It can be really complicated searching for the right Canadian bank for your personal or business finances. There are so many on the market and they all offer different services and charge different fees, so determining which bank will give you the most bang for your buck can be mind-boggling.
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Last Updated: May 25, 2023
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But the good news is that the National Bank of Canada is a solid choice for any banking need you may have. We’ll tell you all about their features, services, pros and cons of the National Bank of Canada, in our National Bank review so that you can decide whether they’re the right bank for you.
An important part of any National Bank review for many people is learning about its history and reputation. Of course this makes sense because in this day and age we always read the ratings and reviews of products or services before we buy them.
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The National Bank of Canada (Banque Nationale du Canada) is considered to be one of the best commercial banks in Canada.
It’s part of what people refer to as the “Big Six Banks” and we found out during our research for this National Bank review that it’s considered to be the sixth-biggest bank in Canada. The other banks in the Big Six are BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and TD Bank.
The bank was founded in 1859 by two business men who spoke French, and it was originally called Banque Nationale. Under Quebec provincial legislation, the bank was limited to operating in Quebec. But it started growing. It first merged with Bank Canadienne Nationale (BCN), or Canadian National Bank.
BCN went on to merge with another Quebec-based bank called the Provincial Bank of Canada. In 1979 BCN and the Provincial Bank of Canada merged and the product was called the National Bank of Canada, which is the iteration of the bank that we’re reviewing in our National Bank review.
The National Bank of Canada has joined a network of banks, partnerships and subsidiaries in other countries, as well, expanding their business beyond Canada.
Now we come to the meat and potatoes of our National Bank review: the products and services. This is the section of the review where we tell you about what the National Bank of Canada can do for you.
Since there are various types of services, we’ve broken it up into subsections that are easier to read through.
Learn more about the wide range of credit cards they offer in our National Bank credit card review.
Here’s an overview of National Bank credit cards:
| National Bank Credit Cards | Features |
| ECHO Cashback Mastercard | – Annual Fee: $30 – Get up to 1.5% cashback on day-to-day purchases |
| Syncro Mastercard | – Annual Fee: $35 – Low interest rate |
| Platinum Mastercard | – Reimbursment of the annual fee the first year – Get up to 2 points per dollar spent |
| World Mastercard | – Annual Fee: $115 – Get up to 2 points per dollar spent |
| World Elite Mastercard | – Reimbursment of the annual fee the first year – Get up to 5 points per dollar spent |
| mycredit Mastercard | – No annual fee – Earn up to 1% cashback on your purchases |
| MC1 Mastercard | – No annual fee – $500 minimum credit limit |
| Allure Mastercard | – No annual fee – Earn 1 point for every $2 – For every 1,000 points accumulated with your credit card, receive a $10 discount in your credit card account once a year |
Personal accounts are designed to serve individuals and their personal finances, not businesses.
Some of the stand out personal account features we found while conducting research for this National Bank review include in-branch ATM access, free Interac e-Transfers and offers for new customers who are students, health professionals, or new to Canada.
Here’s a look at some of the personal banking products and features that the National Bank of Canada offers:
| National Bank Personal Accounts | Features |
| The Minimalist® Chequing Account | – Monthly Fee: $3.95 – 12 transactions/month |
| The Modest® Chequing Account | – Monthly Fee: $10.95 (waived for min. $3,000 balance) – 30 transactions/month |
| The Connected® Chequing Account | – Monthly Fee: $15.95 (waived for min. $4,500 balance) – Unlimited transactions – $30 off your fees when you sign up for a National Bank Mastercard |
| The Total® Chequing Account | – Monthly Fee: $28.95 (waived for min. $6,000 balance) – Unlimited transactions – Up to $150 off your annual fees when you sign up for a National Bank® Mastercard® – Legal and estate assistance included Offer only available for those 16 years and older. |
| High Interest Savings Account (HISA) | – No fixed monthly fees – No minimum balance – Earn 1.5% interest |
| Newcomers to Canada | – Chequing account with no fixed monthly fee for up to 3 years – Get a credit card with no credit history – Access to a team to advise you on housing, jobs, healthcare, immigration, etc. |
The first account type we want to discuss in our National Bank review is the Minimalist Chequing Account. This account has a monthly fee of $3.95 and 12 transactions per month. All clients aged 0-24 won’t be charged a fee.
The name says it all: this is a modest chequing account option. Some of the things about this bank account type we found while writing this National Bank review are that you’ll get 30 digital transactions per month, free Interac e-Transfers, access to ATMs in the network, and online statements. The monthly fee is $10.95.
