Bank fees are the easiest money most Canadians leave on the table, and the reason is not laziness. It is that the number is genuinely hard to find. The monthly fee is on one page, the included transaction count is on another, the charge for going over is in a booklet, and the balance that makes the fee disappear is in a footnote. By the time you have assembled it, you have spent an hour and you still do not know what you actually paid last year.
So we assembled it. Everything on this page came from the bank's own website, read on 2 August 2026, and every figure is attributed to the account it belongs to. Nothing here is an estimate, an average, or a figure carried over from an older article.
The short answer
The entry level accounts at the big banks cost about $4 a month. TD Minimum Chequing is $3.95, the Scotiabank Basic Bank Account is $3.95, RBC Day to Day Banking is $4 and CIBC Everyday Chequing is $4.00. All four limit how many transactions you get.
The accounts most people are actually on cost three to four times that. The unlimited middle tiers run $12.95 at RBC Advantage, $17.95 at TD Unlimited, $16.95 at the Scotiabank Preferred Package and $16.95 at the CIBC Smart Account. At $16.95 a month that is $203.40 a year.
The top tiers are around $31 a month, which is roughly $370 a year: RBC VIP at $30, TD All-Inclusive at $30.95 and the Scotiabank Ultimate Package at $30.95.
NSF fees are now capped at $10 by federal regulation, down from the $45 to $48 range that most Canadian articles still quote. There are two extra protections inside that rule that almost nobody mentions. They are in the NSF section below.
Monthly chequing fees, by bank and tier
Read on 2 August 2026 from rbcroyalbank.com, td.com, scotiabank.com and cibc.com. The wording in the fee and waiver columns is the bank's own.
RBC
| Account | Monthly fee | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Day to Day Banking | $4 | 12 included debit transactions, plus unlimited e-Transfers, self serve transfers, public transit and Virtual Visa Debit transactions |
| Advantage Banking | $12.95 | Unlimited debit transactions in Canada. Listed at $0 for full time students and $0 for one year for newcomers |
| Signature No Limit Banking | $16.95 | Unlimited debit transactions in Canada |
| VIP Banking | $30 | Unlimited debit transactions worldwide |
TD
| Account | Monthly fee | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Chequing | $3.95 | 12 transactions including up to 2 full serve transactions, plus unlimited public transit transactions |
| Every Day Chequing | $11.95, or $0 with a daily balance of $3,000 or more | 25 transactions per month, unlimited public transit, free Interac e-Transfer transactions |
| Unlimited Chequing | $17.95, or $0 with a daily balance of $4,000 or more | Unlimited transactions, free Interac e-Transfer transactions |
| All-Inclusive Banking Plan | $30.95, or $0 with a daily balance of $6,000 or more | Unlimited banking transactions |
Scotiabank
| Account | Monthly fee | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Bank Account | $3.95, with senior pricing listed at $0 | 18 free transactions per month, plus free Interac e-Transfer transactions |
| Basic Plus Bank Account | $11.95, or $0 with a $3,000 daily minimum balance | Up to 25 free debit transactions per month, plus free e-Transfers |
| Preferred Package | $16.95, or $0 with a $4,000 daily minimum balance | Unlimited debit and Interac e-Transfer transactions |
| Ultimate Package | $30.95, or $0 with a $6,000 daily minimum or a $100,000 total relationship balance | Unlimited debit and Interac e-Transfer transactions |
CIBC
| Account | Monthly fee | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday Chequing | $4.00 | 18 transactions included monthly, $1.25 for each transaction over 18 |
| Smart Account | $16.95, or $0 when rebated at a $4,000 daily balance or a higher tier qualification | Unlimited transactions including Interac e-Transfer transactions |
| Smart Start, under 25 | $0 until age 25 | Unlimited transactions |
| Smart for Students, age 25 and over | $0 while you are in school | Unlimited transactions |
| Smart Account for Newcomers | $0 for 2 years | Unlimited transactions |
Why there is no BMO table. BMO's chequing pages refused every automated request we made on 2 August 2026, over two different URL paths and two different clients. Rather than take a BMO figure from a secondary source and present it as current, we publish none. If you bank with BMO the number is on your statement and on your account page when you sign in, and that is the better source anyway. We will add BMO to this page the first time we can read it directly.
