Best High Interest Savings Accounts (Canada)

What a HISA is for

A high-interest savings account pays more interest than a regular chequing or savings account while keeping your money safe and immediately accessible. It's built for capital you can't afford to lose or lock up.

Use it for your emergency fund, short-term goals (a car, a wedding, a home down payment within a few years), and any money you'll need in under about five years.

What a HISA is not is a long-term wealth builder. Over long horizons, interest typically trails inflation and stock returns — so it's for safety and short-term goals, not growth.

What to compare when choosing one

Rather than chasing one advertised headline rate, weigh the whole package:

• The ongoing (not just promotional) interest rate — teaser rates expire.
• Fees — the best HISAs charge no monthly fee.
• Minimum balances or conditions to earn the top rate.
• Access and transfer speed — how quickly you can move money to your chequing account.
• Deposit insurance coverage (see below).

Online-focused banks and credit unions often pay more than the Big Five because they have lower overhead.

The kinds of providers that tend to lead on rate

Without quoting numbers that change, you can recognize the categories that usually offer stronger savings rates:

• Digital and online banks — direct banks such as EQ Bank, Tangerine, and Simplii have historically offered competitive savings rates.
• Credit unions — some regional credit unions offer strong rates and provincial deposit guarantees.
• The Big Five banks — convenient and integrated, but their standard savings rates are often lower than online competitors.

Always confirm the current rate on the provider's own site before opening — rates move with the Bank of Canada.

Make sure your money is insured

Deposit insurance means your cash is protected even if the institution fails. Most banks are members of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), which protects eligible deposits up to $100,000 per category, per member institution.

Credit unions are covered instead by provincial deposit-insurance schemes, some of which offer higher or unlimited coverage — check your province's plan.

If you hold more than the insured limit, you can spread cash across multiple institutions to stay fully covered. Always confirm a provider is a CDIC member (or a provincially insured credit union) before depositing.

Tax-smart cash and the HISA ETF alternative

Interest is fully taxed at your marginal rate in a non-registered account — the least tax-efficient kind of income. Holding savings in a TFSA shelters that interest entirely, so a TFSA HISA is often the smart place for an emergency fund.

An FHSA can hold cash for a first home while giving a tax deduction, and an RRSP can too, though it's usually better suited to longer-term growth assets.

Some investors use a HISA ETF or money-market fund in their brokerage account as an alternative to a savings account. These aim to pay a competitive yield on cash, though they carry a small management fee and are not CDIC-insured — trade-offs to weigh against a traditional insured HISA.

Frequently asked