Seniors get a discounted fee of only $5.95. We found during our research for this National Bank review that students and children aged 0-24 don’t pay a monthly fee.
You get unlimited access to all digital transactions with this account, as many Interac e-Transfers as you want, and get a $30 rebate off your credit card annual fees when you sign up for a National Bank Mastercard.
Monthly fees on this account are $15.95, but the fees can be waived if you maintain a balance of $4,500. All clients aged 0-24 can use this account for free. Seniors pay $10.95/month and are eligible for the fees to be waived if they maintain $4,500 in their account, too.
This account provides some extra features, such as unlimited counter transactions and digital transactions, plus overdraft protection. Legal and estate assistance is also included.
You can get $150 rebate in annual credit card fees as well when you sign up for a National Bank Mastercard. The account costs $28.95 per month for most customers, $13 for ages 18-24, $18 for children, and $23.95 for senior citizens. People of any age can have the monthly fee waived if they maintain a balance of $6,000 in their account.
During our research for this National Bank review we found that they offer more than just personal chequing accounts.
The High Interest Savings Account offered at National Bank allows you to earn 1.5% interest on your balance, no matter how low your balance is with no fixed monthly fees.
Another nice perk to this account is that you can make unlimited transfers of your funds between National Bank accounts. If you’re looking for risk-free savings with guaranteed returns, this account could help your savings grow without you having to lift a finger.
National Bank offers several products and services for newcomers to Canada, whether you’re researching your options for when you arrive or if you’ve already here.
You can easily open a chequing account online to handle your expenses and income. As a new Canadian resident, you can get no fixed monthly fee for up to 3 years.
Plus, you can get approved for a Canadian National Bank Mastercard credit card without credit history. Building your credit history in Canada is an important step to establishing yourself financially in your new home. Getting started right away with National Bank could help you build credit faster.
With National Bank you can also get access to other helpful services about starting out in Canada like:
We found out about this account during the course of our research for this National Bank review and found out it’s designed for people who travel to the United States and write USD cheques.
If you have a balance of $5,000 you can earn 0.100% interest. You can make online, mobile or over-the-phone transactions from this account, as well. You can also use your account for in-branch transactions such as transfers, withdrawals and paying bills.
These accounts are designed for everyday business use, and have been made with a variety of industries in mind.
We found while checking out NBC’s business bank accounts for this National Bank review that they come with exclusive offers on things like incorporation, human resources and other accounts, as well.
We found while writing this National Bank review that there are business accounts offered in two currencies, so we wanted to mention them in our National bank review.
There’s one for CAD and one for USD. Both account types are free to open, and there’s a monthly fee starting from $5.99 applied to both account types. Both accounts are also protected by the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC).
CAD accounts are a good idea for anyone who does business in CAD. You can choose from any of their 6 business banking packages, depending on the type of business you do.
USD accounts are good for business owners who conduct a lot of financial transactions in USD. You can easily view your transactions and keep an eye on conversion rates.
You can open a BIA for free, and there’s no monthly fees. Other advantages of a BIA include overdraft protection, low interest rates and the freedom to access your funds and do whatever you want with them.
We found while reading about NBC for our National Bank review that they offer another type of account for people who conduct business in other foreign currencies (other than the USD).
There are 15 currencies currently supported by the Foreign Currency Account, including the Euro (EUR), Renmimbi (CNY), British Pounds (GBP), and more. Deposits made into this account type are covered by the CDIC (Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation). The monthly fee for a Foreign Currency Account is $35.
We found that there are a number of business banking service packages, as well, so we decided to add them to our National Bank review. They’re designed to meet the needs of any business owner, which is why there’s so many of them.
This package costs $5.99/ month. You get 20 electronic transactions per month, and 2 Interac e-Transfers.
You’ll have to pay a $12.99 fee for any non-debit or credit transactions, as well as for transactions that require an NBC employee to complete.
This package costs a monthly fee of $15.99. As the name suggests, you can make up to 20 debit or credit transactions with this account per month, as well as deposit 15 cheques per month. You get a maximum $1,000 deposit amount in bank notes or $500 in coin deposits.
We found out that this package costs $26.99 per month, and there are some advantages over the 20 Transactions Business Package, so we wanted to list them in our National Bank review.
You’re allowed up to 35 debit or credit transactions per month, and deposit up to 20 cheques per month. And you can deposit up to $3,000 in bank notes and $500 in coin deposits.
This package costs $39.99 per month. You get 50 debit or credit transactions, and can deposit 30 cheques per month. You’re also allowed to deposit $5,000 per month in bank notes and $500 in coins.
