Tangerine - A free online bank in Canada
Tangerine has been around since 1997, has over 2 million customers and is part of Scotiabank.
If you have never heard of them, don’t be concerned: They are a member of CDIC and deposits made are eligible for CDIC protection up to $100,000, per insured category.
Key features of Tangerine:
- Free debit card
- Free account forever
- Free Interac e-Transfers
- Free cash withdrawals at all Scotiabank ATMs
- Free Cash Back Mastercard
- No monthly or minimum balance needed
- Online cheque deposit via the App.
- Interest on your balance in the chequing account, no other “Big Five” Bank offers this
Disclaimer: I will receive a commission if you are using the above affiliate link. This makes it possible to support all Work and Travellers on the Working Holiday Canada adventure. Thanks a lot for the support.
Free Cashback Credit Card
- Free credit card that pays money when you use it
- Set the two most used categories and get 2% cash back
- On all other categories there is 0.5% cash back
- The cash back is not accumulated as with all other banks and credited once a year, at Tangerine you get it paid monthly into the bank account.
Where is the catch?
Everything is entirely digital, so:
- You can’t walk into a branch for help.
- Cash deposits are not supported, which can be limiting if you handle cash regularly.
You can open a bank account as a newcomer. However, in order to open an online bank account you need to prove Canadian residency. This means you can only apply after you swapped the foreign drivers licence into a Canadian drivers licence.