Canadian Bank Fees: How to Pay $0/Month in Canada (2026 Guide)

Bank Fees Add Up Faster Than Newcomers Expect

When I first arrived in Canada, I opened a CIBC account. Plenty of branches, one of the Big 5 — it felt safe. It took a few months before I noticed that $13–$16 was leaving my account every month as a maintenance fee.

That is $156–$192 a year. In your first years as an immigrant, that is not small. What bothered me more was that nobody explained it. The rep walked through the plan quickly, my English was shaky, and I nodded and signed. In Korea, paying a monthly fee just to hold a bank account is not really a concept, so it never occurred to me to question it.

When I looked into it, there turned out to be several legitimate ways to get that fee to $0. I do not pay a cent today.

First, Find Out What You Are Actually Paying

Before looking at solutions, check what you currently pay. A surprising number of people do not know.

Log into online banking and search your transaction history for “Monthly Fee,” “Account Fee,” “Service Charge,” or “Plan Fee.” If the same amount leaves on the same date every month, that is your maintenance fee.

Here is where the Big 5 stand as of August 2026.

Bank	Monthly fee (representative plan)	Balance to waive
TD (Everyday Chequing)	$10.95	$4,000
TD (All-Inclusive)	$29.95	$5,000
BMO (Performance)	$17.95	$4,000
Scotiabank (Preferred Package)	$16.95	$4,000
CIBC (Smart Account)	~$16.95	$4,000
CIBC (Everyday Chequing)	~$6.95	$1,000
RBC (Day to Day Banking)	$4.00	Waived with bundled products

① TD ② BMO ③ Scotiabank ④ CIBC Smart ⑤ CIBC Everyday / ⑥ EQ Bank ⑦ Tangerine ⑧ Simplii — every online bank right of the dashed line is $0. (August 2026)

Plan names are confusingly similar, and within a single bank the fee ranges from $6.95 to $29.95. Identifying which plan you are actually on is step one.

What Five Years of Doing Nothing Costs

$17.95 a month looks small. That is exactly why people leave it. The problem is that it is automatic and permanent.

The three lines show $17.95/month (red), $10.95/month (amber), and $0/month (green) accumulated over five years. The horizontal axis is years.

At $17.95 a month, that is $1,077 over five years. Even at $10.95 it is $657. That is a month of strata fees in Vancouver, a solid chunk of a return flight to Korea, or — if it had been sitting in the HISA we cover in Part 2 — that amount plus interest.

Do nothing and this keeps going. Apply any one of the methods below and the line flattens immediately.

Method 1: Maintain a Minimum Balance

Most large Canadian banks waive the monthly fee if you keep a certain balance. As the table shows, the threshold is usually $1,000–$5,000.

The catch is that this is almost always a minimum daily balance, not a monthly average. If you drop below the threshold for even one day, you are charged for that month. If your balance runs thin right before payday, this method can backfire.

Ask at a branch or by phone:

“What is the minimum daily balance to waive the monthly fee on my account?”

One hidden cost: that $4,000 is effectively locked up. Chequing pays about 0.01%, so if that money were in a HISA at 2.75–3.40% you would be earning roughly $120 a year. If you are waiving $215 in annual fees, you are still ahead. If your plan only costs $48 a year, you are behind. Run the numbers before committing.

Method 2: Switch to a No-Fee Online Bank

The most reliable option. Canada has banks that simply do not charge monthly fees.

Bank	Parent	Monthly fee	Notes
EQ Bank	Equitable Bank	$0	High interest, card included
Tangerine	Scotiabank	$0	Free Scotiabank ATM access
Simplii Financial	CIBC	$0	Free CIBC ATM access

The key point is that Tangerine and Simplii are owned by Scotiabank and CIBC respectively. You get a no-fee online bank while still using a major bank’s ATM network for free, which removes most of the “but how do I get cash?” objection.

The real downside is no physical branch. For everyday transfers, bill payments, and Interac e-Transfers, that makes no practical difference.

Method 3: Student or Newcomer Packages

Student accounts are usually fully fee-exempt with proof of enrolment. If you or your spouse is at a college or university, use it. Many banks extend the benefit for one to two years after graduation.

Newcomer Banking Packages typically apply if you arrived within the last three to five years.