The monthly fee for this package is $54.99. You’re allowed 75 debit or credit transactions, and can make 40 cheque deposits per month. You’re allowed to deposit up to $8,000 in bank notes and $500 in coins.
The montly fee for the 100 Transactions Business Package is $77.99 You get up to 100 debit or credit transactions, as the name suggests, and can deposit up to 60 cheques per month. Your maximum deposit allowance is $15,000 per month in bank notes, and $500 in coins.
We found out that the National Bank of Canada offers direct brokerage referred to as NBDB (National Bank Direct Brokerage), so we wanted to include a section about it in our National Bank review.
This online brokerage service is fairly new compared to other brokerage services, but there are several advantages to it.
They offer $0 trading fees when trading CAD or USD stock, and $0 for ETF trades and online purchases. There’s a $100 per year account fee for any account that holds less than $20,000 or makes less than 5 trades per month.
Young investors can have this fee waived. The online experience is quite smooth these days, even though it was pretty rocky in the past. And their customer service has improved over the years, as well.
In 2021 the National Bank of Canada was the first online brokerage service to knock their trading fees down to $0. Here’s a look at some of the fees and prices we haven’t already included in our National Bank review.
One of the things not mentioned enough in reviews about the National Bank of Canada is their international money transfers, so we wanted to include it in our National Bank review. Here’s what you need to know about NBC’s international money transfers:
Since the National Bank of Canada is one of the six largest banks in the country, there are a lot of people who use their international money transfers. On top of conducting wire transfers, they also offer an international money transfers through Mastercard, which is a company trusted by many people.
We found while writing this National Bank review that only NBC customers can make international money transfers with NBC. You can make these transfers from any NCB account. And you use the money in your account to fund the transfer.
There is a $3,000 daily transfer limit, a $14,000 weekly transfer limit, and a $20,000 monthly transfer limit.
Don’t worry. We found out all about the transfer fees for international money transfers and we’ll tell you all about them in this section of our National Bank review.
There’s a flat fee of $5.95 if the transfer is made by Mastercard, with account withdrawl fees as well, if they apply. A wire transfer fee of $15 for transfers between Canada and the United States, while the fee is $20 for any other country.
NCB also tacks on service charges to transfers, and they vary based on which type of account you have. For instance, if you have a line of credit or chequing account, then you’ll be charged a fee of $1.25, those with High Interest Savings Accounts will be charged $5.00, and those with All-in-One Home Equity accounts won’t be charged any service fees.
We really can’t talk about NBC’s services and leave their mortgages out of our National Bank review. They offer a range of mortgages to meet your financial needs, and there are mortgage advisors on hand to give you more information and advice about their mortgages, as well.
We found during research for our National Bank review that there are three different mortgage loan categories: fixed-rate, variable-rate and made-to-measure.
These three categories are designed to meet customers’ risk tolerances in a personalized way. If you get a fixed or variable-rate mortgage loan with a 4 year minimum commitment, you can get $3,000 cashback.
While we were reading about NBC’s services for our National Bank review, we found out that a Home Equity Line of Credit is where you use the amount you’ve paid off your mortgage to complete various tasks around the house or make big purchases.
Some examples of the things people use home equity lines of credit for include home renovations or repairs, buying cars, or funding higher education. It’s a way to help you use the money you’ve paid off on your mortgage to get the funds you need without requiring you to apply for a new loan.
We wanted to mention this mortgage type in our National Bank review because it’s a rarity. It’s designed for self-employed people and entrepreneurs that can’t provide the proof of income that’s typically necessary to obtain a loan.
This program allows you to make a 10% down payment in order to either refinance or finance your home up to $600,000.
Some of the eligibility requirements for a mortgage for the self-employed are that your property can’t be valued at more than $1,000,000.00, and you must have been a business owner or self-employed individual for at least two years.
Along with the other products we’ve mentioned in our National Bank review, NBC also offers various types of insurance. Here are some of the insurance types that the National Bank of Canada offers:
This insurance covers things like critical illness, disability or death. The loan types eligible for this insurance are car loans, personal loans and RRSP lines of credit.
This insurance covers travel-related insurance and medical bills, either for individuals or for entire families. It includes up to $500,000 in medical bill coverage, as well as other expenses.
This insurance provides you with mortgage coverage of $1,000,000 in the event of your death, $3,000 in the case of disability and $150,000 in the event of critical illness. It also provides up to $1,000 cashback.
