency. PC Financial allows online transfers of RSP funds, both in AND out. And yes, 4.25% is not bad, especially considering that they are affiliated with CIBC, the biggest nickel-and-dime-the-customer-to-death chartered bank in the country (in my opinion, don’t get me started on that…).

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ICICI Bank Canada online interface review

Posted on October 8, 2007August 19, 2018

Following my review series on ICICI Bank Canada, I’ve explored the ICICI online interface a bit, so here’s my rather short review. The negative comments about ICICI on the other posts on this site make me reluctant to put much of my money in ICICI, but I can say that the online interface is rather easy to use… and since I plan on interacting with customer service as little as possible, the online experience had better be good!

So far at ICICI, I’ve made an external transfer, sent referral e-mails to two people and looked at my account history online. The interface is simple and gives me the information requested (unlike the main ICICI website, which I’ve found to be quite confusing at times).

Here’s a screenshot of the ICICI online interface:

A screenshot of the ICICI online interface

Things you can do in this interface include:

View account summary
Export account history to various formats (plain text, Excel, Microsoft Money)
Open new accounts (like RSPs, and term deposits)
Make incoming and outgoing transfers to linked accounts
Change your mailing address, e-mail address, and password
Refer people to earn money through their referral plan

One cool feature is that you can see a summary of who you have referred and whether they have submitted an application yet (although that doesn’t mean that their account has been opened yet).

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Searching for the right credit card program

Posted on September 12, 2007August 19, 2018

Credit cards can play an important role in your financial portfolio. There are many credit card programs out there willing to give you free stuff for using their cards. Using a credit card more than a debit card often makes sense these days given that a lot of chequing accounts have limited use amounts for debit transactions to avoid fees.

If you carry a balance on your credit card then the first priority for picking a card should be ones offering low interest rates. The potential points you could earn are not worth the interest fees you will be charged. I will not be addressing low interest fee cards in this post â€” only ones with a points system (usually meaning high interest rates).

When picking a credit card points system you need to cost out the reward you will receive in order to compare. If there is a fee associated with the card in order to receive the points program, in my experience, this never equals out to a financial plus.

I want to share a good points program card I have found in my research. It’s the CIBC Shoppers Optimum Visa card. You receive 3,000 bonus points for signing up and then receive 5 points for every dollar you spend. Interest rate is 19.5%. You also receive 50% more points when you use your card at Shoppers Drug Mart with your Optimum card. If you spend $15,000 a year on your credit card (which is the amount I was using to compare cards), you will receive 75,000 Shoppers points, this equals their highest reward level of $150. This reward ‘cash’ can be used to buy anything at Shoppers Drug Mart. You can likely earn more than just the 75,000 points for $15,000 because of bonus points and extra redeeming programs through Shoppers (for example at certain times of the year for the 75,000 points you actually receive a reward of $200). It gives you the most value to reach their highest reward level before cashing in, although technically you can start redeeming for ‘cash’ at 3,500 points (value of $5). See the regular points table here.

Points earned at Shoppers are good value for money for two reasons. First, items available for purchase at Shoppers Drug Mart are extremely varied (you have a lot of choice on what to buy). Secondly, although you can choose to buy ‘fun’ items you can also use it to buy necessary items that would already be in your budget, thus saving money (ex: toothpaste, shampoo, makeup etc).

Credit card point systems are most associated with travel rewards. However it can be to your advantage to search for cards giving you rewards at retail stores you actually use. At a $15,000 level of spending travel rewards points will just not offer you yearly value. It would likely take you 2 to 3 years to save up points to receive a mid sized trip. So although over the long run, you might gain more ‘cash’ value from these cards, the long wait before you can redeem does not always make it. If you have a higher level of spending you can put on your credit card, these travel programs may offer you more value. If you want to pick a travel rewards program you should pick one tied to an existing travel rewards entity (not a private one) – for example Aeroplan or Airmiles – this is because you will be able to earn points faster since you can earn in other circumstances such as when you take a flight that is not bought on points.

Some locations to start your research are CIBC (they offer a fairly large collection of cards with points programs) – and Citizens Bank (who offer some innovative points programs tied to charities).

The bottom line when searching out a credit card points system is to estimate how much you can put on a card a year, how many points that will earn you, and what the ‘cash’ value of those points are. This will help you make an informed decision and make your money do some work for you.

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A comparison of Canadian chequing accounts

Posted on August 28, 2007August 19, 2018

*** 2012 update: this article is getting very out of date and is no longer actively maintained. However, please see our free chequing table that is more actively updated.

Recently, I needed to switch my daily bank account (my chequing account). I had been with my previous bank for over 13 years so I had not had the need to be educated or informed on what was out there. When I started looking into a couple of options, I realized that what I really needed was a comparison chart of all my options so that I could weigh the benefits of each one. Instead of just keeping such valuable information to myself, I thought I would share it with you.

First of all, you should have some information on what my financial background is like and what my banking needs are. I am a conservative investor, holding most of my funds in high interest savings accounts and in term deposits (or GICs), registered and non-registered. I am at a stage in my life where I am looking to purchase a place, so I need access to my funds either tomorrow or in months when I actually find a place that I want to buy.

In terms of my banking needs, it is very simple: I don’t want to be limited and I don’t want to pay fees. Sounds simple, but it really isn’t. I am looking for an account where I can perform as many transactions as I need, including bill payments, transfers, deposits, withdrawals and Interac direct payments. I also want to have cheques and easy access to ATM machines if I need one.

