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Switching Banks in Canada: Moving Your Payments and Closing an Account

Updated

To switch banks in Canada, FCAC (the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada) sets out moving your chequing and savings accounts as a series of steps: identify your automated transactions, open the new account, move your money, set up your deposits and debits at the new account, review your accounts, then close the old ones. FCAC says transferring products or services to another financial institution involves several steps and may take some time, and you may need to get new products or services before cancelling the ones you currently have. How to choose an account is covered on the bank accounts front, chequing accounts compared and no-fee chequing accounts. This page also covers closing an account and what each big bank’s own documents say about closing one.

What are the steps to switch banks?

FCAC’s steps for chequing and savings accounts, as its page gives them:

  1. FCAC says to identify your automated transactions first: review your transactions over the last months or from the past year to identify pre-authorized debits, and identify all direct deposits, including work income, pension and benefits.
  2. FCAC says banks, federal credit unions and authorized foreign banks must allow you to open a deposit account if you meet certain conditions; what that takes is on opening a bank account.
  3. FCAC says you may transfer your funds from your current accounts to your new accounts, that most financial institutions have processes to help, and that this may include wire transfers, Interac e-Transfers, linking your accounts, electronic funds transfers and bank drafts; the ways to send money between institutions are on moving money.
  4. FCAC says to give your creditors and service providers your new banking information, to have the funds in your new accounts to cover upcoming payments, and to ask your financial institution whether it has a process to transfer your pre-authorized debits; if it does not, you set them up in the new account and cancel them in the current one. Each kind of payment is covered below.
  5. FCAC says that before you close your current chequing and savings accounts you should have access to the new accounts, receive your new debit card if applicable, change your direct deposits, cancel or transfer all your pre-authorized debits and request stop payments for any cheques you have written.
  6. Close the old accounts by asking the old institution, as set out under closing an account.

FCAC says you may wish to keep your current accounts open for several months, which may help you avoid unexpected fees on cheques and pre-authorized debits you may have missed, and to keep funds in the accounts to cover any payments.

FCAC’s page also covers moving a credit card, a loan or line of credit, a mortgage and a registered plan. Those moves are covered on cancelling a credit card, switching mortgage lenders, transferring a TFSA and transferring an RRSP. Sign-up offers and their conditions are on bank account promotions.

How do you move direct deposits, pre-authorized debits and other payments?

Pay and other deposits. Changing where a direct deposit goes, and the forms and numbers it takes, is covered on changing banks or accounts, and federal payments on CRA, CPP, OAS and EI deposits. The Canada Revenue Agency says that once you give consent through your CRA account your direct deposit information is updated the next business day, and not to close your old bank account until your first payment has been deposited to the new one.

Pre-authorized debits. Step 4 above covers moving them to the new account. How stopping one works, and getting your money back when one is taken in error, are on pre-authorized debits.

Cheques you have written. Step 5 above includes asking for stop payments on them, and how a stop payment works is on stopping a cheque.

Interac e-Transfer Autodeposit. Interac e-Transfer Autodeposit lets you register to have incoming Interac e-Transfer funds deposited directly into your bank account, with no security question and answer needed. How you register is on Autodeposit.

How do you close a bank account?

FCAC says to close your current chequing and savings accounts you must make a request to your current financial institution, that you may have to pay a fee, and to check your account agreements for information on closing fees. What each big bank’s documents say about closing an account, and the fees they give, is in the table below. FCAC’s list of what to have in place before you close is step 5 above.

FCAC’s opening page says most financial institutions have processes to help you transfer an account, which may include arranging for your old institution to transfer your pre-authorized debits, and says to keep your old account open during the transfer and cut up old debit cards and cheques to prevent fraud; protecting your accounts from fraud is covered on banking fraud protection.

FCAC says that after you transfer you may ask your financial institution for a list of the accounts you closed, you should check your credit reports to make sure the accounts are closed, and once you have no products or services left with an institution you should cancel your online banking access; what a credit report shows is explained on how to read your credit report.

A joint account is covered on joint bank accounts, and an account whose owner has died on a joint account when one owner dies. A card refund that comes after the account is closed is covered on how long a refund takes. Balances left in unused accounts are covered on unclaimed bank balances.

What each big bank’s documents say about closing an account, and the fees

For each bank, the table gives what its own documents say about how you close an account, its fee for closing one with the conditions it states, and its fee for moving the balance to another institution, each where the documents give one; each fee links to the bank’s fee table, and the last column links the documents.

BankHow the bank says you close an accountClosing fee, with its conditionsFee for moving the balance to another institutionSource
BMO–$0.00 if closed within 14 business days; $20.00 if closed after 14 business days (within 90 calendar days of opening)
on BMO's fee table		$20.00
Your account balance to another financial institution
on BMO's fee table		Fees as of June 2, 2026
CIBC––$19.50 per account
Transfer bank account to another financial institution (Balance of Account form)
on CIBC's fee table		Fees as of March 12, 2026
RBCRBC says you have to visit a branch to close a personal account if you are not transferring the balance to another RBC account or if it is an Alliance, RateLink, V.I.P, Estate, Staff or Joint 'AND' account; otherwise you can close it by phone at 1 800 769-2511 or by sending a secure message in Online Banking when the balance is zero or you have told RBC to transfer it to another RBC account in your name, and RBC says to expect the account to be closed within 5 business days of the request; the same page gives a $15 fee for closing 16 to 90 days after opening unless the balance is moving to another RBC deposit or investment account, while RBC's fee document (August 3, 2026) gives $20.00 after 15 days, waived in person or when the balance moves to another RBC account or product$20.00, waived if closed in person or if the balance is transferred to another RBC Royal Bank account or product; only applies if the account is closed 15+ days after it was opened
on RBC's fee table		–RBC's page
Fees as of August 3, 2026
ScotiabankScotiabank’s Help Centre says to visit a branch to close your account (article last updated January 4, 2024)$20.00, if the account is closed after 14 business days but within 90 days of opening
on Scotiabank's fee table		$20.00
Transfer a Scotiabank account balance to another financial institution
on Scotiabank's fee table		Scotiabank's page
Fees as of September 2026
TDTD’s Financial Services Terms say you may close your account at any time, and that if either you or TD closes it you must still pay any money owed to a TD Bank Group member, including interest, fees and charges–$15.00
Close a deposit account and transfer the balance to another financial institution
on TD's fee table		TD's document (PDF)
Fees as of March 5, 2026

A dash means this table shows nothing for that cell.

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

Banks in this table: BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and TD.

For an account at another institution, FCAC’s step 6 points to the account agreement for closing fees.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 14, 2026 and October 20, 2026. How we check facts.