Banking can be expensive in Canada, as traditional financial institutions may charge up to a $30 monthly fee in order to use their chequing accounts. While these monthly fees can often be waived by maintaining a minimum balance in the account, it can be a pain to have your money sit around doing nothing, and obviously, there is a negative opportunity cost attached to this decision.
In recent years, we have seen the rise of digital-only banks as a good alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar banks. These institutions are able to provide lower-cost banking solutions to customers as they don’t have the traditional overhead costs that come with running physical bank branches located across Canada.
While these digital-only banking options have low or no cost, they actually offer excellent products. A prominent player in the digital-only banking space is Simplii Financial, which offers the Simplii No Fee Chequing account.
Let’s take a look at the Simplii No Fee Chequing account, the benefits it offers, and why I find this to be the best no fee chequing account option for Canadians.
New Account Welcome Bonus
The Simplii No Fee Chequing Account currently has a welcome bonus in which readers who open a new account can earn up to $500 once the following requirements are met:
- Open a Simplii No Fee Chequing account by Oct 31, 2024
- Within 120 days from the date the account is opened, set up one or more eligible recurring direct deposits totaling at least $100 of deposits per month into the new account
- Continue the eligible recurring direct deposit(s) to the new account for at least three consecutive months within the above 120-day time period
Plus: You can earn an additional $60 FlyerFunds Rebate on the Simplii No Fee Chequing Account when you apply through Frugal Flyer Rebates!
The Simplii No Fee Chequing account offers unlimited debit transactions, Interac e-Transfer transactions, and withdrawals at CIBC ATMs.
Check out our Simplii No Fee Chequing Account review for more details.
Up to $500 welcome bonus + $60 FlyerFunds on approval
Chequing
$0.00
This offer has an expiry date of Oct 31, 2024, so ensure you open your chequing account by that date to be eligible for this welcome bonus.
Fees
The best aspect of the Simplii No Fee Chequing account is that it has no monthly fees, regardless of the balance in the account.
This means you don’t have to worry about keeping a minimum balance in the account to waive any fees, and by association, don’t have to worry about the opportunity cost of keeping money in a chequing account when it could be earning interest in a high interest savings account.
Benefits
The Simplii No Fee Chequing account offers a number of benefits that showcase the value that it brings to Canadians who are looking for a straightforward and zero-cost alternative to traditional chequing accounts.
Unlimited Transactions & Interac e-Transfers
Even though the Simplii No Fee Chequing account isn’t a premium banking product, it acts like one when it comes to transaction limitations, as account holders will receive unlimited free transactions such as debit transactions, Interac e-Transfers, and bill payments at no cost.
This is the biggest benefit of the account, as you will no longer need to stress about staying under the set number of allowable transactions that are normally a restriction in typical chequing accounts with the big banks. This flexibility makes it easy to access, move, and spend your money with zero restrictions.
Free Withdrawals at CIBC ATMs
As Simplii Financial is an online-oriented bank, there are often concerns as to how easy it is to access the money in your account. The Simplii No Fee Chequing account makes it easy to withdraw cash, as withdrawals at CIBC ATMs are completely free. Needless to say, there are a ton of CIBC branches in any major city, so accessing your cash shouldn’t ever be an issue.
Customers can still use other ATMs to withdraw cash from their Simplii No Fee Chequing account, however will incur applicable fees upon doing so. Fees will vary depending on the ATM that the account holder is withdrawing cash from.
Easy to Synergize with the Simplii Cash Back Visa Card & High Interest Savings Account
Once you are in the Simplii Financial ecosystem, it is easy to synergize your No Fee Chequing account with their other no fee banking and credit card products.
The Simplii High Interest Savings Account is a great option for storing extra cash as it currently offers a promotional interest rate of 6.25%. Coincidentally, it is also one of the best high interest savings accounts in Canada.
Since the Simplii No Fee Chequing account has no minimum balance requirements as a result of having no fees, the High Interest Savings account is a great option to store extra cash to get your money working for you.
The Simplii High Interest Savings account offers a varying interest rate depending on the total account balance and a promotional interest rate of 6.25%.
