no fee chequing account | Financial Crooks

I’ve used Tangerine’s free email money transfers many times. I’d never used an INTERAC e-transfer from Tangerine or PC Financial, though, because they both normally charge a fee for the service. EQ Bank lets me send 5 INTERAC e-transfers per month for free, so I’ve sent a transfer once to see how it’s done. This month, June 2017, PC Financial is offering me a few free INTERAC e-transfers so I’m going to send some money to a deserving young relative to test how well it works.

Getting Ready to Make an INTERAC e-Transfer

First, I need the email address of the person that I want to get the money.
You need to decide which email address your friend will see when they receive your e-Transfer. If you only have one email address, that’s easy, but if you have several, decide which one to use in the “From” field of your transfer.
Then, I need to make a question that has a one word answer that will be the “security question” for the person receiving the money.
Then I need to make sure the money I want to send is in my PC Financial chequing account and not on hold. This part is a bit of a pain because it takes one business day to transfer money from my PC Financial savings account to my PC Financial chequing account.

How Do I Send an INTERAC e-Transfer from my PC Financial Account?

Sign in to your PC Financial bank account/s.
Make sure you have enough cash not on hold in your chequing account to send to the other person.
From the link list on the left side of the screen, click on: INTERAC e-Transfers
Read through the info about using the transfers, then click on the Get Started button.
Check and if desired change the “Name” that will be used in the “From” info for your transfer.
In the Email Address: field, type the email address to be shown in the “From” info for your transfer.
Read through the Terms and Conditions and if you agree to them, click to check the I agree box.
Click on the Continue button.

Oh great, I got an error message! “We’re sorry. We are unable to complete this request. Please try again later or contact President’s Choice Financial Customer Support at 1888 723-8881.” So much for impressing me!

Two days later….
I tried again two days later. Here’s what happened next:

“You do not currently have any recipients in your list. Please add a recipient in order to send money.
Click on the Add a Recipient button.
Type the person’s name in the Name: field.
From the drop-down list, select the person’s Language Preference: (The only choices are English and French as of June 6, 2017)
In the Email Address: field, type the address to which you want to send the money.
Click on the button: Continue

Add a New Recipient – Verification

Read the Add a New Recipient – Verification info. If it’s ok, click on the Confirm button.
Click on the Send Money button.

Your INTERAC e-Transfer Details screen

From the drop-down list, select the Recipient to whom you wish to send the money.
If desired, type a note in the Message to Recipient text field. Do NOT type in the answer to the security question!
Type the amount you want to send in the Amount field
From the drop-down list, select which account from which to remove the money.
If it all looks ok, click on the Continue button.

Your INTERAC e-Transfer Details screen

From the drop-down list select a Security Question or select Create your own question.
If so, type your desired question in the Your Question box.
In the Security Answer (no spaces) field, type the correct answer to the question.
If you want to check your spelling etc., click on the Show box to proofread.
In the Security Answer (please re-enter) field, type the correct answer a second time.
Click on the Continue button.

The Send Money – Verification page

Check the info on the Send Money – Verification page. If it’s ok, click on the Confirm button.
You should get a confirmation message. Make a note of the Reference Number in case you want to cancel the transaction before the recipient accepts the transfer.
If you’re finished banking, click on the button: sign out.
Clear your browser history and cache, and close your browser session.

You’re done!

When Will My Friend Get the Email About the Money I Transferred?

I was quite surprised. I checked my email 2 minutes after I sent the money, and the message was already in my inbox! So while it could take 30 minutes for the email to be sent, I guess it can be sent immediately.

How Long Does It Take for an INTERAC e-Transfer?

Unlike Tangerine email transfers, it can take up to 30 minutes for the email to be sent from PC Financial to your receiver.

Then, when they get the email and accepts the money, there may still be another delay. Most banks put a hold on funds received by INTERAC e-Transfer and other types of electronic transfers. The length of the hold will depend on that bank’s terms and conditions and may depend on the receiver’s personal banking plan.

The money disappears from YOUR bank account, though, immediately.

Can I Cancel My President’s Choice INTERAC e-Transfer?

Yes, but

only if the recipient has not yet claimed the transfer and answered the security question AND
you will have to pay a fee.

How Else Can I Use My INTERAC e-Transfers?

Some people also use INTERAC e-Transfers to move money between their own bank accounts.

Related Reading

Join In
Do you use INTERAC e-Transfers to pay back friends? Do you like them? Please share your views with a comment.

A few years ago, I compared the features of our PC Financial No Fee Chequing Account and our Tangerine Chequing Account. A few things have changed since then, so I decided to compare them again and see which bank offers the best no-fee daily-interest-paying chequing account.

