Opening a bank account in Canada

Chapter 5 of 5

Interac

Interac is the widely used system in Canada. It’s like a Canadian version of Paypal: you can make Interac transfers to people who don’t use the same bank as you by using their email address or phone number (if they are signed up to use the Interac system). You can receive and transfer money quickly and easily; transfers are done via your phone or online and go through immediately.

You can only send a maximum of $1,000 in any 24-hour period via Interac. If you need to transfer more than that, you have to make a traditional bank transfer.

Cash or cheques

It’s not very common to use cheques in Canada. Instead, you can easily deposit cash into your bank account by using ATMs or going in to your bank branch.

It’s better to withdraw cash at your own bank’s ATMs, so you don’t have to pay extra fees for using a rival bank.

When you go grocery shopping, you can ask the cashier for cashback. This is a convenient method of withdrawing money if you don’t have an ATM in your area, or if your monthly banking plan doesn’t offer unlimited transactions. You won’t be able to ask for large amounts of cashback though, as it’s often limited to $40.

An example of how cashback works: your groceries come to a total of $47 and you are paying by card. You ask for $20 cashback, aka to add $20 to the bill. You will now pay a total of $67 on your card and the cashier will hand you $20 in cash.