Earn 6.25% interest for 5 months + $40 FlyerFunds on approval
Savings
$0.00
If you are interested in a credit card with no annual fees, the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa card offers cash back rewards with a respectable earning rate at some of the most popular spending categories. The card currently has a welcome offer of:
- Earn a $100 Skip Digital Gift Card after you spend $100 with your new Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa card by November 30, 2024†
- For your first 4 months with a Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa* Card, enjoy 10% cash back on eligible restaurants, food delivery and bar purchases. Up to $500 spend†
The Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa card earns cash back and gives cardholders the opportunity to earn up to 4% cash back on purchases at restaurants, bars, and coffee shops.
Check out our Simplii Financial Cash Back card review for more details.
$50 cash back
$500
$50+
$0
Yes
Oct 31, 2024
The Simplii Cash Back Visa card earns 4% cash back at restaurants, bars, and coffee shops for up to $5,000 spent per calendar year. Cash back is automatically redeemed once per year and will be deposited as a statement credit to the account.
If you are in the market for a credit card with no annual fees, the Simplii Cash Back Visa card is one of the options worth looking into as it is one of the best credit cards with no annual fees in Canada.
Simplii Global Money Transfer Service
Simplii Global Money Transfer service is available to all Simplii chequing account holders. This service makes it easy to send money internationally in various currencies.
There is a minimum amount of $100 CAD per transaction. This service can be a good way to convert Canadian Dollars to US Dollars for a variety of needs, such as paying off a US credit card or funding a US bank account for a future vacation.
Up to $5,000 in Optional Overdraft Protection
Simplii No Fee Chequing account holders can apply and qualify for up to $5,000 in overdraft protection. A credit check may be required in order to add this service to your chequing account. While this service is not a “must have” by any means, it can be a good thing to have just in case you accidentally spend more than the balance in your chequing account.
The overdraft protection service is completely optional and not fee-free as it charges a fee of $4.97 when the service is used, plus a fixed interest rate of 19% on overdraft balances. This is a similar fee to what is charged by other financial institutions, but the interest rate charged by Simplii is a few percentages lower than what is charged by most mainstream banks.
The Value I Receive from the Simplii No Fee Chequing Account
Bank accounts typically aren’t that exciting compared to credit cards when it comes to enhancing one’s personal finance strategy. However, the reality is that every Canadian needs a bank account, so it is absolutely worth optimizing your setup. For my household joint account that I use to share monthly expenses with my significant other, we use the Simplii No Fee Chequing account.
Our household joint account receives the exact amount of money to pay our bills each month, so the Simplii No Fee Chequing account is a great option as we don’t need to keep a minimum balance nor are we charged any fees for any of the transactions we do. This also allows us to move any excess money in our joint account to a Simplii High Interest Savings account, to keep it easily available for when we have any more costly one-time expenses.
Since our joint account is simply a set of digital transactions going in and out on a monthly schedule, we don’t ever have a need to withdraw cash from this account. So the fact that this account can only withdraw from CIBC ATMs fee-free doesn’t really play into my use. Across the board, Simplii is a massive winner for our setup thanks to the no fees and ease of use for our needs.
I do still maintain a chequing account at a traditional bank for my personal accounts as it is nice to have the convenience of a branch for the once a year I may need it. That being said, digital-only banks like Simplii Financial are definitely the way forward and the future, and for our joint household expenses, the Simplii No Fee Chequing account is a winner.
Conclusion
These days it feels like a rarity to find a company that offers a good product of any kind without a cost attached. When it comes to no fee banking options I believe the Simplii No Fee Chequing account is the best no fee chequing account option for Canadians. I regularly use the account for my household joint account and have nothing but great things to say about the value it offers for zero out-of-pocket cost.
If you are hesitant to move towards an online-only bank, consider adding a Simplii Financial No Fee Chequing account as an addition to your traditional banking account to try it out for a bit before moving over all of your assets. If you want to compare the best banking options available for Canadians, check out our Compare Bank Accounts tool.
Josh Bandura
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