Banking in Canada
La Banca en Canadá
La Banque au Canada

Summary

Updated November 2020: I have opened accounts with the following banks so far:

More Detailed Reviews

And here are my more detailed reviews of these and all other bank accounts I researched and/or opened here. One thing to note in general is that banking and financial services in Canada is about 10-15 years behind that of the US, so be prepared to be disappointed with the scarcity of choices and the need to go into a branch to get things done. For all accounts I opened, except at EQ Bank and Alterna Bank, I had to go to a branch. Even Tangerine, Canada's first online bank, makes you go into a branch or a post office to show your ID, although you can begin the application online. Although more online banks are gradually popping up, the banking industry is still heavily dominated by the Big Five banks: TD Bank, RBC, CIBC, ScotiaBank, and BMO (Bank of Montreal). I believe this long-standing lack of competition in the banking industry has resulted in less progress and worse service than what we have in the US. Not to mention that CDIC insurance, Canada's counterpart to the FDIC in the US, is only $100,000 per bank, compared to the $250,000 FDIC insurance.


HSBC
http://www.hsbc.ca/celebrate

HSBC Advance has a pretty good package that includes free checks, and the savings account has a decent interest rate, although not as good as that of BMO's Builder savings account. Unfortunately there are no branches or ATMs convenient to where I lived in Toronto. There are a number of branches in downtown Toronto, and even more in Ottawa, where I moved in March 2019. It was a bit of a hassle to open the HSBC accounts. The banker said that it would take a day for my accounts to be opened and account numbers to be assigned because extra checks are done on US citizens. However, when I called back 6 days later, I was told that my accounts still had not been opened and that I would need to go back into the branch to get this resolved. I did go back into the branch the next day and it was resolved, but it took some time and 2 branch visits total. The bonus offer is detailed in the link above and applies to newcomers, including $500 after depositing at least $10,000. About 2 weeks later, I also received a credit card with a $1000 credit limit which gives 1% cash back. Supposedly if you have HSBC Advance in both Canada and the US, you can transfer funds from the US bank into a US currency account in Canada, but the minimum balance requirements to avoid fees is $5,000 in Canada (recently reduced from $25,000) and $10,000 in the US.

My timeline:
June 7 - went into a branch with appointment to open account
June 13 - accounts still not open, called and was told to go back into the branch
June 14 - went into the branch again
June 15 - made the required $10,000+ deposit
August 1 - received $500 bonus

I found out recently that there is a refer a friend bonus offer that would allow the referer and referee to receive $100 each, in addition to the bonuses in the newcomer's promotion. Let me know if any of you would like a referral and I will fill out this referral page for you to take into the branch. Even if you open an account without this referral page but tell the banker I referred you, you can probably still get the bonus but might need to go back to submit this form soon after.
https://www.hsbc.ca/1/PA_ES_Content_Mgmt/content/canada4/assets/premier/step-terms-conditions-jan2018-en.pdf

E-transfer limits: one of the best things about HSBC is the higher e-transfer limits. I wish they were much higher, but they are still higher than those of most other banks I've seen that have a $3000 daily sending limit and $20,000 monthly sending limit.
Sending Receiving
Daily Limit $5,000 $10,000
Weekly Limit $10,000 $70,000
Monthly Limit $40,000 $300,000

One thing I don't like about HSBC is you have to install their app on your phone and get some security code from it to do certain things, such as sending e-transfers. And there is an additional password or PIN you have to set up for it that I keep forgetting, which gets pretty annoying.

Note that you must keep the account open for at least one year from the end of the month in which you received the $500 bonus, or HSBC will take it back. So in my case, since I received my $500 bonus on August 1, 2018, I will need to keep my account open at least through August 31, 2019.


BMO (Bank of Montreal)
https://bmo.com/main/personal/newcomers-to-canada/

BMO has a branch that is somewhat near where I lived in Toronto, and more branches and ATMs than HSBC in the both Toronto and Ottawa. The account is also easier to use (none of those stupid verification codes - actually HSBC is the only bank that uses those really annoying codes). The Savings Builder savings account also gives the highest interest rate I have seen at a bricks and mortar bank, 1.6% on balances up to $250,000 if you increase your balance by at least $200 every month. Note, though, that only 1 withdrawal per month is allowed. The $100 bonus offer is difficult to fulfill if you don't find a job quickly, as it requires setting up direct deposit within I think 2 months.

