The big rate is often several rates added together. What is left when they end is your rate.

A savings account can advertise one number and pay another. This page shows how the big numbers are built, using the banks’ own pages, and gives you three questions and one sum for your own account.

Scotiabank’s MomentumPLUS Savings Account page, read on 29 September 2026, shows the parts.

A regular rate of 0.40%.

A premium for choosing a period and not withdrawing during it: 0.20% for 90 days, up to 0.45% for 360 days. The page says “if you withdraw before the premium period ends, you will not earn the premium interest.”

A boost of 0.10% with an Ultimate Package, or 0.05% with a Preferred Package.

A welcome bonus of 4.05% “for the first 3 months, if you open your first account.”

The page’s headline rate that day was 4.65%. That is 0.40% plus 0.20% plus 4.05%. With an Ultimate Package it becomes 4.75%. Take the longest premium instead, and the parts add up to 5.00%.

Each part is real. But they do not last the same length of time, and some need something from you. The welcome bonus lasts three months. The regular rate is what stays.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) says: “Financial institutions may offer high-interest introductory rates. These run for a certain period. After the time’s up, the interest rate may be lower.”

On 29 September 2026, Simplii Financial offered new clients 4.60% “for 153 days (which is about 5 months)”. Its terms say the 4.60% “is a combination of the regular annual interest rate” and a promotional rate, and that afterwards “all balances will earn interest only at the Regular Interest rate.” Tangerine offered a 4.50% promotional rate for 153 days, and says “Once the promotional rate ends, our posted rate will apply.”

An example, not a real account. $10,000 earns 4.60% for 153 days, then a regular rate of 1.00% for the other 212 days of the year. The first 153 days earn $192.82. The other 212 days earn $58.08. The year earns $250.90, about the same as 2.51% for the whole year.

The 1.00% is made up for this example. The real regular rate on each account is on the bank’s own page. The point holds for any account: the rate after the promotion decides most of the year.

EQ Bank’s rates page, read on 29 September 2026, shows 2.75% on its Personal Account. The footnote explains that customers “who add and maintain qualifying recurring direct deposits of at least $2000/month” earn the bonus rate. Without it, the base rate applies. On that day the base rate was 1%.

On $10,000 for one year, 1% is $100 and 2.75% is $275. The same account and the same money make a $175 difference, set by one line in the terms.

Some accounts pay their top rate only at a certain balance, or with a paid plan. Neo’s savings page, read on 29 September 2026, says “Get up to 2.75%”. Its memberships page lists the rate by plan: 2% on Essentials, which is free, 2.5% on Build, and 2.75% on Grow, at $14.99 a month.

“Up to” means the top of a range. Check which part of the range your money is in.

Some accounts show one rate with no promotion and no condition.

An example, not a real account. An account pays 2.50% on every dollar, with no promotion, no condition and no minimum balance. $10,000 for a year earns $250. That is almost exactly what the promotion example above earned, from a number on the front that was a little over half as big.

A lower number that nothing takes away later can pay about the same, or more, over a year than a higher number that ends. Compare the rate you will have in month eleven, not the one on day one.

Interest is income. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says to “Report interest paid or credited to you in 2025 even if you did not receive an information slip,” and “You may not receive a T5 slip for amounts under $50, but you must still report this income.”

An example. $275 of interest, and a combined tax rate of 30% on your next dollar of income. $82.50 goes to tax and you keep $192.50. Your own tax rate may be higher or lower.

Inside a Tax-Free Savings Account, it is different. The CRA says that “any income you earn through interest, dividends or capital gains are generally tax-free, even when you make a withdrawal.”

The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) insures eligible deposits if a member institution fails. Each category is “insured separately up to $100,000, including principal and interest,” and each member institution has its own coverage.

Before you move money, check whether the institution is on CDIC’s member list. If it is not, ask which insurer covers the account, and up to what amount.

Find your account’s current rate on your bank’s rates page. Not the rate you opened it at, and not the advertising.

Does it run out? A welcome bonus or a promotion ends on a date.

Does it need something from you? A deposit, a package, a plan, or no withdrawals.

Does the top rate need a balance or a plan you do not have?

Multiply. What is left after those three questions is your rate. Your balance times that rate is your year. $5,000 at 1% is $50.

Is an “up to” rate false advertising?

No. It is the top of a range. The question is whether your money is at the top of it.

Is a promotional rate a bad idea?

A promotion pays more while it runs. Count the whole year, including the rate afterwards, and compare that.

Why does this page not rank the accounts?

Rates change, sometimes every week. The questions and the sum keep working after the rates change.

Does the video’s result still hold?

The video compared twelve accounts using rates read on 29 August 2026, and several have changed since. In the video, Neo’s rate depended on the balance. On 29 September 2026, Neo’s memberships page sets it by plan. The pattern the video found, that the biggest advertised numbers carried the most conditions, is what this page explains.

Every claim on this page was checked against these documents on 29 September 2026.

• Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Savings accounts
• Canada Revenue Agency: Line 12100, Interest and other investment income · What is the Tax-Free Savings Account
• Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation: What’s covered
• Scotiabank: MomentumPLUS Savings Account
• Simplii Financial: High Interest Savings Account offer and terms
• Tangerine: Savings Account promotion
• EQ Bank: Rates
• Neo Financial: High-interest savings · Memberships

Watch · 7:59

Don't Fall for the 'Up to 5%' Trap: A Canadian Banking Experiment. Published 1 September 2026. Loads on click. Nothing is requested from YouTube until you ask.

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