The balance waiver, and what it really costs
Three of the four banks above will drop the monthly fee to zero if you park enough money in the account. The published thresholds are consistent across the industry, which is itself telling.
| Daily balance required | Accounts that waive at that level | Fee avoided per year |
|---|---|---|
| $3,000 | TD Every Day Chequing, Scotiabank Basic Plus | $143.40 at $11.95 a month |
| $4,000 | TD Unlimited Chequing, Scotiabank Preferred Package, CIBC Smart Account | $203.40 to $215.40 depending on the account |
| $6,000 | TD All-Inclusive, Scotiabank Ultimate Package | $371.40 at $30.95 a month |
Two things about that table are worth sitting with. The first is the word daily. These are not average balance tests. The published condition is a daily balance, so a single day below the line during the month can bring the fee back. If your pay lands on the 15th and your rent leaves on the 1st, a $4,000 daily minimum is a much bigger commitment than $4,000 sounds.
The second is that the money is doing nothing. A chequing balance held to dodge a fee is not earning what the same money would earn in a savings account. Whether that trade is worth it depends on the savings rate you can actually get, which is why the calculator below lets you enter your own rate rather than us inventing one for you. If the interest you give up is larger than the fee you avoid, the waiver is costing you money to feel free.
The charges that sit on top of the monthly fee
The monthly fee is the headline. It is rarely the whole bill.
Going over your transaction count
Entry level accounts include a fixed number of transactions and charge for each one after that. TD Minimum Chequing includes 12 and charges $1.25 each after. RBC Day to Day Banking includes 12 debit transactions and charges $1.25 for each additional debit. CIBC Everyday Chequing includes 18 and charges $1.25 for each transaction over 18. Twenty extra transactions in a month on any of those is $25, which is more than the top tier unlimited account would have cost.
Using another bank's cash machine
TD lists $2.00 for each withdrawal at a non TD ATM in Canada. RBC lists $3 each for a withdrawal at a PLUS System ATM in Canada. That is your own bank's charge for the transaction. The machine's operator can charge its own surcharge on top, which appears on screen before you confirm, and white label machines in convenience stores are where that second charge tends to be largest.
Interac e-Transfers
This one has quietly improved. Every account in the four tables above that mentions e-Transfers at all lists them as free or unlimited, including the $3.95 Scotiabank Basic Bank Account and the $3.95 TD Minimum Chequing account. If you are still being charged per e-Transfer, you are on an older account and it is worth a phone call.
The NSF fee cap, the biggest change of 2026
If you read one section on this page, read this one, because the internet is still full of the old number.
Section 10.1(1) of the Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations: an institution may impose a charge of not more than $10 on a natural person who does not have sufficient funds in their personal deposit account to cover a payment to be drawn from that account.
Section 10.1(2), the two exceptions almost nobody quotes: the institution must not impose a charge for non-sufficient funds more than once within a period of two business days in respect of the same personal deposit account, and must not impose one in respect of a personal deposit account that is in unauthorized overdraft by less than $10.
That second exception is the one that used to do the most damage. Under the old regime, a chain of small payments hitting an empty account in the same afternoon could each trigger their own fee, and a $6 shortfall could cost more than $100 in charges by the end of the week. The two business day rule and the under $10 rule are both aimed squarely at that pattern.
The provision was added by SOR/2025-96. We read it on 2 August 2026 in the consolidated text on the federal Justice Laws website, which states that the regulations are current to 2026-06-14 and were last amended on 2026-03-12. If you were charged more than $10 for an NSF item on a personal deposit account at a bank after the cap came into force, that is worth a complaint, and the complaint process has hard deadlines the bank has to meet. We set those out in the guide to complaining about your bank.
The deeper explanation of the cap, including the low balance alerts that exist to stop the fee happening at all, is in our full guide to the $10 NSF cap.
What your account costs you a year
Put in your own numbers. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored. The defaults are set to a common middle tier account so you can see how it works, then change them to match your statement.
