Bank fees are easy to miss because each one is small. A monthly account fee here, a few dollars at another bank's ATM there, an overdraft charge in a tight week. None of them feels worth a phone call. Added up over a year, they often are.

The good news is that most of these fees are optional in practice. You can usually avoid them by changing an account or a habit, without changing how much you earn or spend.

Find every fee you paid

Start with your last three months of chequing and savings statements. Fees are listed as their own lines, often near the end of the month, with names like "monthly plan fee", "service charge", "overdraft fee", "NSF fee" or "network fee". If the layout is unfamiliar, our guide to reading your own bank statement explains the dates and descriptions.

Write each fee down with its amount and add them up. Then multiply the three-month total by four for a rough yearly figure. That number tells you how much effort this is worth.

Here's a hypothetical example. Say your statements show a $17 monthly account fee, two $3 withdrawals a month at another bank's ATM, and one $5 overdraft charge a month. That's $17 + $6 + $5 = $28 a month, or $336 a year, for services you may not need to pay for.

The monthly account fee

This is usually the biggest one, and the easiest to deal with. Most chequing accounts at the big banks charge a monthly fee, and most waive it if you keep a minimum balance in the account every day of the month.

You have three realistic options. You can keep the minimum balance, if you have the cash and it never dips below the line, not even for a day. You can move down to a cheaper plan if you don't use what the bigger one includes. Or you can switch to a no-fee account, which several online banks and some credit unions offer.

If money is tight, ask about a low-cost account. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) lists the banks that have committed to offering low-cost accounts for a few dollars a month, and no-cost accounts for some groups, such as students and seniors who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement. FCAC also has an account comparison tool on its website.

Before you switch, check what you actually use: how many debit transactions and e-Transfers you make in a month, and whether you need cheques or a branch. A free account that charges for each transaction past a small limit can cost more than the plan you left.

Overdraft and NSF fees

These two get confused. Overdraft is when the bank lets a payment go through even though your balance goes below zero. You pay interest on the amount you're short, and often a fee as well, either each time you use it or as a monthly charge for having the protection.

A non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee is charged when a payment is refused because the money isn't there. Under federal rules that took effect in March 2026, banks can charge no more than $10 for an NSF fee on a personal account. That's a real improvement, but the company you were trying to pay may still add its own returned-payment charge, and a missed payment can mean late fees too.

Both fees come from the same cause: a bill landing a few days before a paycheque. So the fix is about timing more than willpower. Find the day your balance is lowest each month, then ask to move a due date so the bill comes out after payday. Many phone, utility and card companies will do this if you ask. The payday check in our free tools shows your lowest point over the next 30 days and which due date to move, and our post on running out of money before payday goes through it step by step.

A balance alert helps as well. Most banks let you set a text or email alert when your account drops below an amount you choose, which gives you a day or two to move money before a payment bounces.

ATM and other small fees

Using another bank's ATM can cost you twice: your own bank may charge a network fee, and the machine's owner may add a convenience fee on top. Taking cash back at a grocery store till, or planning one larger withdrawal at your own bank, avoids both.

A few others are worth a look. Paper statement fees disappear when you switch to electronic statements. Foreign transaction fees show up on purchases in other currencies, including some online orders you didn't realize were priced in US dollars. And if you pay for a bigger plan mostly for unlimited transactions, count how many you really make.

Ask, then check again

If you were charged a fee because of a one-time slip, call and ask for it to be reversed. Banks often will, especially for a customer who rarely asks. Be polite and specific: name the fee, the date and the amount.

Fees also change. Banks have to tell you in advance when they raise one, but those notices are easy to skim past. Looking over your fee lines once every few months, as part of a monthly money review, is enough to catch a new one.

How SmartSpend AI helps

SmartSpend AI reads the PDF bank and credit card statements you already download, with no bank login, and sorts every transaction for you. It shows where each month's money went across all your accounts and cards, points out unusual charges worth a second look, and shows the lowest your balance will reach in the next 30 days, after every paycheque and bill it can put a date on. That makes it easier to see a shortfall coming before it turns into an overdraft or NSF fee.

SmartSpend AI is in private testing. If you'd like to try it, join the waitlist.