Good day! If you’re a canuck like me and are tired of getting little to no interest on your Canadian Dollar denominated savings accounts, then you’ll be glad you found this blog. Today I’m going to review three of the highest earning Canadian savings accounts available. In my opinion, a savings account that earns you high interest is a smart financial move to make. You never know when you need some spare cash for an emergency or just about anything. Put a decent amount of cash in it, and don’t touch it! High Interest accounts are also perfect for those of you who are more conservative with your money. I certaintly take more risks with my money, and consequently earn a higher return, but even I have TWO savings accounts (with two of the institutions that I’ll be reviewing below. So, without further ado, here is the review.
First one:
ING Direct
ING Direct Canada offeres an online “ISA” (Investment Savings Account) which (as of April 13, 2007) offer 3.50% per year. They also happen to have an US Dollar denominated savings account which yield the same interest (currently 3.50%). As I’m sure you’re well aware of, ING is a major international bank, so you’re money is as safe as it can be. Also they’re insured by the CDIC (Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation) which will insure your money up to $100,000.
This account has the following features:
No fees
No service charges
No minimum balance
ABM card access (so you can withdraw your money anywhere in the world - fees apply)
You can withdraw your money anytime, anywhere without paying any fees or penalties
You can setup an automatic savings program
You can link your chequings account to your savings account (so you can deposit money into your savings account via the web interface)
You can withdraw money from your savings to your chequing account (no fee)
Features lacking:
You can’t write a cheque; this is an online savings account only!
The process of joining is very simple and painless. All you have to do is follow the link that I’ll give you, and complete a simple online form and once your account is approve YOU’LL GET $13 BECAUSE I’VE REFERRED YOU! YES FREE MONEY!
Follow this link:
http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/ISAfriends
You’ll be asked for a referral code, so make sure you type this:
14552363S1
It is important that you type that code, otherwise you won’t get your $13 bonus.
Ok, now on to the next one.
Second one:
ICICI Bank Canada
ICICI Bank Canada is a fairly new bank on the Canadian scene, but they’re off to a good start by offering an excellent yield on your money. A little bit of background on them: They’re the largest bank in India, and apparently they’ve decided to get a piece of the Canadian market (which incidentally has quite a large Indian population).
I’ve had an account with them a while back (I think a year ago) but I move all my money into a savings account with the institution which I will review next.
Here is their current offers:
Canadian $ savings account will earn you: 3.75% (p.a)
US $ savings account will earn you: 4.25% (p.a)
As you can see they offer a slightly better return when compared to ING Direct, but they don’t offer any bonus. I think this one is great if you’re a Canadian which happens to have US dollars they’d like to save. Another cool feature of ICICI is that they’ll give you the ability to conveniently and economically transfer money to India, so if you have relatives of family there, this might be the best choice. As with ING Direct, you’ll be charged no fees to deposit/withdraw your money, and you’ll also get a debit card which is functional at just about any bank machine in the world (fees are involved here though)
Other features:
You can link your chequing account to your ICICI savings account so you can deposit money into your savings account via ICICI’s web interface (no fee)
You can transfer money from your savings to your chequing account online too! (no fee)
Features lacking:
As with ING Direct, you won’t get a cheque book, so you can’t write a cheque with this account.
Ok, so if you’re interested in this one click this link to join:
*If you wish to receive $20 for FREE just for signing up then click here*
Third:
Achieva Financial
Achieva Financial is my preferred savings account, because it offers the highest interest savings account in Canada. There is small price to pay for this higher yield however, and it comes in the form of fewer features. Achieva Financial is based in Manitoba, in case you’re curious.
Achieva’s savings account currenly offers: 4.10% (p.a)
The difference between Achieva Financial’s savings account and ING Direct or ICICI Canada is that Achieva’s savings account is a full-featured account. You will receive a chequing book, you can pay your bills online, you can withdraw your money at just about any bank machine in the world.
The only negative point about Achieva’s savings account is that they’ll charge you higher fees for cheques/pre-authorized debits.