Why Not Just Have a Chequing Account at Both Tangerine and PC Financial?

Before you worry too much about the details, consider whether you just want to have two chequing accounts, one at Tangerine and one at PC Financial. There is no required minimum balance to have an account at either bank, as of when this was written in December 2016. So you can open one at each bank and use whichever one best suits your needs at the time. That’s what we did.

UPDATE April 2017: While there is no minimum balance required most of the time at Tangerine, to avoid an “inactivity fee” followed by the closure of your account, you now have to make one transaction per year. This can be as simple as transferring or depositing $1 into your account every 364 days, or withdrawing $1. If no activity takes place for 365 days, they will zing you with a $10 fee. If your balance is below $10, they will take all of the money in your account.

NOTE: PC Financial also has an inactivity fee. They start charging the fee if there is no activity for 2 years but they charge $20 per year. So for either bank, make sure you set up an automatic transaction to take place every 364 days to avoid this fee. You could, for example, set up an automatic transfer of $1 in and of $1 out of your account every 6 months.

Does a PC Financial or Tangerine Chequing Account Come with a Debit Card with Flash for Tap Payments?

Both PC Financial and Tangerine chequing accounts come with a free debit card. For both banks you can use the debit card with unlimited free debit transactions to buy stuff. This is one of the major advantages of these two banks over the usual big 5 Canadian banks—most of them charge you a monthly fee that includes a limited number of debit transactions, or require you to keep a large amount of money in the account at all times with no interest paid to get unlimited free transactions.

You can use the debit card to make deposits and withdraw cash, too.

For PC Financial the card can be used at PC Financial kiosks with ABMs, and at CIBC ABMs for no fee.

For Tangerine, the card can be used at Tangerine ABMs, and at Scotiabank ABMs for no fee. There are other ABMs in the Scotiabank network, too, such as ones at Cineplex, which you can find online.

In December 2016, Tangerine began sending out new debit cards that allow Interac Flash payment. After making a regular chip and pin number purchase with the new card, for your next and following transactions you can pay using Interac Flash. According to the Tangerine website you can then pay “by simply holding your Client Card in front of the reader at the checkout.” Flash will only permit purchases of under $100. You’ll also have to use your PIN after every $200 spent using Flash. You can turn off the Flash feature by phoning Tangerine. There is no fee to use the Interac Flash payment method.

In 2015, PC Financial began offering debit cards that allow Interac Flash payment. They did not automatically mail them out, though, and many customers, us included, did not even know they were available! Flash is set to only permit purchases of under $50. You’ll also have to use your PIN after every $200 spent using Flash. According to the PC Financial legal terms, you can disable Flash by calling PC Financial or by visiting a pavilion.

Which Chequing Account Pays the Most Interest, PC Financial or Tangerine?

Until December 1, 2016, Tangerine was paying daily interest on its chequing account as described in my older article. But they dropped the rate they pay on December 1, 2016, without any email or mail warning to its customers. (EQ Bank and Oaken Financial provide early warning to their customers about rate changes.)

This sneaky rate drop was one of the reasons why I decided to review the two bank’s offerings more closely and write a new article.

Right now, on April 30, 2017, Tangerine is paying interest at three levels based on the amount in the amount in the Chequing Account:

0.15% for amounts from $0.01- $49 999
0.55% for amounts from $50 000 – $99 999.99, and
0.65% for amounts from $100 000 and up

(You can check the Tangerine rates online. They do change.)

PC Financial has more levels of interest rates on their No Fee Chequing Account

On the portion of balance between: Annual Interest Rate (%)
$0.00 – $1,000.00 0.05
$1,000.01 – $5,000.00 0.10
$5,000.01 – $10,000.00 0.15
$10,000.01 – $25,000.00 0.25
$25,000.01 and up 0.50

You can check the PC Financial rates online too. They can also change.

You can see
If you keep about this amount in your chequing account

0 – $12 000 you earn the most interest at Tangerine
$13 000 and up you earn the most interest at PC Financial

While this is important for those who carry large balances in their chequing account, it isn’t a deal breaker for me. I keep most of my cash in my savings account and only move it to my chequing account close to when I need to use it. Since Tangerine allows instant transfers between savings and chequing, I can live with their low interest rate for balances above $10 000. Your needs may vary though.

Which Chequing Account Is Best for Actual Cheques: PC Financial or Tangerine?

This one is easy: PC Financial is best for customers who actually use cheques.

As of April 2017, PC Financial was still providing unlimited free paper cheques for its account holders. You order them one batch at a time by mail. Once one set has arrived, though, you can promptly order another set. I have about 150 cheques ready for me to use by ordering ahead. The order is placed very easily online.