I started with the Performance Plan but upgraded to the Premium Plan when I got far enough in the real estate search that I was making offers on properties, because the Premium Plan offers free bank drafts and free checks. However, the Premium Plan requires $6000 daily minimum balance in the chequing account, so I might downgrade back to the Performance Plan after I purchase my real estate and no longer need bank drafts. I use my BMO chequing account for e-transfers because Tangerine charges $1 per e-transfer (see below) (Tangerine now offers free e-transfer as of December 2019!) and HSBC has the stupid verification codes.

E-transfer limits:
Sending Receiving
24 hour Limit $3,000 $10,000
7 Day Limit $10,000 $70,000
30 Day Limit $20,000 $300,000
provided the sending limits do not exceed the limits assigned to your BMO Debit Card.

June 2019 update - one of my e-transfer recipients could not answer the security question correctly, and I received an email to click to deposit the funds back into my account. Unfortunately the link kept giving me an error message and saying to call customer service. When I called customer service, I was told to cancel the e-transfer, and I was charged $5. When I complained that I was not cancelling the transaction, but it had been cancelled for me due to the recipient not entering the security code correctly, the representative said the $5 charge is standard policy regardless of who is at fault but agreed to refund the $5 as a one-time courtesy. Now I need to see if any of my other banks don't charge this cancellation fee.

There are a couple of non-newcomer bonus offers of up to $350 going on now as well:
https://www.bmo.com/main/personal/bank-accounts/welcome/


Tangerine
https://www.tangerine.ca/en/products/saving/savings-accounts/
https://www.tangerine.ca/en/products/spending/chequing-account/

The savings account gives 2.75% interest for the first 6 months and 1.2% after (note: it was 2.75% when I signed up in July 2018, then went up to 3% in August 2018, then went back down to 2.75% in April 2019). The chequing account has no monthly fees and also has a $100 bonus offer for setting up payroll direct deposits by November 30 and keeping the deposits coming for 3 months. Update: I had my first paycheck deposited in late August and 4th in early October, and the next day, I received the $100 bonus in my chequing from Tangerine.

Since Tangerine is part of ScotiaBank, there is ATM access at all ScotiaBank ATMs.

You can link up to 3 other bank accounts and transfer funds for free and without the low dollar limits of e-transfers, although there is a $1 charge for each Interac e-Transfer, so I would recommend also opening a chequing account at a bank that offers free e-transfers. Tangerine now offers free e-transfer as of December 2019!

Unfortunately you don't even get higher e-transfer limits for the $1 fee. Tangerine's e-transfer sending limits are $3000 per day, $10,000 per week, and $20,000 per month.

There are also dollar limits for transfers to and from linked bank accounts, but the amounts aren't published. When I tried to make a large transfer out of Tangerine and got an error, I called customer service and the representative manually made the transfer.

Tangerine was one of Canada's first online banks, if not the very first, like ING Direct in the US, and is actually part of ING Direct. Consistent with Canada's banking industry being 10-15 years behind that of the US, Tangerine opened in 2014, while ING Direct offered its first online bank account in the US I believe in 2001, when it also had similar $50 refer a friend bonus offers.

I signed up with a referral and am happy to say I received the $50 referral bonus from Tangerine the day after going into the branch to show my ID and making an initial $100 deposit via e-transfer from my BMO checking account.

If you want to get the $50 refer a friend bonus, use my code 53568186S1 when signing up.

Transfers from external linked bank accounts can take a variable amount of time. My first transfer into my savings account took a week to clear. My first transfer into my chequing account took 10 days to clear. But my second transfer into my chequing account was available after 1 day.