How the calculator works, so you can check it. The monthly fee, extra transaction charges and ATM charges are multiplied by twelve. NSF items are multiplied by $10, which is the federal cap described above, so if you are being charged more than that the real figure is wrong and the fee is the problem. The interest line is a plain one year figure: your waiver balance multiplied by the rate you entered. It is there to show the cost of holding money still, and it is zero unless you fill it in. Nothing is rounded up and nothing is padded.
What a no fee account actually is, and what you give up
Accounts with no monthly fee are ordinary Canadian deposit or prepaid accounts, not a loophole. The differences that matter are about access, not safety.
No fee chequing at an online bank
Simplii Financial's No Fee Chequing Account carries no monthly fee and lists unlimited debit purchases, bill payments and withdrawals, along with free payroll direct deposit and free account to account transfers, read on 2 August 2026. Simplii was also running a welcome offer on that date: earn $300 and a $50 Skip gift card by setting up an eligible direct deposit of $100 or more for three straight months, with the offer stated to end 30 September 2026. We have no commercial relationship with Simplii. It is here because it is the clearest like for like replacement for a big bank chequing account.
No fee prepaid accounts
KOHO is a Canadian prepaid Mastercard account that takes direct deposit and Interac e-Transfer. On koho.ca on 2 August 2026 the Essential plan is listed at $0 a month, with an asterisk pointing to KOHO's own terms, and the paid tiers are listed at $12 a month for Extra and $14.75 a month for Everything, all with a stated 30 day trial. Prepaid is genuinely different from chequing: you generally cannot write a cheque, and depositing physical cash is harder. For anyone whose money arrives by direct deposit and leaves by card, tap and e-Transfer, that difference costs nothing.
The legal floor nobody mentions
Federally regulated banks also offer low cost and no cost account options, and the eligibility rules are not discretionary marketing. If you are on a low income, a senior receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement, a student or a registered disability savings plan beneficiary, this is worth reading before you accept a $16.95 account. We cover who qualifies and how to ask in the guide to low cost and no cost bank accounts.
How to actually stop paying, in the order that works
1. Find your real number first
Open last month's statement and look for the account fee line, then look for anything with the word service, transaction, overlimit or ATM next to it. Add those up and multiply by twelve. Most people are surprised in the same direction. That single figure is what makes the rest of this easy, because you now know what you are buying.
2. Ask for the tier you actually use
The cheapest immediate win is usually not switching banks. It is being on the right account at the bank you are already with. If you make 15 transactions a month and you are on an unlimited plan at $17.95, you are paying $215.40 a year for a limit you never reach. Phone the bank and ask them to move you down a tier. They can do it on the call.
3. Check whether you qualify for a $0 tier you already have
Students, people under 25, newcomers within their first year or two, and seniors are all named in the published fee tables above with $0 or reduced pricing. Banks do not always apply these automatically when your circumstances change. Ask directly and ask them to backdate it if they should have.
4. Open the free account before you close the paid one
The mistake that turns a good decision into a bad month is closing first. Open the new account, move one pay cycle across, redirect your pre-authorized payments one at a time, and give it a full month with both open. Only then close the old one. Our step by step is in how to switch banks in Canada without breaking your bills.
5. Keep the fee from coming back
Set a calendar reminder for six months out to re-read your statement. Fee schedules change, promotional waivers expire, and accounts get quietly migrated to new versions of themselves. Ten minutes twice a year keeps a $200 annual charge from reappearing without you noticing.
If your money arrives by deposit and leaves by card, you can stop paying a monthly fee entirely
The honest case for a no fee account is narrow and it is worth stating plainly. If you visit a branch, deposit cash, or write cheques, a chequing account at a bank is still doing something for you. If none of that is true, a monthly fee is buying you nothing at all. KOHO is a Canadian no fee prepaid Mastercard account that takes direct deposit and Interac e-Transfer and sends a notification on every transaction, which also means you see a problem the day it happens rather than on a statement four weeks later.
See how the account worksGet the free Canadian Banking Rights Playbook
The plain English version of the rules banks would rather you skimmed: what they can charge, what they must tell you, the fee caps that came into force in 2026, and the exact complaint path with the deadlines that apply. One file, no fluff.
