EQ Bank referral bonus: Get up to $500
- Both you and your friend will earn $20 when your friend opens a EQ Bank Personal Account.
We compiled this list of the best new account offers in Canada by analyzing over 20 Canadian financial institutions and more than 45 accounts. Get ready to switch and save with these bank promotions on now—offers like cash bonuses, free stuff, gift cards, referral bonuses and bonus interest rates.
Bank | Account | Bonus offer |
---|---|---|
![]() | Earn $700 | |
![]() | Earn $400 | |
![]() | Earn 3.50% interest for 12 months | |
![]() | Get $150 | |
![]() | Get an Apple Watch | |
![]() | Earn $450 | |
![]() | Earn $600 | |
![]() | Earn $700 | |
![]() | Earn $250 | |
![]() | Earn 200,000 bonus PC Optimum points | |
![]() | Earn $300 |
Bank | Account | Bonus offer |
---|---|---|
![]() | 2.85% - 3.00% | |
![]() | Up to 4.00% | |
![]() | Up to 5% for 3 months | |
![]() | 4.50% for 5 months | |
![]() | 3.70% for 7 months |
The best chequing account offers available now are from:
The best savings rate promotions on now in Canada are from:
New bank account offers and bank promotions come with attractive perks, but switching accounts may not be right for you. Here are a few things to think about:
To qualify for any bank promotion, be prepared to show valid, government-issued photo ID and proof that you live in Canada. You’ll also be asked to submit your name and contact information. Be aware that bank promos aren’t available for accounts you already have.
Some specialized offers will also sometimes require you to complete specific actions, like the following:
Some bank promotions in Canada offer a bonus just for opening an account. Other new bank offers require you to perform several actions to land a special deal—actions like setting up direct deposit or holding funds in the account for a certain amount of time.
Here’s a breakdown of the qualification requirements for the best new bank account offers listed in the tables above.
Bank | # of steps to qualify | Offer requirements |
---|---|---|
3 | Get up to $700 in cash bonuses. Earn $450 when you open a new BMO Performance Chequing Account, $200 (plus a 4.75% promo interest rate) when you open a Savings Amplifier Account and $50 when you make it a BMO Family Bundle. Valid until July 2, 2025. | |
2 | New members can get $400 when they open a Coast Capital Elevate Chequing Account, and, within 60 days of opening the account, add an eligible payroll or direct deposit (at least once a month) and maintain the same payroll or direct deposit for at least 90 consecutive days. Valid until June 30, 2025. | |
Simplii Financial | 2 | Sign up for the Simplii No Fee Chequing Account and Earn a welcome bonus of $300 when you become a new client and set up a direct deposit of at least $100 for 3 months. Offer ends June 30, 2025. |
2 | Earn up to 3.50% interest for 12 months. To receive 3.50% for 12 months after opening the EQ Bank Personal Account, you'll need to have at least $2,000/month of your pay directly deposited into a Personal Account or Joint Account. Conditions apply. Thereafter, you'll earn 1.25% on your balance. | |
2 | New members can get $150 when they open and use a Coast Capital Free Chequing, Free Debit, and More Account. Add an eligible payroll or direct deposit (at least once a month) within 60 days of opening the account, and maintain the same payroll or direct deposit for 90 consecutive days or more. Valid until June 30, 2025. | |
RBC | 3 | Get an Apple Watch when you open your first RBC Signature No Limit Banking Account. Open an account by June 2, 2025. Complete two of the following criteria by August 11, 2025 and keep the criteria in place until June 2, 2026: Direct deposit for your payroll or pension, two pre-authorized monthly payments or two bill payments to a service provider. |
CIBC | 3 | Earn $450 when you open a CIBC Smart Account and complete these qualifying actions within 2 months: (1) Set up recurring direct deposits of $500 or more per month from your employer, government or pension (2) Complete one of the following actions within the same calendar month: two recurring pre-authorized debits, two online bill payments of $50 or more each and five online Visa Debit purchases. |
TD | 6 | Earn a welcome bonus worth $600 when you open the TD Unlimited Chequing Account. Offer ends May 28, 2025. Earn $450 when you open this account and complete two of following by July 29, 2025: Set up a recurring Direct Deposit, set up a recurring Pre-Authorized Debit Payment or make an Online Bill Payment. Plus earn $150 when you open an eligible Savings Account by July 28, 2025 and either set up a Pre-authorized Transfer Service or set up Simply Save by October 24, 2025, then apply and be approved for a new eligible TD Credit Card by July 28, 2025. |
4 | Earn up to a $700 bonus. Earn $500 by completing any two of the following steps within 60 days of opening the Scotiabank Preferred Package: (1) Set up and clear at least one eligible automated and recurring direct deposit, such as payroll or pension, which will recur monthly for a minimum of 6 consecutive months, or (2) Set up and clear a minimum of 2 separate eligible recurring pre-authorized transactions with a minimum value of at least $50 per transaction which will each recur monthly for a minimum of 6 consecutive months, or (3) Make at least 1 eligible online bill payment of at least $50 through the Scotiabank Mobile App or through Scotia OnLine. To earn up to $100 more, you must complete Step 1. Before July 31, 2025, and within 60 days of opening your new Package account, open a new RRSP, TFSA or FHSA and contribute or transfer in $5,000 to it. Keep the amount in your account for at least 90 days in a row. To earn up to $100 more, you must complete Step 1. Before July 31, 2025, and within 60 days of opening a new Money Master Savings Account and set up either Pay Yourself First or the Savings Finder tool. Stay enrolled for at least 90 days in a row. | |
