The Best TFSA Plans So Far

So I was asked by a few people on what I personally think the best banks to open up a tax free savings account plan with is so far. In my personal opinion, based on what I see I would say the Bank of Montreal and ING Direct seems like the best choices overall so far.

The reason is pretty straight forward. Both of these financial institutions actually offer the same interest rate at 3%. When you compare that to others overall, it is a very good rate as most others that have a higher rate currently will drop it after the promotional period as its regular rates are say 2.75%. While that doesn’t guarantee that these two places won’t drop its rates too, 3% is the regular rate for them.

Another big reason for selecting these two is that they both indicate that they do not have fees associated with the account including not having a transfer fee should you decide to use a different bank/provider. That way, you can be more assured that you won’t have to go through a costly process should you decide that you would like to change it up with a different provider.

While there may be different and better incentives coming in the future for those who are still holding out, in my opinion the best choices for a tax free savings account plan right now based on rates and fees is the Bank of Montreal and ING Direct.

ING Direct Canada TFSA Promotion Rate of 2.5%

The current TFSA interest rate in 2014  for ING Direct Canada appears to be at 1.4% as you can see here.

At the same time, they seem to be offering a promotion until March 31st, 2014 on new deposits where they are giving investors 2.5% until April 30, 2014.  Just to be clear as even I was confused at first, essentially the total amount of funds that you put into the account until March 31^st qualifies you to earn 2.5% on those funds until April 30, 2014.  Afterwards I would assume it reverts back to the standard 1.4% TFSA rate.

Apparently if you are a new client too and deposit at least $100 into the account they will throw in an additional $25 bonus for free.  They seem to be going all out in trying to attract new people.

Vancity TFSA Rate at 1%

I remembered in the past Vancity had one of the highest TFSA rate which was definitely good for all the investors.  As of checking today though it seems like its jumpstart high interest savings account is only offering a 1% rate and it has been at this number for awhile it seems.

Maybe they will offer something bigger at a later date.

Scotiabank Special TFSA Rate of 1.75%

Since this is one of the larger banks in Canada I was expecting them to be offering a high interest rate promotion compared to the other banks. Its regular TFSA rate is currently sitting at 1%.

It appears that until March 31, 2014 they are offering a 1.75% interest rate to any new TFSA funds added after December 31st, 2013.

It’s not the highest rate compared to the competition but they are one of the few who seem to be offering a promotion for the time being if you are still debating who to invest with.

Scotiabank’s Video Explanation of a TFSA

Here is a TFSA related video which describes the basics courtesy of Scotiabank that I found:

TD Canada Trust TFSA Rate of 1.0%

TD Canada seems to be in that group of banks that have a 2014 TFSA rate of 1.0% as well.  Makes me wonder if banks like these are giving up for the year in trying to compete for people’s investment dollars or if they will be releasing surprises as the deadline approaches.

HSBC TFSA Rate Sitting At 1.2%

It looks like for this year so far in 2014 HSBC is going to offer a TFSA rate of 1.2%.