Tangerine, on the other hand, only provides its first set of paper cheques for free. After that, you have to purchase additional cheques. They are significantly cheaper than cheques ordered from the Big 5 Canadian banks—but they are also much uglier. UPDATE: In April 2017 they also increased the cost of their cheques but not by much.

So if you are regularly writing cheques, perhaps to fund the endless requests for money from your child’s school, PC Financial offers you the best chequing account.

Do PC Financial and Tangerine Provide Overdraft Protection for Their Chequing Accounts?

Yes, both banks offer an overdraft protection service. I haven’t used either service so I can’t speak personally about whether it works well. I don’t think anyone should ever use overdraft if they can possibly avoid it but that’s just my financially conservative opinion.

Both banks charge a small fee when your account goes below $0.00 and both banks charge interest on the money they loan on your behalf.

Tangerine used to offer free overdraft protection for a small drop below $0.00 when it was owned by another financial institution called ING Direct but now that Scotiabank owns it that service is no longer provided. (Any bank can choose to waive an overdraft fee, though, if they want to please their customer. If you don’t normally end up trying to spend money you don’t have, you may want to phone in and ask if they will forgive your mistake.)

How Easy Is It to Transfer Money Between Chequing and Savings Accounts at Tangerine and PC Financial?

Tangerine is the best of the two banks for transferring money easily between your Savings and your Chequing accounts. You can move your money instantly online with just a few clicks.

For PC Financial, you must wait one business day for a transfer to move your money from Savings to Chequing. You can move it immediately from Chequing to Savings, though. It’s as if they want to make you think before you spend your Savings. It’s annoying though, since they pay higher interest on their Savings so I’d prefer to keep my money there until I have a bill to pay or a purchase to make.

It is free at both banks to transfer money between accounts and to transfer money in and out of other banks. (Note: the other bank, however, may charge a fee. You’d have to check with that bank.)

How Many Free Online Bill Payments Can I Make from my PC Financial or Tangerine Chequing Account?

Both accounts allow you to make unlimited free bill payments online. As with most banks, it can take 2-3 BUSINESS days for the online payment to be received by the company billing you, so be sure to pay early enough to avoid late payment charges.

Can I Set Up Automatic Bill Payments and Pre-Authorized Withdrawals?

Yes, you can arrange to automatically

pay a certain amount to your billing companies
transfer a fixed amount regularly to another bank account either at the same bank or at another bank
authorize a PAD, pre-authorized deduction to pay a bill such as your car insurance

All of these payments and transfers are free.

Can I Set Up Direct Deposit of My Pay Cheque to My Tangerine or PC Financial Chequing Account?

Yes. You can get your employer to deposit your pay directly into your chequing account at either Tangerine or PC Financial. Neither bank charges you a fee for receiving your pay.

How Much Does It Cost to Look at My Cashed Cheques?

If you have a joint account with a partner who doesn’t write down in the cheque book what they used a cheque for, you may like to look online and find out who they sent money and how much was paid.

Both Tangerine and PC Financial let you look online at an image of your cashed cheques to see who they were paid to, when and for how much. It’s free at both banks! Much better than most large Canadian banks which charge a fee.

Online Statements Only

Both banks offer free monthly statements—but only online. If you want a paper statement you’ll have to print it or pay a fee.

Bank Drafts and Certified Cheques

Both banks offer a Bank Draft if you need to make a large secured purchase payment. In both cases, it’s a hassle to get one. You have to pay a fee for this service from both banks. And you have to get it couriered.

Interac e-Transfers to Send Your Money to Someone Via Email

You can send your money to someone else using the Interac e-Transfer option from both Tangerine and PC Financial. Both charge a fee for this service.

Tangerine charges $1 for an Interac e-Transfer, as of April 2017.

PC Financial charges $1.50 for an Interac e-Transfer as of April 2017.

Tangerine also offers from email money transfers although they are a bit slower and more complicated for the receiver to use. They are very simple to use for transferring to another Tangerine customer, though. I email money to my relatives easily because we are both Tangerine customers.

Can I Deposit Cheques Into My Chequing Account Using a Photo App?

Yes, both Tangerine and PC Financial allow you to deposit cheques into your account using a photo-taking app.

I find the PC Financial app a bit harder to use, but it works.

It’s free to use either app.

Which Is The Best Chequing Account – Tangerine or PC Financial?

Personally, I like
PC Financial best for

its free paper cheques

Tangerine best for

its instantaneous transfer between Savings and Chequing accounts
its bill paying interface
its interest rate on low balances
its quick and simple free email transfers to another Tangerine customer

Since both accounts are free to have and do not require a minimum balance, I have an account at both Tangerine and PC Financial.