Bank Drafts, Certified Cheques and Money Orders in Canada: Fees by Bank

A bank draft is a payment item a bank draws against its own account. A certified cheque is a cheque on which the bank it is drawn on has written or stamped “certified” or “accepted”, and a money order is a payment item its issuer draws on itself to pay the payee named on it. Canada Post sells money orders, and buying one there needs no bank account. What each bank charges for them, where it publishes a fee, is in the table below.

What does each one cost at each bank?

These are the fees for a personal account as each bank’s fee guide or help page states them.

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

Checked against each bank's page on October 18, 2026.

BMO and CIBC price bank drafts and money orders together. Where a bank says it doesn’t issue certified cheques or bank drafts, its row gives the bank’s own words in place of a fee. At Canada Post a money order costs $8.50 each, for up to $999.99.

How are they different?

• Bank draft: a payment item the bank draws against its own account. One bank’s page says the money comes out of the customer’s account in exchange for the draft, which guarantees the funds for the payee (its draft page).
• Certified cheque: a cheque marked “certified” or “accepted” by the bank it is drawn on.
• Money order: a payment item the issuer draws on itself to pay a named payee. Canada Post’s money orders are for payments and purchases in Canada, and buying one needs no bank account.

What is a certified cheque?

A certified cheque is a cheque on whose face the bank it is drawn on has written or stamped “certified”, “accepted” or words to that effect. How a cheque is filled in is on writing a cheque.

Some fee guides price certification differently depending on who asks: the person who signed the cheque, or the payee or someone else. The figures are in the table.

In FCAC’s guidance, financial institutions usually treat a cheque older than 6 months as stale-dated, with two exceptions: a certified cheque and a Government of Canada cheque. The dating rules for personal cheques are on stale-dated cheques.

Some banks say they don’t certify cheques, and their rows in the table give their own words.

How do you get a bank draft?

1. What the bank asks for. One bank’s page lists the exact amount and the payee’s full name and exact address (its draft page).
2. Where. Two banks’ draft pages send customers to a branch, one saying its drafts are issued in branch only (one, the other). Online, one bank’s help page says a draft in Canadian dollars can be ordered from a chequing account and sent by courier (its help page), and one provider’s help page says a draft can be shipped to the customer’s own address or to a third party, such as a law office or a car dealership (its help page).
3. Paying for it. The money comes out of the customer’s account when the draft is issued, as three firms’ pages say.
4. Keeping a record. One bank’s page suggests keeping the draft’s non-negotiable portion separately, since it helps if the draft is lost or stolen (its draft page).

Where a bank prices drafts in other currencies, its fee is in the table.

How do money orders work?

Canada Post sells money orders for $8.50 each, up to $999.99 per order, and takes cash and debit cards as the only methods of payment. Postal money orders are paid out in Canadian dollars, and cashing one at a post office in Canada costs nothing.

Canada Post’s money-order page asks buyers to bring government-issued photo ID and the names of the sender and the payee; its purchasing guide requires the photo ID for money orders of $3,000 or more. A payment above the maximum takes more than one money order, and Canada Post charges a separate fee for each one.

Some banks sell money orders too, and the table gives the fee where a bank’s fee guide prices one.

What if a draft or money order is lost, or no longer needed?

A lost draft. One bank’s page says the customer goes to the bank with the non-negotiable portion, if they still have it; the bank checks whether the draft has been cashed and issues a new one if the account is in good standing, and the customer stays liable for both drafts and signs a statement saying so (its draft page). One fee guide charges for a draft’s reimbursement and photocopy together, and another for replacing a draft drawn in a foreign currency.

A draft no longer needed. The same bank’s page says a draft can’t be cancelled once issued, and that a refund is possible at a branch with both parts of the draft.

A money order. Canada Post refunds destroyed or uncashed money orders after 45 days, and the fee paid for each one is non-refundable.

Stopping a personal cheque is on stopping a cheque. Cancelling an e-Transfer, a wire or another payment is on cancelling a bank transfer.

When is one asked for, and what else works?

One bank’s page says drafts are typically used for large transactions, such as buying a home or a car (its draft page). A Canada Post money order is capped at $999.99, so a larger payment takes several orders, each with its own fee (money orders).

• Interac e-Transfer: sends money directly from a bank account. Each bank’s sending limits are on e-Transfer limits by bank.
• Wire: once the money reaches the recipient’s account, the payment is final. Fees by bank are on wire transfers.

Depositing a draft, certified cheque or money order

One bank’s page says a bank draft is deposited just like a cheque, including through a financial institution’s app (its draft page). Hold periods are on cheque holds; depositing by app is on depositing cheques and cash.

Fake drafts and money orders

A bank draft can be counterfeited, like a cheque, and one bank’s page suggests contacting the issuing institution to check that a draft is real (its draft page). Canada Post says its money orders carry a barcode serial number, polarized ink and a security code that is verified when the order is cashed. The scams that use fake payments, and what to do after a loss, are on bank fraud and scams.

Related pages

• Moving money
• Writing, dating and stopping a cheque
• Depositing cheques and cash
• Wire transfers
• e-Transfer limits by bank
• ATM withdrawal limits
• Bank fees
• Bounced cheques and NSF fees