what is best checking account for no fee other than PCF?

[flyingking]

I hope to find a checking account that can view online and no fee. I need other than President Choice.

[BD006]

Welcome to the boards.

You may want to try posting this in the request a deal or shopping discussion forums.

[MaxPower19]

Coast Capital Savings if you're in British Columbia. Maybe if you're not in BC and could do your transactions surcharge-free through "Exchange Network" ATM's as well.

HSBC Direct is a great free account (hsbcdirect.ca) but no cheques.

[fiscal-rick]

Buy a house, get a mortgage with Royal Bank and get free banking! Though I am sure other banks offer this as well.

*I do not work for Royal Bank* Though I can help you buy a house

[Jeroyds]

It's rare to find a free chequing account because of the transactional fees associated with them. You can easily find high-interest or no monthly fee savings accounts due to the lack of activity on the account and high transaction frees.

Whats the reason you're looking to leave PCF? One of the main reasons people switch financial institutions is due to holds on funds - you'll find these at everywhere. Your best bet, if you want to leave PCF, is to open a low transaction account ($4/mo for ~15 transactions) and a free VISA with rewards or cash back. Then place all your purchases on the VISA to lower the amount of transactions used on your account and still have transactions remaining to use at the ATM.

At RBC, if you have a VISA and an investment (TFSA, GIC, RRSP, RESP, etc..) this $4/mo fee is waived. So, technically it's a free chequing account.

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products...y-banking.html

$0.00 when you hold each of the following eligible RBC® products: An RBC Royal Bank investment (Registered or Non-Registered)
An RBC Rewards or RBC Royal Bank Visa Specialty Rewards cards

Hope that helps.


Edit: Option 2: Pretend you're a student. All major FI's have free student banking packages and you can apply online.

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products...t-banking.html

You will need to bring in ID to a local branch to activate the account. They may ask for proof of enrollment, say you don't have it on you.

[nsx]

Moved from "Hot Deals" to "Personal Finance".

[yupkime]

How likely is it that probably 95% of people who have PCF accounts can't maintain at least a $1000 balance?

Not that it mattered when I was younger and had an account with them as a student, but I can honestly say that later I felt that using those PCF cheques and the PCF mastercard screamed "cheap" and "low-income" somehow ...

Is that what you are feeling flyingking? Just wondering ...

[Spiderpal93]

I have done some research on this. If you are not in BC or if you are not a student or over 60 then there are no truly free chequing accounts except for PCF. I tried to open an account with Coast Capital but once I clicked on apply they noted that you must be a BC resident to open an account

[yupkime]

Ordered personalized cheques are not free at Coast Capital either FYI

[sjweyman]

How likely is it that probably 95% of people who have PCF accounts can't maintain at least a $1000 balance?

Not that it mattered when I was younger and had an account with them as a student, but I can honestly say that later I felt that using those PCF cheques and the PCF mastercard screamed "cheap" and "low-income" somehow ...

Is that what you are feeling flyingking? Just wondering ...

If using a PCF cheque makes you feel cheap, then just spend the money you are saving on lots of other flashy things that you can show off to people so that they know you're really a baller.

[tng11]

How likely is it that probably 95% of people who have PCF accounts can't maintain at least a $1000 balance?

Not that it mattered when I was younger and had an account with them as a student, but I can honestly say that later I felt that using those PCF cheques and the PCF mastercard screamed "cheap" and "low-income" somehow ...

Is that what you are feeling flyingking? Just wondering ...

So you'd rather pay $3.95 a month for less transactions, $30 for 100 cheques just for the privilege of "looking" better? People also have better things to do with $1000 than let it sit in a no interest account. If that isn't the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a while...

OP: If you can maintain $5,000 get a TD Select Service account- you will get all the bells and whistles and it's a great deal considering the free gold/Infinite Visas, safe deposit box, US account and credit card, cheques, money orders and the like.

If you don't need cheques then the HSBC DSA is a no-brainer if you want no fees...

[zombie999]

What about icicibank chequing account, free with $500 minimum balance?

[budfrogs]

A bunch of other banks have free chequing accounts if you have a certain balance.

I know TD have a few and depending on how many transactions you need will depend on how much min balance you need.

Here is my reply in another thread similar to this one.

[angel_wing0]

What about icicibank chequing account, free with $500 minimum balance?

Avoid ICICI.

[zombie999]

Avoid ICICI.

I don't use them. But their chequing account with free international ATM withdrawals seems good. Are they really that bad?