August 2020 update: interest rates have been terrible across all banks lately. With Tangerine's normally terribly uncompetitive interest rate, I had expected that I would have closed my account by now. However, I still don't plan to close this account because
  1. I now have the Tangerine World MasterCard that gives 2% cash back in 3 categories if you have your rewards deposited into your Tangerine Savings Account, but in only 2 categories if you don't have a Tangerine Savings Account.
  2. Tangerine periodically offers high promotional interest rates from time to time. After my first 6 months at the introductory promotional rate, I got another promotion of 2.75% from June 2019 through the end of November 2019, and I am currently on a 2.8% promotional rate that started in April 2020 and ends on August 31, 2020. With the rest of the banks offering bad rates, I now have all my cash savings in this account and am actively looking for a place to move my money after this promotional rate expires. 


EQ Bank
https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/features-rates

For ongoing higher interest rates, online bank EQ Bank is one of the best I have seen, currently at 2.3%. It offers free electronic funds transfers to other bank accounts you own (no limit to how many bank accounts you can link, unlike Tangerine that has a limit of 3). No ATM access. Unfortunately you are allowed to deposit only $200,000 (which is an improvement from the $100,000 maximum balance in place when I opened my account). It's ok if your balance goes above $200,000 if it's due only to interest received. EQ and Alterna are also the only banks that did not require a branch visit, although it took a few days before my account was fully open.

There is also a $30,000 limit per transfer to a linked external bank and $100,000 from a linked external bank.

E-transfer sending limits: $3000 Monday to Friday, excluding holidays in Ontario. Interac e-Transfers sent on weekends or holidays are counted against the daily maximum of the next business day.
Interac e-Transfer Weekly Maximum $10,000
Interac e-Transfer Monthly Maximum $20,000
It used to be that only 5 free Interac e-Transfers per month were allowed, and $1.50 was charged for each additional Interac e-Transfer within the month, but recently they got rid of that rule. There is also no mention about whether these limits apply only for sending or for both sending and receiving.

2021 update: There is now a $30 refer a friend bonus if you sign up with my link: https://join.eqbank.ca?code=KAY4592

https://www.eqbank.ca/personal-banking/features-rates/savings-plus-account-fees-and-features


TD Bank

TD Bank's newcomers offer gives benefits such as no monthly fees for only 6 months, and there is no bonus offer:

https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/planning/life-events/new-to-canada/index.jsp

The $300 bonus offer requires setting up direct deposit, recurring pre-authorized debit, and online bill payment by November 15 and can't be combined with the newcomers offer

https://www.td.com/ca/en/personal-banking/products/special-offers/300-offer/

E-transfer sending limits: $3000 per transfer and per 24 hours, $10,000 per 7 days, $20,000 per 30 days.

However, in mid June of 2018, I opened up a U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account, one of two US currency accounts at TD Bank because as far as I have been able to find, TD is the only Canadian bank that allows free transfers from a US bank into a US currency bank account in Canada without minimum balances.

The U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account has no monthly fee or minimum balance, but in order to not be charged a transaction fee of $1.25 per transaction, you need to keep a $1500 balance. The other US currency account available is the Borderless Plan, which has a $3000 minimum balance to avoid monthly fee. None of the benefits of the Borderless Plan over the U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account are of use to me, except perhaps free bank drafts.

The banker I met with to open the account was very nice. In fact, he is a dual US-Canadian citizen who has lived in both Canada and the US. He knew his way around the computer system for opening accounts for US citizens and also told me that I could switch between these two accounts at any time. He also said that with the U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account, you don't really have to keep $1500 minimum at all times. Just make sure to deposit at least that much each time and take everything out at once. If your beginning balance is at least $1500, the system will treat you as having $1500 and not charge you a transaction fee even if the withdrawal brings your balance to 0. It's only if you start with less than $1500 and make a withdrawal, the system will take out the $1.25 transaction fee.

Read my Guide to TD Bank for more on TD Bank for US expatriates or anyone living in Canada who has a fair amount of US dollars.

Note that people from other countries have also reported that TD Bank is the fastest in processing international wire transfers, if you have a need to make international wire transfers (although I recommend against wire transfers unless your country's currency is not supported by any of the currency exchange companies).


