No-Fee Chequing Accounts in Canada, Plus Low-Cost and No-Cost Bank Accounts

The first table lists free chequing accounts in Canada, the everyday accounts that charge no monthly fee, with what each includes and pays. Such an account can still charge for other services, set out under what a no-fee account leaves out. The banks that signed the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC) Commitment on Low-Cost and No-Cost Accounts offer an account with a capped monthly fee, at no monthly fee for certain groups, explained below. Accounts that charge a monthly fee are compared by need on their own page.

Which chequing accounts have no monthly fee?

The table lists the everyday accounts whose monthly fee is zero as their price, not as a waiver, with what each includes, its interest as the provider states it and the conditions printed beside the fee. Several of these providers also say they ask for no minimum balance.

A dash means this table shows no figure for that account.

Checked against each bank's pages on October 20, 2026.

Some accounts waive the monthly fee for a minimum balance; those are compared across banks on their own page. Accounts for students and for children have their own pages: student bank accounts and accounts for children and youth.

What can a no-fee account still charge, or leave out?

• Other fees. A financial institution may charge non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees, overdraft protection can bring charges of its own, and one bank’s no-fee account says a fee may apply to non-standard transactions. The institution must list the service charges that apply, and bank fees compares them across banks.
• Cash. One online bank in the table takes no cash deposits, while others take cash at a particular bank’s ATMs or at Canada Post locations; the cash deposit table gives each provider’s route.
• Branch services. Some providers in the table don’t send wire transfers or certify cheques, and one says its account is not for someone who wants bank drafts; see wires and drafts and certified cheques by bank.
• Limits. Interac e-Transfer transaction limits are set by each financial institution, and e-Transfer limits lists them by bank.
• Deposit protection. Some providers in the table are not banks, and one says the funds in its chequing accounts are placed in trust with CDIC member institutions; how CDIC coverage works is on CDIC deposit insurance.
• Interest. The interest column gives each account’s rate as its provider states it, and some rates depend on a condition, such as recurring direct deposits or the assets held with the provider; savings rates are compared on high-interest savings accounts.

What are low-cost and no-cost accounts?

The Commitment on Low-Cost and No-Cost Accounts is a public commitment signed by banks and other federally regulated financial institutions, and FCAC, which supervises their public commitments as well as their legislative obligations, says it will monitor the signatories’ compliance. It is a commitment, not a law, and its conditions are these:

• The rule is the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's Commitment on Low-Cost and No-Cost Accounts, a public commitment signed by banks and other federally regulated institutions; it states the minimum service level, and its current version took effect on December 1, 2025.
• It binds the institutions that signed it; on December 1, 2025, FCAC listed fourteen: Alterna Bank, Bank of China (Canada), BMO, CIBC, Hana Bank Canada, ICICI Bank, Industrial Commercial Bank of China, Innovation Federal Credit Union, Laurentian Bank, National Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Tangerine Bank and TD Bank.
• FCAC supervises compliance with banks' public commitments and says it will monitor the signatories' compliance with this one.
• The Bank Act lets the Governor in Council make regulations requiring a member bank (a bank that is a CDIC member institution) to open a low-cost or no-cost retail deposit account for a person who meets the prescribed conditions, but the Access to Basic Banking Services Regulations were repealed in 2022, so the Commitment is the rule banks follow today.
• The Access to Basic Banking Services Regulations (SOR/2003-184) are repealed as of June 29, 2022.
• Every Canadian is eligible for a low-cost chequing account at a monthly cost of no more than $4.00.
• A signatory makes the $0 (no-cost) account available to seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement, Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) beneficiaries, youth (Canadians aged 18 and under), students and newcomers to Canada in their first year in Canada.
• A signatory also makes the no-cost account available to at least one of three more groups it chooses: Indigenous peoples, Canadians receiving social assistance payments from select provincial or territorial programs, or recipients of the Disability Tax Credit.
• For this Commitment, newcomers are permanent residents (including people with an approval-in-principle from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), refugees (protected persons) and temporary residents (including student, worker or temporary resident permit holders).
• A bank may ask for documents when you open the account and again from time to time to confirm you still qualify for the no-cost account.
• Both account types include at least 12 debit transactions a month plus at least 6 more, for a total of at least 18 a month; the types the bank counts include debit card purchases, bill payments, pre-authorized debits, cheques, cash withdrawals, electronic fund transfers (such as Interac e-Transfer) and in-branch transactions.
• Both account types also have free digital monthly statements, cheque writing privileges, no minimum balance, no account switching fees with the same bank, no extra charge for deposits, the debit card, pre-authorized payment forms, monthly printed statements or cheque images, and joint accounts where warranted; other services are available for a reasonable fee.
• A bank tells you about its no-cost interest-bearing savings account options, if it has any, that can be linked to a low-cost or no-cost chequing account.
• A bank must display information about its low-cost and no-cost accounts in branch and online, with how to reach FCAC's Account Comparison Tool, and list these accounts clearly with its other accounts.

FCAC notes that a financial institution may offer accounts costing no more than the commitment’s cap that still don’t qualify as a “low-cost account”. The account a bank offers under the commitment is in the table below for the banks this site covers. Institutions that did not sign the commitment set their own fees, and some of the accounts in the no-fee table come from them.

Which account is each bank’s low-cost account?

Signatory banks name the account they offer under the commitment; the table gives it for the banks it covers, with its fee and transactions from the bank’s lineup and what the bank says about no-cost eligibility. Each bank counts transactions in its own way, since the commitment lets signatories identify the types of debit transactions they cover. On eligibility, the commitment adds: A bank may ask for documents when you open the account and again from time to time to confirm you still qualify for the no-cost account.

A dash means this table shows no figure for that bank.

Checked against each bank's pages on October 20, 2026.

Accounts for particular groups have their own pages: seniors, students, children and youth and newcomers.

Related pages

• Chequing accounts with a monthly fee: chequing accounts compared by need
• The two account types side by side: chequing vs savings
• One bank’s lineup, waivers and fees: RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank and Manulife Bank
• Fees compared across banks: bank fees
• Opening and switching: opening a bank account and switching banks
• Online banks and fintechs compared: online banks
• How sign-up offers work: bank account promotions
• FCAC’s Account Comparison Tool, which FCAC points to for finding a no-cost account