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You don’t need 3, but you should open 1.
The thought of paying money to a bank to hold my money did not make sense to me. This became apparent when I discovered chequing accounts that did not require you to have a minimum amount to waive its monthly account fee. However, I still wanted all the benefits of a standard chequing account with lower costs and no hidden fees.
For this reason, I went on a hunt when I was told that my student chequing account was going to change to a standard chequing account. When I opened one, I never looked back. To this day, I can confidently say I have no regrets.
However, a lot has changed since I opened my first no-fee chequing account. There are a whole lot more options between brick and mortar banks and online banks. Based on my research, the following (in alphabetical order) are some financial institutions to consider opening your no-fee chequing account.
Note the below features for the different chequing accounts are free, unless otherwise noted.
Simplii Financial’s “No Fee Chequing” Account
- Standard Features
- ✅No minimum balance
- ✅Unlimited debit purchases
- ✅Unlimited withdrawals
- ✅Unlimited bill payments
- ✅Deposit cash and cheques
- ✅Interac e-transfers with limits (ex. $3000 in 24 hours)
- ✅Debit Networks: Interac, Mastercard
- ✅ATM Access: CIBC
- ✅Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) Coverage
- Extra Features
- ✅Interest on any balance in the account
- ✅Replacement card, as needed, once a year
- ✅Cheque book
- ✅Global money transfer
Tangerine’s “No-Fee Daily Chequing” Account
- Standard Features
- ✅No minimum balance
- ✅Unlimited debit purchases
- ✅Unlimited withdrawals
- ✅Unlimited bill payments
- ✅Deposit cash and cheques
- ✅Interac e-transfers with limits (ex. $3000 daily)
- ✅Debit Networks: Interac, Visa
- ✅ATM Access: Scotiabank
- ✅Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) Coverage
- Extra Features
- ✅Interest on any balance in the account
- ✅1 stop payment per year
- ✅Replacement card
- ✅First cheque book with 50 cheques
Wealthsimple’s “Chequing” Account
- Standard Features
- ✅No minimum balance
- ✅Limit on debit purchases (ex. $5000 daily)
- ✅Limit on withdrawals (ex. $3000 daily)
- ✅Unlimited bill payments
- ✅Deposit cash and cheques
- ✅Interac e-transfers with limits (ex. up to $50 000 account dependent)
- ✅Debit Networks: Visa
- ✅ATM Access: Any (reimbursed globally)
- ✅Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) Coverage
- Extra Features
- ✅Interest on any balance in the account
- ✅Replacement card
- ✅One-off cheques through the app
- ✅No foreign transaction fee