Financial Product Reviews
The BMO Performance Chequing Account is a popular mid-tier chequing account offered by one of Canada's biggest banks. BMO has been a banking powerhouse for decades, providing comprehensive services, advanced security measures, and top-notch professionalism for all clients.
- Bonus: Get $160 GeniusCash when you open your new account
- Unlimited transactions and Interac e-Transfers
- Rebate for BMO credit cards
- No fee for Global Money Transfers
- OnGuard identity theft protection included for free
- Special rates for a long list of people groups
- Walmart Delivery Pass Subscription
- $800 welcome bonus
- High minimum balance fee waiver
- Extra fees are high and can add up
- No safety deposit box waiver
- Special rates available for students, seniors, Indigenous persons, and more
- OnGuard Identity Theft Protection included
- Eligible for a free <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bmo.com/en-ca/main/personal/bank-accounts/family-bundle/">BMO Family Bundle</a>
- Valuable welcome offer
- No fee for Global Money Transfers
As the name suggests, this Scotiabank chequing account will get you all the basic features you need in a dependable banking account.
- Lots of physical bank locations
- Decent amount of free transactions
- Ability to waive monthly fee
- Full suite of Scotiabank’s basic features
- Only get a set amount of free transactions
- Monthly fee if you dip under a $3,000 balance
- Charged for each non-Scotiabank ATM withdrawal
- You must be at least 16 years old
- A Canadian resident or you're here for work or study
- Opening this account in your own name
- Send money globally for $1.99
- $4 senior's discount
BMO SmartFolio is an online investment portfolio management service offered by Bank of Montreal. What sets them apart from other services like theirs is that they use dedicated expert advisors to manage your account (instead of pure algorithms like most robo advisors), while maintaining low management fees for their services.
- Financial experts, not robots
- ETF investing approach, lower fees
- Fees beyond MERs
- ETF portfolios easily emulated by DIY investors
- Actively managed by a team of dedicated advisors
- Backed by a big Canadian bank
- TFSA
- RRSP
- RESP
- RRIF
- Joint investment accounts
- Non-registered accounts
The Buggy Delivery App is a grocery delivery service with its own Buggy Bucks rewards system, which gets you points as you spend money on the app. You also get the ability to order up to 30 days in advance, and with delivery (sometimes) available in as little as 15 minutes for the service's own Buggy Stores and 1 hour for grocery stores, it’s an interesting service.
- Wide variety of specialty stores available
- Buggy Bucks loyalty program
- Place your order up to 30 days in advance
- Short delivery times
- Customizable “store boxes”
- Very limited service area
- Not all stores are available
- Will only deliver from 1 store at a time
- Complicated and hard-to-find fee structure
- Fast turnaround orders depend on driver availability
- No promotional rates or free trial
- Wide variety of specialty stores available, including the liquor stores and Costco
- Build your own "store boxes" to simplify the ordering process
- Referral bonus available
As the largest online grocery provider in Canada, PC Express allows you to order grocery delivery and pickup across 12 stores in the Loblaw family. You can shop for groceries online and have them delivered or picked up in as little as 2 hours.
- Available across Canada
- In-store prices and promos
- $75 in PC Optimum points on your first 5 orders
- Reduced subscription price promotion lets you save $70
- Freshness guaranteed
- Collect points to earn free groceries
- Good mobile app
- Opportunity for annual fee waiver
- Subject to availability
- Sometimes substitutions aren’t great
- Earn PC Optimum points
- Freshness guarantee
- In-store prices and promos
- 15,000 PC Optimum Points on your first 5 online grocery orders with code PART15
Your home is important to you, so you want to make sure your home insurance company will be there for you when you need them. The Co-operators provides quality home insurance with consistently high satisfaction ratings. Their network of financial advisors is backed by over 5,000 employees, making them one of the leaders in Canadian property insurance.
- High satisfaction rating
- 24/7 claims service
- Innovative features
- Many ways to save on your premiums
- Potentially higher rates
- Policies don’t include additional living expenses
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
- Discounts for eligible LEED certified homes
As you can probably guess, TD Insurance is the insurance subsidiary of TD Bank. They’re an all-purpose insurance company selling home and auto insurance, as well as life and health insurance. As one of the largest home insurance companies in Canada, owned by one of the largest banks in Canada, they’re a safe and secure choice for insuring your home.
- It’s easy to get an online quote
- There’s a discount for using the web
- You may be eligible for lower rates if you belong to a group
- Their bundle includes free advice
- There’s one combined coverage amount
- TD Insurance doesn’t offer in-person support
- Review scores are not very good
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
- Free advice from lawyers and contractors available for customers with bundled plans
- Protection for family-related situations, such as cyberbullying and parents living in nursing homes
RBC is one of Canada’s oldest and largest banks. If you’re an RBC customer and are purchasing a home, it’s logical to consider RBC for your insurance needs as well. As with all Canadian banks, you can’t buy home insurance from your local branch. You’ll need to speak to an insurance agent, over the phone or through an RBC Insurance Store location.
- RBC home insurance is marketed by Canada’s largest and oldest bank
- Their home repair bundle endorsement is an innovative add-on
- They have an anonymous claims advice line
- Came in 2nd place for customer satisfaction
- You’re rewarded for being claims-free
- Reviews aren’t great
- You can’t buy RBC home insurance from your local bank branch
- It’s not so simple to get the coverage you need
- Canadian citizen
- Age of majority
Paymi Rewards is a cash back app and website that provides up to 10% cash back returns for online and in-store shoppers. The number of retailers varies, but they claim hundreds of partners at the time of writing.
- It’s simple and free
- Getting your rewards is fast and easy
- Great promotions and possibility to double-dip
- The promotions with retailers can change quickly
- The app tracks some of your personal information
- In-store cash back available
- Can link a bank account
- Secure encryption
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are similar to mutual funds, but are bundles of securities that are listed on exchanges, and whose shares trade like an ordinary stock. BMO offers a large number of ETFs you can use to diversify your investment portfolio. You can invest in these either through their investment services, through a robo-advisor service, or through a self-directed investment platform, such as BMO’s InvestorLine.
- Lower fees than mutual funds
- Large number of ETFs available
- Personalized advice
- Self-directed investing platform
- Learning resources
- Average management fees and MERs
- Canadian citizen
- ETF podcasts
- Fixed Income
- Equity
- Asset Allocation
- Alternatives
- Commodity