Tangerine | 2 | Earn up to $250. Open a No-Fee Daily Chequing Account and switch your payroll deposits to your new Tangerine Chequing Account for 2 consecutive months to receive $250. |
Check out our full guide to the best chequing account promotions in Canada
Bank | # of steps to qualify | Offer requirements |
---|---|---|
Simplii Financial | 1 | Sign up for the Simplii High Interest Savings Account. Earn 3.70% interest for 7 months on up to $500,000 in savings. Apply by June 30, 2025. |
2 | Sign up for the EQ Bank Notice Savings Account. Choose to access your withdrawal funds after 10 days for a 2.85% savings rate or 30 days for a 3.00% interest rate. | |
2 | Pick the KOHO Everything Plan and opt-in to earn 4% interest, plus earn up to 5% cashback on spending with your KOHO prepaid card. | |
3 | Sign up for the Scotiabank MomentumPLUS Savings Account and you may be eligible to earn three different types of interest totaling 5%. The first is a base rate of 0.55% that you'll earn on your entire balance, plus a package interest rate boost of 0.10% for Ultimate Package holders and a 0.05% rate for Preferred Package holders. The second is a premium interest rate of 0.50%, which is earned when you choose 360-day premium period (or earn lower rates with 90, 180 and 270 periods). A longer premium period earns a higher premium period interest rate, provided you don't make any withdrawals within the selected period. Premium period interest is calculated daily and paid at the end of the applicable premium period. The third is a welcome bonus interest rate of 4.10% for 3 months, calculated daily and paid monthly for 90 days (3 months) on your first MomentumPLUS Savings Account. | |
Tangerine | 1 | Open a Tangerine Savings Account to earn 4.50% for the first 5 months (on up to $1,000,000 in deposits) when you sign up by July 31, 2025. Thereafter, you'll earn 0.30%. |
Check out our full guide to the best savings account promotions in Canada
The Canadian banks currently offering promotional cash bonuses for opening an account are:
Some banks in Canada offer refer-a-friend promotions to encourage their current customers to get their family and friends to sign up for a new account at the bank. That means banks will quite literally pay you (and your friend) a cash bonus when your friend opens an account.
Bank referral bonuses typically offer between $20 and $50 per referral. There are often some basic requirements involved to qualify to receive the bonus—like the friend funding their new account with a couple hundred dollars for a few months.
If you’re thinking about opening a new bank account, it’s worth checking with your family and friends to see if they have a referral program that you can opt into to earn a referral bonus when you open your new bank account.
Combining a bank referral bonus with one of the best new account account offers can be a great strategy for Canadians to maximize how much they earn with a new bank account.
For the right customers, yes, new bank account promotions can be a great way to get ahead a little financially or treat yourself to something special. These special offers work best when you genuinely need a new account and aren’t simply jumping between banks to accumulate bonuses.
“Account hopping” can be inconvenient, and you’ll eventually run out of bank promos to take advantage of. This is because most banks only offer new account bonuses to customers who have never held an account at that institution before.
Additionally, some new account offers require you to jump through extra hoops to secure a bonus. This could include participating in an automatic savings plan or setting up direct deposit for your income or a few bills for at least several months.
In the end, it makes sense to hunt around for a new bank account offer when the need arises to open a new account. Compare offers from multiple banks to find the most competitive deal. Also pay attention to non-promotional fees and features, so you know what to expect in the long run.
To take advantage of bank promotions in Canada, all you have to do is open an account within the promotional time period. It’s that simple. Here’s how the process works:
We’ve been tracking bank promotions in Canada for years. To help give you a snapshot of how promotional savings rates have changed over time, take a look at this chart comparing promotional rates from a Big Five Bank (Scotiabank) and a digital bank (Simplii Financial) from 2022 to 2024.
Interestingly, new savings account promotional rates generally rose between 2022 and 2024, but started decreasing near the end of 2024—a trend very much in line with the Bank of Canada’s benchmark rates over that same time.
In our latest Finder: Consumer Sentiment Survey January 2025, we asked Canadians what they think about new account offers. It turns out that over half (55.54%) of Canadians would switch bank accounts to take advantage of an advertised promotional offer, while 25.87% said that the sign up bonus would play an important factor in their decision.
We also wanted to know how Canadians have responded to bonus offers in the past, and we found that 30.57% have switched accounts due to a bonus offer and ended up sticking with the account long term.
However, a small number of Canadians (8.39%) said they were disappointed with the offer after switching. That’s why it’s important to carefully compare promotional offers before signing up to ensure making the switch will be worth it.
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