Are You Still Paying Banking Fees?

First Published Date: December 15, 2008

Today, I am going to review chequing accounts offered by Canadian banks. I have researched most of the banks offering chequing accounts in Canada; however, I was able to find only two institutions worth mentioning. I am not going to review any products offered by big players like Royal Bank, TD Bank, CIBC and so on, as they do not offer any free chequing accounts. My objective is to review products and services that make perfect personal finance sense, and if you are looking for chequing accounts with lots of features and no fees whatsoever – you have come to the right place.

My First Pick

President Choice No Fee Bank Account

Where on earth you will get free banking + free cheques? Yes, President Choice Financial offers that. Let’s look at some features they offer:

· Free online and telephone (automated and live) banking.

· Unlimited free transactions at CIBC or PCF bank machines.

· Unlimited cheques come with free chequing account

· Unlimited free Interac® direct payments

· Earn points towards free groceries

My second Pick

Citizen’s Bank of Canada Global Chequing Account

· Withdraw money globally without paying fees (terms and conditions apply. Visit their website for more info)

· Free online and telephone (automated and live) banking.

· No fees debit card purchases in Canada and US.

· Free access to over 2500 ATMs in Canada

· Overdraft protection up to $1000 if qualified

My Take

The only thing you have to give up to do free banking is the service of a brick and mortar branch. PCF offers Pavilion at Loblaws where you can meet a live person but it’s not like going to a branch. Citizen Bank does not have anything like Pavilion. Do you really need to meet a live person to do your banking? I have been with PCF for ten years and I never needed help from a live person to do any transactions.

if you travel a lot and use your bank card outside the country, you should consider Global Chequing Account. If you do not travel often and don’t need to use your bank card outside Canada, PCF No Fee Bank Account is what you should consider. PCF lets you use CIBC’s ATMs for free – which I find is very convenient.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Dec 15, 2008.

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