Here is their fee structure:
| Account Fees | Charge |
 |
|
| Cheques/Pre-Authorized Debits (First cheque or Pre-Authorized Debit per month free - each additional) |
$1.00 |
|
|
| Personalized Cheques (First Order) (Additional cheque orders may be subject to a charge) |
Free |
| ATM/Online Fees | Charge |
|
|
| Credit Union ATM Deposits | Free |
|
|
| Credit Union ATM Withdrawals | $0.60 |
|
|
| *Interac ATM Withdrawals (In Canada) | $1.00 |
|
|
| US ATM Withdrawals | $2.50 |
|
|
| International ATM Withdrawals | $5.00 |
|
|
| Interact Direct Payments | $0.60 |
|
|
| Bill Payment (Online or Touchtone) | $0.50 |
|
|
| ATM Card Replacement - Mishandling | $5.00 |
*In addition to the .60ยข ATM withdrawal charge |
|
| Internal Transfer of Funds - Achieva Account to Achieva Account | Charge |
|
|
| Touch-Tone | $0.50 |
|
|
| Online | $0.50 |
|
|
| Phone Request (Processed by a Achieva Customer service representative) | $3.00 |
| Administration Fees Charge | Charge |
|
|
| Achieva Direct (automatic savings deposits from another institution) | Free |
|
|
| Achieva Direct Deposit (deposit of payroll or government cheques) | Free |
|
|
| Stop Payment - all information provided | $7.50 |
|
|
| Stop Payment - information incomplete | $15.00 |
|
|
| N.S.F. Charge | $30.00 |
|
|
| Chargeback - on cheques drawn on account holder | $5.00 |
|
|
| Duplicate copies of Statements or RRSP receipts | $1.50 |
|
|
| Official Cheques | $5.00 |
|
|
| Account Closing - Member Request within six months of opening | $10.00 |
|
|
| Dormant Account - 6 months* | Account Balance |
| *Dormant account balances $25.00 and under | |
————————————————————————————————
Ok, now on to the most important part, the interest rate! According to my research, Achieva consistently offers the highest interest rate of any Canadian institution, and I hope they keep it up. Check out this brief history of their rates:
Rates for the year 2007
| Month | Rate |
| February | 4.10% |
| January | 4.10% |
Rates for the year 2006
| Month | Rate |
| December | 4.10% |
| November | 4.10% |
| October | 4.10% |
| September | 4.10% |
| August | 4.10% |
| July | 4.10% |
| June | 4.10% |
| May | 3.85% |
| April | 3.65% |
| March | 3.50% |
| February | 3.35% |
| January | 3.30% |
To open up an account with them follow this link:
http://www.achieva.mb.ca/default.asp
That’s all for now, and I hope this has been of use to you! Take care.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
For a canuck, I am surprised & disappointed you don’t mention PCfinancial.ca which is part of CIBC. Their interest Plus saving has 4.25% interest for minimun $1000 balance with the same or better fee structure as you mention above.
But again, there is no reference commission on PCfinancial.ca
November 7th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
My apologies for skipping out on that one. I had in mind to review PCFinancial as well, but after discovering what Achieva Financial and ICICI Bank Canada had to offer I did not feel that much impressed with PCFinancial. I don’t like the $1000 minimum balance requirement. ICICI Bank Canada for example gives you 4.50% and there is no minimum .balance requirement. Achieva offer 4.35 and also no minimum balance.
Where PCFinancial does shine is their no-fee checking (or chequing) account.
As for reference commission I did not chose these two banks because of their referral commissions. Achieva Financial for example offers NO commission. I looked at other ones as well and I chose the ones that I thought were best for me and then later decided to review them for the general public. The commission thing had nothing to do with it. Besides if people somehow object to me getting a tiny reward (and trust me it is tiny, like $20 for me and $20 for the person who I invite) for introducing them to two great ways to save their money, then by all means they’re free to type in google “ICICI Bank Canada or Achieva Financial” and take it from there
Later on I do intend to review PCFinancial’s no-fee checking account.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Dear bond, checkout my latest review over here:
http://alansmoneyblog.com/2007/11/08/review-presidents-choice-financial-no-fee-bank-account-for-canadians/
Soon I will be reviewing some more high interest savings accounts and I will not forget to mention President’s Choice Financial’ offering.
Cheers!
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:12 am
[…] ING Direct Investment Savings Account […]
May 9th, 2008 at 2:13 am
WARNING! do not bank with this bank. google icici and customer support before you do anything!
May 9th, 2008 at 2:29 am
I know I know..I’ve read all the negative posts on various forums too, but since I do not require a lot of customer support and since all I care about is the high interest rate those comments do not worry me as much as other people.
Most of those complains are related to the fact that ICICI’s customer support lines are in India and a lot of Canadians aren’t too happy talking to an Indian with a *sometimes* heavy accent. This is understandable but keep in mind folks that this IS an Indian bank (India’s second largest) after all.
Other than the sometimes hard to understand customer support reps I have no complaints and I can state here for the world that I have never had any major problems with ICICI ever.
However I do agree with your comment that people should do some research before they entrust their money to any bank.
Out of curiosity have you had any bad experience with them? Are you even one of their clients?
If you have any comments please feel free to post on this blog’s forum over here:
http://www.moneyguruforum.com/saving-accounts/586-icici-canada-high-interest-savings-account.html