Alterna Bank
https://alternabank.ca/Personal/EverydayBanking/Accounts/

Alterna is another online bank that also has branches and ATMs. I opened a High Interest eSavings Account and a No Fee eChequing Account here in January 2019, after my 6 month promotional rate at Tangerine ended and plummeted to 1.25%. I like that Alterna's 2.35% interest rate is ongoing (unfortunately it went down to 2.3% as of April 2019). You can link an unlimited number of accounts, and the account opening process is completely online, no need to walk into a branch, although there are a few branches and ATMs in Toronto and more in Ottawa:
https://alternabank.ca/ToolsAndCalculators/FindBranchATM/

Unfortunately there are limits to how much you can transfer among your accounts:
Sending Receiving
Transaction Limit $50,000 $100,000
7 Day Limit $100,000 $250,000
30 Day Limit $250,000 $500,000

They advertise free, unlimited Interac e-Transfers, but there actually are the following e-transfer limits:
Sending Receiving
Transaction Limit $3,000 $10,000
7 Day Limit $10,000 $70,000
30 Day Limit $20,000 $300,000

My experience with Alterna has been straightforward and hassle-free so far. I have switched my payroll direct deposit to Alterna, after originally having it with Tangerine for the bonus offer.


CIBC

December 2020 update: the $300 bonus offer has been replaced by a $100 Amazon.ca gift card offer, both for newcomers and non-newcomers.

November 2020 update:
  • After another promotional rate I had with Tangerine of 2.8% expired on August 31, and other banks proceeded to keep lowering their rates, the best I could find was a 2.1% rate offer for the first 120 days with CIBC eAdvantage® Savings Account (which apparently is no longer available as of November 2020) which I opened in early September. 

  • I also saw the $300 bonus offer for newcomers and decided to take advantage of it. You qualify as a newcomer if you have been in Canada for under 5 years. This offer gives one year free of monthly fees. To qualify for the $300 bonus, within 3 months of opening the account, you must:
    • set up a recurring direct deposit or at least 2 pre-authorized debits.
    • The pre-authorized debits must be arranged through the outside institution (e.g., credit card or utility company), not CIBC's online bill payment service.
    • The bonus won't be deposited until 7 months (or 5 months with the current offer as of November 2020) after you opened the account.
    • Finally, you must keep the account open and not converted to any other type of account for at least one year from the end of the month in which the account was opened (so in my case, I opened my account on September 2, 2020, which means I must keep the account open through September 30, 2021).
    • Full terms and conditions here.

  • If you don't qualify as a newcomer, there is a similar $300 offer with the CIBC Smart Account, which really is the same as the newcomer promotion except that only the first 3 months are free of monthly fees, after which you must maintain the recurring direct deposit or 2+ pre-authorized debits for the next 9 months to get the monthly fees rebated.

  • Even though the site allows you to open the account online, at the end of the process, I got a message to go into a branch, even during this COVID-19 pandemic. At the branch, the banker said my information was not even in the system, even though normally when people open the accounts online, their information is in the system but they might be asked to go into a branch to show ID. At least the banker was quite friendly, and the branch almost empty and everyone required to wear masks.

My initial impression back when I first moved to Canada: I was not impressed with any of the other banks, either. I had gone to a CIBC near me on my first day here and was turned away when I did not have proof of address. Also, CIBC's current $300 bonus offer expires August 31 and requires a direct deposit or 2 pre-authorized payments within 3 months:
https://www.cibc.com/en/special-offers/cibc-smart.html
https://newcomer.cibc.com/cibc-welcome-to-canada-banking-package/everyday-banking-for-newcomers

Its newcomer package with no monthly fees for a year is not bad, but it does not give a bonus:
https://newcomer.cibc.com/cibc-welcome-to-canada-banking-package



And banks I considered but did not open accounts with:


ScotiaBank

I met a fellow immigrant who has been having a bad experience with ScotiaBank. She opened an account online before landing in Canada. They did not give her any newcomers offer and charged monthly fees right away. She also had to pay $50 to get a checkbook. And they would charge her $20 to close her account now. I also visited a ScotiaBank downtown on my 2nd day here, and one of the associates was somewhat unfriendly and uptight when I first arrived and asked about opening an account. The one I eventually met with just blandly mentioned some very unimpressive newcomers offer whose offer I forgot about.



RBC

I was not impressed with the bonus offers of RBC, either. They seemed somewhat difficult to fulfill and I could not be combined with newcomers offers. RBC's newcomers offer also has no monthly fees for a year. It had no bonus offer when I landed, but now there is a free SIM card offer:

http://www.rbc.com/newcomers/

I think RBC had another bonus offer before, but it expired before I got here.

