I have a chequing account that's almost 20 years old. Traditional bank.
For a long while, if I maintained a minimum balance of $1k there were no fees. About 18 months ago they upped the minimum to $2k, which annoyed me but I kept the higher balance and just lived with it.
Well, the bank has changed the terms again, so I'm paying $3.90 in monthly fees, and there's no option to avoid it by keeping a minimum balance. (A different type of chequing account will allow you to avoid fees but the minimum balance is $3k and you need an automatic monthly income deposit or two automatic monthly bill payments, and I have no regular income ATM and do not pay bills from my bank account.)
So! Is $3.90/month a trivial amount to worry about? I'd rather not pay it, but maybe it's not a big deal. I do have a personal line of credit attached to it, but being Mustachian, neither use it nor really need it.
I could get a no-fee Tangerine chequing account (I already have other accounts with them). You can use Scotiabank ATMs, I think. (The sign up incentive gives you $100 if you have your payroll deposited there. Too bad I'm unemployed and don't know when I'll land a job. Whomp whomp.)
I could get added as a joint user on my DH's chequing account. He's at a different bank and holding a minimum balance to avoid fees. I've kept my own chequing account, though, because one of our tax optimization strategies is to pay our expenses from his more highly taxed income, and to invest all mine (so the investment income all gets taxed at my lower rate. Americans - in Canada, spouses are still taxed as individuals.) Having a separate account where all my income goes makes income attribution easy to prove, in case of an audit.
I realize I could try to negotiate with my bank, but if that yields no fruit I'd like a
Plan B.
Thoughts about what I should do? TIA.