To create this list, Forbes Advisor Canada analyzed 239 chequing accounts and 122 savings accounts at 39 financial institutions, including a mix of traditional brick-and-mortar banks with accounts that can be managed online, online-only banks and credit unions with online accounts. We ranked each account on 17 data points within the categories of fees, access, customer experience, digital experience, minimums and balance needed to avoid the monthly fee.
The following is the weighting assigned to each category:
- Fees: 40%
- APY: 30%
- Digital experience: 10%
- Customer experience: 10%
- Minimum deposit requirement: 5%
- Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: 5%
Specific characteristics taken into consideration within each category included monthly fee, ability to waive the monthly fee, overdraft fee, NSF fee, other fees, ATM network, branch access, Better Business Bureau rating, Trustpilot rating, live chat availability, mobile app ratings, online bill pay availability, online banking access, minimum deposit requirements and minimum balance requirements.
Online accounts offering no or very low fees scored the highest, as did those offering interest on your balance, low minimum requirements and high customer service and digital experience scores. To appear on this list, the online account must be nationally available.