Frequently asked questions

Kova is a Canadian personal finance app that connects your bank, credit card and investment accounts, read-only. It tracks your spending and your investment accounts in one place, compares your credit card with Canadian cards on how you actually spend, and works out which order to fill your FHSA, RRSP and TFSA.

Yes. Kova sorts every purchase from your connected bank accounts and credit cards into categories and merchants, month by month, and shows your take-home pay, your spending and what was left over. You can set your own rules for how a merchant is labelled, and Kova points out subscriptions that went up in price or just started. Card payments and transfers between your own accounts are not counted as spending.

Yes. Connect your brokerage through Plaid or add accounts by hand, and Kova shows one total across your TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and other accounts, what you hold in each, and the change against what you paid. Your TFSA, FHSA and RRSP room left sits beside the accounts that use it. This is descriptive only: Kova does not tell you what to buy or sell.

Kova sorts your recent purchases the way card networks code them, then works out what each Canadian card in its list would have earned you, after the annual fee. It knows Canadian rules that generic tools miss: Loblaw grocers such as No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore do not take American Express, and Costco warehouses take Mastercard only and count as warehouse spending, not groceries.

Kova uses your income, your province and the contribution room on your notice of assessment. If you are a first-time home buyer, the FHSA comes first because it gives a deduction going in and a tax-free withdrawal for your first home. Between the RRSP and the TFSA, Kova compares your tax bracket today and estimates the refund an RRSP contribution would bring, in dollars.

Yes. You connect through Plaid, so Kova never sees your bank password, and the connection is read-only: Kova cannot move money or make changes. Connection keys are stored encrypted, two-step sign-in is available, and disconnecting an account deletes what Kova imported from it.

Kova costs $7 a month or $67 a year in Canadian dollars, which is $17 less than paying monthly. There are no ads. You can cancel at any time from Settings.

Kova is for adults 18 and over who live in Ontario. Its tax rules are Ontario’s for now, so if you live in another province you can leave your email and hear once when Kova opens there.

Kova is paid only by your subscription. No bank or card issuer pays us for recommendations, so a card’s place in your results depends only on what it’s estimated to be worth to you after its annual fee.

No. Kova’s connection to your accounts is read-only: it can see balances and purchases, but it can’t move money, make payments or change anything. You make every change yourself, with your own bank or card issuer.

Yes. You can cancel from Settings at any time, and you keep access until the end of the period you’ve paid for.

Kova deletes it. Data from your connected accounts and the information you entered are deleted within 30 days of closing your account. Billing records are kept only as long as the law requires.

No. Kova covers credit cards, which registered account to use first, idle cash and budgeting. It does not pick funds or tell you what to buy or sell, and it is not a tax-filing service.

Email [support email], or see how Kova ranks cards and accounts.