FAQ – Accounts and services – Accounts

Although your account balance will increase immediately after you deposit a cheque, it usually takes between 5 and 15 business days for it to clear, depending on the financial institution that issued it. However, it can take up to 6 years when a fraudulent cheque is deposited. As a preventative measure, when you deposit a cheque, Desjardins, like every other financial institution, puts a hold on funds for the amount of time it usually takes to process it to make sure it clears.

If you have good credit, to accommodate you, your caisse can give you an authorized transit when you open your account. An authorized transit is the maximum amount you can withdraw right after depositing a cheque. Keep in mind that you are responsible for all deposits made to your account. Therefore, if you deposit a fraudulent cheque to your account, you will have to repay the amount you used.

Learn more about funds on hold and authorized transits.

When you write a cheque or agree to make pre-authorized payments to an organization, you must ensure you have enough money in your account to honour your commitment. If you don't, NSF (non-sufficient funds) fees will be charged to your account.

You can avoid NSF fees by signing up for overdraft protection, which links your account to your Desjardins credit card.

To learn more, see Overdraft protection.

At Desjardins, a hold is placed for 5 to 7 business days if you deposit a cheque at the counter or ATM, or if you make an inter-institution transfer on AccèsD.

This applies to any type of cheque, personal or otherwise, as well as to cash deposited at an ATM.

Find out more about funds on hold.

In fact, the amount you save with the service fee exemption is equivalent to a net annual return of more than 3% (see table below), which is generally better than what our competitors are offering. To maintain the minimum balance, you just have to transfer money from your other accounts or other financial institutions.

In fact, only some service fees are reviewed on an annual basis to take into account operating cost increases with the aim of ensuring profitability, dependability and your Desjardins cooperative's future.

Desjardins's operating costs are equivalent to those of its competitors. Expenses related to equipment, office space, labour and financing products are generally the same for all financial institutions, as are available income sources.

Desjardins also has to maintain good profitability in order to have sufficient leeway on the markets, which ultimately benefits members. Surplus earnings earned by the caisses belong to all members and is paid back to them in the form of member dividends once the caisse's development and financial standing is assured. A portion of the member dividends can even be used to cover the service fees. Meanwhile, when banks turn a profit, only shareholders benefit.

Teller services are more expensive because they involve caisse employees, unlike other access methods like ATMs, direct payments or AccèsD.

Service fees must encourage the divergence of transactions to less costly methods for both our members and our caisses. However, members are fully entitled to choose personalized service.

Only available on AccèsD Internet and mobile, the Savings Account is for people who want to grow their savings quickly by earning interest on each dollar saved. There are no fees and you can access your funds easily. The account is also RRSP eligible.

To learn more, see Savings Account.