Top 5 Savings Accounts in Canada
When you need a place to hold your money for a short period of time, one of the best places to stash your cash is in a savings account. But sometimes the account you have doesn’t pay a very high rate of interest.
If you’re looking for a high-interest savings account with better rates, here are five of the best as of Oct. 11, 2017:
WealthOne Bank of Canada
One of the country’s newest banks, WealthOne Bank of Canada, currently offers a nice interest rate of 2.5%. The WealthOne High Interest Savings Account also has a number of great features: No minimum balance required, no monthly fees, unlimited transactions, and free bill payments. You can also enroll in an automatic savings plan, which allows you to transfer money from your current bank. The online bank offers services in English, French, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
EQ Bank
The EQ Bank Savings Plus Account has no monthly fees and an interest rate of 2.3%. The online-only account also comes with an unlimited number of free withdrawals. What’s different about this account is you can make an unlimited number of bill payments and you get five free Interac e-Transfers every month. With these features, you may not need a chequing account ever again. Unfortunately, this account isn’t available to residents of Quebec.
Read: Review: EQ Bank Savings Plus Account
Alterna Bank
Alterna Bank’s High Interest eSavings Account has a rate of 1.9% with no minimum balance required. There are also unlimited free bill payments, transfers, and debits as well as two free Interac e-Transfers every month (and $0.95 thereafter). If you happen to have a lot of money lying around, note that there’s a maximum balance of $250,000 (including accrued interest) per customer.
Achieva Financial
The Achieva Financial Daily Interest Savings Account has no minimum balance, no monthly account fee, and a rate of 1.85%. You get one free cheque, direct transfer, or pre-authorized payment every month. If you choose to receive your documents electronically, you get $1 back each month. You can also earn a referral bonus of up to $100 a year.
Scotiabank
Last but not least is the Scotiabank Momentum Plus Savings Account. The account has a regular interest rate of 0.8% plus a premium rate if you don’t make a withdrawal. The rate rises the longer you keep your money in the account (see the table below).
For a limited time, you can earn bonus interest of 0.6% until Feb. 28, 2018 “on money you deposit from another bank or financial institution into your account” before Dec. 29, 2017. That means your interest rate can be as high as 2.3%. After the promotional period ends, you can still get a rate as high as 1.7%.
The bottom line
Before choosing a savings account, you should decide what features and services you need. It also doesn’t hurt to enter the amount you plan to save into a savings account calculator to estimate out how much interest you can earn.