Monthly fee waived for 12–24 months
Credit card approval without a credit history (low limit)
Free or discounted safety deposit box
Discounted international transfers in year one

Here is what people miss: the waiver period ends automatically, and nobody tells you. Two years later, the fee quietly resumes. When you sign up, put the expiry date in your calendar and switch to another method before it hits.

Method 4: Senior or Benefit Recipient Discounts

If you are 60 or 65+, most banks reduce or fully waive the monthly fee. RBC, for instance, applies a full rebate for seniors.

The important part is that this is often not automatic. Even with your date of birth on file, some banks require you to request it. If you have sponsored parents who bank here, or you are in that age range yourself, call the branch and explicitly ask for the senior discount.

Method 5: Bundling Products

Some accounts, like RBC’s Day to Day Banking, carry a low $4 fee that is waived if you hold other products with the same bank — a credit card or investment account, for example.

This cuts both ways. If you already hold that bank’s credit card, the waiver is free money. But opening an annual-fee card just to dodge a monthly fee is backwards. Paying $120 in annual fees to save $48 is a losing trade.

Other Fees Worth Checking

Getting the monthly fee to $0 does not stop every leak.

Out-of-network ATM fees: $2–$5 per withdrawal, plus the operator’s own surcharge — realistically up to $6.
Transaction limits: basic plans may cap transactions (say, 12/month), then charge about $1.25 each beyond that.
Interac e-Transfer: unlimited and free on most plans, but some budget plans charge per transfer.
Foreign exchange fees: most cards add 2.5% on foreign currency purchases. If you shop Korean sites or travel, this can exceed your monthly fee.
Overdraft protection: carries its own monthly charge plus interest. Cancel it if you do not use it.
Paper statements: around $2/month. Switch to electronic.

The Five Methods Compared

Method	Best for	Requirement	Result
Minimum balance	Anyone who can hold a steady balance	$1,000–$5,000 daily minimum	Fee waived
No-fee online bank	Anyone who rarely visits branches	Move the account	$0 fee + higher interest
Student / newcomer package	Students or arrivals within 5 years	Proof of status	Temporary full waiver
Senior / benefit discount	Age 60–65+	Eligibility plus a request	Reduced or waived
Product bundling	Existing cardholders at that bank	Hold qualifying products	Fee waived

If more than one applies to you, ask whether they can be combined.

How to Switch Accounts Without Breaking Anything

Close the old account first and your pre-authorized payments start failing. Follow this order.

Open the new account first. Leave the old one running.
Pull three months of transaction history from the old account to build your list of automatic payments — rent, insurance, phone, subscriptions, gym.
Redirect your payroll (direct deposit). Give HR a void cheque or direct deposit form.
Move automatic payments across one at a time.
Keep the old account open for at least two months. Quarterly and annual charges surface late.
Close it once nothing is still hitting it.

One caution on closing: shutting a Big 5 chequing account can cancel perks tied to it — waived credit card fees, mortgage rate discounts. You can usually keep the credit card and close only the chequing account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Does closing an account hurt my credit score? No. Closing chequing or savings accounts has no credit impact. Credit cards and loans do.

Q. How do I get cash with an online bank? Tangerine uses Scotiabank ATMs and Simplii uses CIBC ATMs, both free. EQ Bank uses partner networks or you transfer to another account first.

Q. Can I get past fees refunded? Sometimes. Especially if the waiver conditions were never explained to you at signup, ask the branch or call centre. Refunds covering several recent months do happen. It costs nothing to ask.

Q. Is it fine to have more than one bank account? Yes, and it is often smart. Many people keep a Big 5 account for branch service and an online account for daily use.

Q. Do joint accounts get charged twice? No. The fee applies once per account. And since both balances combine, hitting the minimum balance threshold gets easier.

Summary

Do nothing and $13–$18 leaves your account every month. Over five years that clears $1,000.

Any one of these five methods drops it to $0 immediately. For most newcomers, the practical answer is switching to a no-fee online bank. If you need branch access, keep the Big 5 account at its minimum balance and hold the actual money online.

In Part 2, we look at where to put the money you just freed up — comparing Canada’s high-interest savings accounts.

Paying Canadian Bank Fees Every Month? Here’s How to Get to $0 — 4 Methods That Actually Work