Recently an iPad offer came out:
https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/services/accounts/ipad-offer-s-l.html?utm_expid=135073135-1438.vueJG5yjRPG5qPUNH_4GbQ.1




National Bank

National Bank has the longest lasting newcomers promotion, with benefits for up to 3 years

https://www.nbc.ca/personal/accounts/newcomers.html

No bonus offer, but there is a separate bonus offer of up to $350

https://www.nbc.ca/personal/accounts/new-clients.html

However, the bonus offer is a bit difficult and slow to fulfill. $200 would come as $20/month for 10 months for performing a qualifying transaction each month, and the other $150 from getting approved for one of their credit cards (and we newcomers with no credit history often have trouble getting approved for regular non-newcomers credit cards).

National Bank is one of few bricks and mortar banks that let you open an account online. But it has very few branches in Toronto although many in Quebec.


Final note on CDIC Insurance

Note that CDIC insurance (Canada's equivalent to FDIC insurance in the US) covers only $100,000, so if you have more than that to put in bank accounts and want it all CDIC insured, you'll have to open accounts at multiple banks.

http://www.cdic.ca/en/about-di/what-we-cover/Pages/default.aspx

List of CDIC members

http://www.cdic.ca/en/about-di/what-we-cover/Pages/list-members.aspx


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guide to TD Bank
Guía a TD Bank
Guide au TD Bank

TD Bank is a great resource for US expatriates and anyone living in Canada who has a nontrivial amount of US dollars. Some people have asked me specifics about accounts at TD Bank, so I decided to write this post. I have the following accounts with TD: TD Canada U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account TD US TD Convenience Checking TD Preferred Savings with Rate Bump The Details TD Canada Two US currency account choices are available: The U.S. Daily Interest Chequing Account officially has no minimum balance, but a minimum balance of $1500 is needed to avoid being charged a fee of $1.25 per transaction. The Borderless Plan requires a $3000 minimum balance to avoid monthly fee. Additional perks include free bank drafts and better exchange rates, but the exchange rates are still very bad compared to those of the currency exchange companies described in my other post , so I don't care about the better exchange rates. TD US I like TD Convenience Checking
Read more

Tips for your First Days in Canada
Consejos para tus Primeros Días en Canadá
Conseils pour tes premiers jours au Canada

More and more of the friends I have made from Canadian immigration whatsapp groups are landing and/or moving over these days! Here are my pointers on what to do in the first days after landing. Note that some of this is Toronto-specific but hopefully will still be helpful for those settling elsewhere. Quarantine - COVID-19 update  as of November 2020 The COVID-19 situation changes constantly; check this page for the travel situation , this  page for current updates and announcements , a comprehensive page of links to governmental resources and updates . As of November 2020, anyone arriving in Canada from outside the country must quarantine for 14 days . Be sure to plan for your quarantine ahead of time. You will need to stay in your lodging the entire time; you are not allowed to go out even to get food or take a walk. When you arrive at the airport, you will be asked specifics about your plans for quarantine and where you will be staying. Many people have also been called one or more
Read more

Tax guide for US citizens living in Canada
Guía de impuestos para los estadounidenses que viven en Canada
Guide des impôts pour les Américains qui habitent au Canada

Introduction July 1, 2019. Happy Canada Day! I had hoped to put out this tax guide by June 15 to coincide with the US tax return due date for US persons living abroad , but I had just finished setting up my 2019 tax workpapers and calculating my 2019 estimated tax for Canada and the US and paid Q2 estimated taxes (called Instalments in Canada) just in time, and uh, the time has been passing me by as it often does. So, this will be my Canada Day gift to you all. I have spent most of this Canada Day weekend writing up this guide. Better than last year's Canada Day weekend, which was entirely spent doing a long take-home assignment for a job I was interviewing for and eventually did not get. Hmmpfffffff. But I have more peace of mind now, after sorting out and writing about tax matters that are relevant to me. I took my time to research, think about, and set up workpapers for my 2019 taxes. For the 2019 tax year, besides the normal wage income, I have interest income from a num
Read more