This insurance will cover your Mastercard credit card payments in the event that you lose your job, become disabled, become critically ill, become dismembered, or die. The maximum payment it will cover is $50,000, which in some cases could be as much as five times more than your credit card payment.
| Pros of National Bank | Cons of National Bank |
| + Lots of credit card options + Lots of mortgage options + CAD and USD accounts + Get high interest on your savings | – Transfer fees – You need an account to make transfers |
We want to provide you with an unbiased National bank review, so we’re going to tell you about the drawbacks of using their services, as well. Here are some of the drawbacks of the National Bank of Canada:
If you’re making a wire transfer through NBC, you’ll have to contend with high fees. There’s no flat rate for transfer fees, but they vary based on the country you’re sending money to.
There are some international transfer services that don’t require you to have an account in order to transfer money, so while this is standard operation for banks we thought we’d mention it in our National Bank review.
There are several downsides to NCB’s digital brokerage that we noticed while writing our National Bank review. First of all there’s no app, which is enough to turn some people off of the service entirely.
When you follow that up with the fact that there aren’t very many portfolio analysis tools, many investors are likely to pass on it. There’s also a $100 account fee for a service that doesn’t have a mobile app and has so few portfolio analysis tools.
When it comes to NBC’s mortgages, there are drawbacks, too. There aren’t many physical locations for their mortgage offices.
And they make it nearly impossible to obtain rate information unless you fill out an application and then talk to a loan officer. For many people, rate transparency is a sign of trustworthy businesses, so that’s why we mention it in our National Bank review.
Because we’re writing an unbiased National Bank review and we understand that the National Bank of Canada isn’t for everyone, we’re going to provide you with some alternatives to consider.
Wise offers a cheap and convenient way to transfer money to other people, or to receive money. You can send and receive money from 80 different countries.
One unique aspect of Wise’s signup process is that you can signup by email, or sync your Facebook, Google or Apple account to it to sign in. They charge a flat rate amount of around $1 for most countries as well as a little less than 1% of the transfer amount. And they don’t charge exchange rate markups.
Tangerine is a Canadian online bank that we found out about while writing this National Bank review.
They don’t charge any fees, and you can make unlimited transactions from your bank account at no charge. They’re a full-service bank, so you can get things like chequing, savings, business, loans, credit cards, retirement products and investing services.
They’ve got some really excellent customer service, too. In fact, they’ve been rated as the Highest Overall Customer Satisfaction in a midsize bank segment by J.D. Power’s Canada Retail Banking Satisfaction Study for the past nine years.
If you’re looking for a good lender, then check out Better. NerdWallet actually gave them a 5-star rating. You only need to have a 620 minimum credit score, and 3% minimum down payment. They offer puchase, jumbo, refinance, adjustable, fixed and FHA loans.
EQ Bank is another online bank that doesn’t disappoint. It’s owned by Equitable Bank, which has a great reputation with Canadians because of its 50 year track record.
Some of EQ Bank’s perks include: high interest rates, free Interac e-Transfers, free electronic funds transfers, no banking fees, no minimum balance, free bill payments, and free transfers to other EQ Bank accounts. And their customer service team is not only prompt to respond to customers, but friendly and helpful.
Canadians are pretty acquainted with Simplii as it’s a big name in online banking. Simplii offers a number of personal and savings accounts, as well as investment options.
They don’t charge any fees for everyday banking products, so savings and chequing accounts don’t have usage fees. When it comes to their lending plans you can expect low-interest on things like credit cards, mortgages or mutual funds.
| Card | Features | Get Started |
| ECHO Cashback Mastercard | Get up to 1.5% cashback on your day-to-day purchases | Claim Offer |
| Syncro Mastercard | Lowest interest rate: 4% + prime rate | Claim Offer |
If you’re looking for a trusted Canadian bank with low fees and a good reputation, then the National Bank of Canada may be a good choice for you.
We did find a few drawbacks of NBC’s services while we were doing research for our National Bank review, like their high transfer fees or the fact that other online banks don’t charge any fees for chequing accounts.
But there is something to be said about the fact that most online banks don’t have physical locations where you can just walk in and speak to a representative about your issue and have it resolved on the spot, and in that regard the National Bank of Canada is the better choice for some people.
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The National Bank of Canada (Banque Nationale du Canada) is considered to be one of the best commercial banks in Canada. It’s part of what people refer to as the “Big Six Banks” and we found out during our research for this National Bank review that it’s considered to be the sixth-biggest bank in Canada. The other banks in the Big Six are BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and TD Bank.
National Bank has several account options for personal and business. Their personal accounts include:
National Bank offers mortgage loans with cashback, home equity lines of credit, and even mortgage loans for those who are self-employed.
National Bank offers the following kinds of insurance:
National Bank has the following business account options:
The suite of National Bank credit cards includes:
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