Common questions
It depends on the tier, and the spread is wide. Read from each bank's own website on 2 August 2026, the cheapest everyday accounts were TD Minimum Chequing at $3.95, the Scotiabank Basic Bank Account at $3.95, RBC Day to Day Banking at $4 and CIBC Everyday Chequing at $4.00, all with a capped transaction count. The unlimited middle tiers were $12.95 to $17.95. The top tiers were $30 to $30.95. Online banks and prepaid providers run no fee options at $0.
At TD, Scotiabank and CIBC the thresholds are published: $3,000 daily on TD Every Day Chequing and Scotiabank Basic Plus, $4,000 daily on TD Unlimited, the Scotiabank Preferred Package and the CIBC Smart Account, and $6,000 daily on TD All-Inclusive and the Scotiabank Ultimate Package, with Scotiabank also accepting a $100,000 total relationship balance on Ultimate. The important word is daily. These are not average balance tests, so one dip below the line during the month can bring the fee back.
Ten dollars. Section 10.1(1) of the Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations caps the charge at not more than $10 on a personal deposit account held by a natural person. Section 10.1(2) adds that no NSF charge may be imposed more than once within two business days on the same personal deposit account, and none may be imposed at all where the account is in unauthorized overdraft by less than $10. Articles quoting $45 to $48 are describing the old regime.
Your own bank charges you for the transaction, and the machine can charge you separately. TD lists $2.00 for each withdrawal at a non TD ATM in Canada. RBC lists $3 each at a PLUS System ATM in Canada. Any operator surcharge is on top and is shown on screen before you confirm, which is your chance to cancel. Two out of network withdrawals a month at $2.00 is $48 a year, which is more than a whole year of a $3.95 account.
Because BMO's chequing pages refused every automated request we made on 2 August 2026, across two URL paths and two clients. We publish figures we have read from the source on the date we say we read them, so rather than lift a BMO number from a secondary site and present it as current, we left BMO out and said why. It will be added the first time we can read it directly.
Deposit safety is a separate question from fees, and it turns on how the account is held rather than on what it costs. A no fee chequing account at a member institution carries the same deposit insurance as a paid one at the same institution. Prepaid accounts are structured differently, so the right question there is where the funds are held and by whom. We go through how the coverage actually works, and what it does not cover, in our guide to CDIC deposit insurance in Canada.
Run the number before deciding. A $16.95 account is $203.40 a year and a $30.95 account is $371.40 a year, so the saving is real. Against that, count what you actually use: branch visits, cash deposits, cheques, and any product where the bank rebates the fee for holding it. If you use none of those, the fee is buying you nothing. If you use them weekly, it may be buying you something you would miss.
Complain in writing, and know the clock. Federally regulated banks have a statutory deadline to deal with a complaint, and once it passes, or once you have a final response you are not happy with, an independent body can review it for free. The deadlines, the exact escalation path and the two things you must keep on file are set out in our guide to complaining about a bank in Canada.
Related guides
- The $10 NSF fee cap in Canada, and the alerts that stop the fee happening
- How to complain about your bank in Canada, and the deadlines that apply
- Low cost and no cost bank accounts: who qualifies
- Choosing a chequing account in Canada
- How to switch banks in Canada without breaking your bills
- Where to keep savings in Canada
- CDIC deposit insurance, explained
- The Canadian bank account bonus tracker
Disclosure: Some links on this page are referral links, and Bremo may earn a commission if you open an account, at no cost to you. It does not change what we recommend, and we have no commercial relationship with RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, BMO or Simplii. Sources, all read on 2 August 2026: the chequing account pages at rbcroyalbank.com, td.com, scotiabank.com and cibc.com for every monthly fee, waiver threshold, included transaction count and per transaction charge quoted above; the TD Minimum Chequing and RBC Day to Day account pages for the additional transaction and ATM charges; simplii.com for the No Fee Chequing Account and its welcome offer; koho.ca for the plan prices; and section 10.1 of the Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations, SOR/2021-181, as added by SOR/2025-96, in the consolidated text on the federal Justice Laws website, which states that the regulations are current to 2026-06-14 and were last amended on 2026-03-12. BMO's chequing pages could not be read on that date and no BMO figure is published. Bank fees change. If a figure here no longer matches the bank's own page, the bank's page is right and this one is stale, and we would like to know.