Based on this, I did a comparison of accounts at banks and credit unions, large and small. I focused first on finding accounts that did not have any fees and then on the features they provided for daily banking. I did not include accounts that were free but limited, for example only providing 4 free transactions a month; this would just not meet my needs.

Please note that this comparison table is accurate to the best of my knowledge as of August 28, 2007. Please let me know if you see any errors and I will correct them. Also, please check with the specific banks to confirm any information.

	PC Financial	Citizen’s Bank	Coast Capital	Vancity	TD Canada Trust	Bank of Montreal	Scotiabank	HSBC
Account Name	No Fee Bank Account	Chequing/Savings	Free chequing, free debit, and More Account	E-Package Account	Infinity Account	Performance Plan	Scotia Powerchequing Account	Performance Chequing-Unlimited
Monthly Fee	$0	$8	$0	$7	$12.95	$13.95	$3.95	$11.95
Daily Banking
ATMs	Free at CIBC Machine or President’s Choice Terminal	"Exchange" or "Acculink" ATMs, found at most credit unions and HSBC	Coast Capital ATMs or "Exchange" ATMs	Vancity ATMs or "Exchange" ATMs	Green Machine TD ATMs	BMO Machines	Scotiabank Machines; ***15 self-serve transactions per month	HSBC, "Exchange" ATMs, BMO ATMs
Other ATMs	$1.50 Interac Fee + the other institution’s fee	$1.50 Interac Fee + the other institution’s fee	$2.00 + other institution’s fee	$1.50 + other institution’s fee	$1.50 + other institution’s fee	1 free debit at any Interac machine	$1.50 + other institution’s fee	$1.50 + other institution’s fee
Withdrawals per month	Depends on credit bureau	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Self-serve***	Free – unlimited
Withdrawals – Maximum Withdrawal per day	Depends on credit bureau; on average $200 per day	Depends on credit bureau; on average $1,000 per day	$500 a day	$400 a day	$500 a day usually	Depends on your credit and relationship with the bank	Depends on your needs	Depends on customer needs
	PC Financial	Citizen’s Bank	Coast Capital	Vancity	TD Canada Trust	Bank of Montreal	Scotiabank	HSBC
Deposits – Holding Period	Depends on credit bureau; could be up to a max. of 7 days	Depends on credit bureau; usually $2,500+ usually has a 7 day hold	Depends on credit bureau; usually $5,000+ has a hold	Depends on credit bureau; $2,500+ usually has a 7 day hold	No holds	5 business day for first 6 months; then it can change based on your history	5-7 day on all deposits; cash – 24 hours	Depends on deposit amount and customer
Account Minimum Balance	Not required	$1,000 to waive monthly fee (based on end of day)	Not required	$1,000 to waive monthly fee (based on end of month)	$3,000 to waive monthly fee (based on end of day)	$2,500 to waive monthly fee (based on end of day)	$2,000 to waive monthly fee (based on end of day)	$4,000 to waive monthly fee (based on end of day)
Interac Direct Payments	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Self-serve***	Free – unlimited
Online Banking	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Self-serve***	Free – Unlimited
Telephone Banking	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Self-serve***	Free – Unlimited
Bill Payments	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Self-serve***	Free – Unlimited
Statements
Online Statements	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
Paper Statements	$1.00 per month if you want it	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
	PC Financial	Citizen’s Bank	Coast Capital	Vancity	TD Canada Trust	Bank of Montreal	Scotiabank	HSBC
Cheques
Actual Cheques	Free; personalized	Free; personalized	First 10 are free; must purchase after that	Must Purchase	Must Purchase	Must Purchase	Must Purchase	Free; personalized
Chequing	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Free – Unlimited	Self-serve***	Free – Unlimited
Transfers
External Transfers	Free – Unlimited; takes 2 – 3 business days; subject to regular holding period	Free – Unlimited; takes 2 – 3 business days; no holds	Free – unlimited; takes approximately 1 week; no holds	Free – unlimited; 3 business days; no holds	Free – unlimited; 2 – 3 business days; no holds	***According to the rep I talked to, they can’t do this – somehow I doubt that is true	Self-serve***; 2 – 3 business days; no holds	Must get the HSBC Direct* account to perform such transfers; 1 – 2 business days; no holds
Transfers between internal accounts	Free – Unlimited; takes approx. 24 hours	Free – unlimited; real time, no holds	Free – unlimited; real time; no holds	Free – unlimited; real time, no holds	Free – unlimited; real time; no holds	Free – unlimited; real time; no holds	Self serve***, real times; no holds	Free – unlimited; real time; no holds
	PC Financial	Citizen’s Bank	Coast Capital	Vancity	TD Canada Trust	Bank of Montreal	Scotiabank	HSBC
Extra Info
Annual Interest Rates (up to $25,000 balance)	0.1% – 0.5%	0.5% – 1.0%	0%	0%	minimal	no	0.25% on balances over $10,000	0.025% for balances over $5,000
Other	Earn PC Points		Can add the "Even More Package" for $5 per month for extra features	Only one in-branch transaction per month; after that $0.70 each		Earn Airmiles by using your debit card

*HSBC Direct Savings Account is a high interest savings account with no minimum balance required and no monthly fees.

I also noted that there are some banks that do not offer such an account: RBC, CIBC, and Envision Credit Union.

*** 2012 update: this article is getting very out of date and is no longer actively maintained. However, please see our free chequing table that is more actively updated.