2.2.1 Types of deposit accounts

Financial institutions in Canada offer a wide variety of deposit accounts. To match your needs to the services they offer, they need to know a bit about you and how you expect to use a banking account. For example, they need to know:

• if you are a member of a special group, such as students, youth or seniors (they may charge lower fees for some groups)
• the minimum balance you will have in the account each month (they may not charge regular fees if you keep a minimum amount in the account)
• the number of transactions you expect to do in a month (sometimes it's cheaper to pay for each transaction, sometimes it's better to pay a flat monthly fee)
• if you need any special services on a regular basis, such as:
  • certified cheques
  • money orders and bank drafts
  • stop payments
  • travellers' cheques
  • personalized cheques
  • overdraft protection
  • cheque returns
  • safety deposit box
  • access to bank machines that are not owned by your financial institution
  • email money transfers.

The two main types of accounts are savings and chequing accounts:

Some financial institutions also offer combined chequing/savings accounts that offer features of both types of accounts. You earn a small amount of interest and you can also write cheques. You will likely get less interest than with a regular savings account, and you may pay higher fees when you write cheques.