Tangerine: Our review of their bank accounts and credit cards

Tangerine is an online bank affiliated with Scotiabank and is a member in good standing of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). Since it has no physical office and all financial activities are carried out online, Tangerine makes substantial savings which it can then redistribute to its customers in the form of competitive rates. In this article, we explore the main financial products offered by Tangerine Bank: checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards and much more.

First, Tangerine offers a chequing account with no monthly fees and no minimum balance. With this account, you get your first cheque book free of charge.

Tangerine offers a savings account with no monthly fees or minimum balance, and a competitive interest rate compared with other banks.

Tangerine Bank offers a variety of investment funds for your non-registered, TFSA, RRSP and RRIF accounts. The 3 investment options are :

• Core Portfolios
• Global ETF Portfolios
• Socially Responsible Global Portfolios

For each of these investment options, several investment funds are available to suit your investor profile and risk tolerance.

For example, with Mutual Fund Core Portfolios, you can choose from 5 funds, ranging from a balanced portfolio (low risk) to an equity growth portfolio (high risk). Similar choices are available for Global ETF Portfolios and Socially Responsible Portfolios (SRI).

Tangerine offers guaranteed investments in the form of Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs). GICs allow you to save your money and earn interest. Your investment is guaranteed for the duration you choose, generally between 90 days and 5 years. Tangerine’s guaranteed investments are available in the following accounts: savings account, U.S. dollar account, TFSA, RRSP and RRIF.

Tangerine Bank offers several borrowing options, including fixed-rate and variable-rate mortgages. Tangerine mortgages stand out for their attractive rates, lump sum prepayment options (up to 25%), mortgage rate hold (for 120 days) and much more.

If you’re not a homeowner and don’t have access to a mortgage line of credit, you can choose a personal line of credit for your financing needs. Here, too, it could be renovations, unforeseen expenses, debt consolidation (at higher interest) or any other expense that wasn’t budgeted for.

In our Review, the Tangerine chequing account is one of the best choices available on the Canadian market. First of all, it differs from other Canadian banks in that there are no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirements. But also by the many free features, such as Interac transfers. However, other online banks also offer attractive chequing accounts. For example:

To compare other chequing accounts, use our bank account comparator.

In our Review, the Tangerine savings account is a good choice. But many other banks have attractive promotional offers. For example:

To compare other savings accounts, use our bank account comparator.

In our opinion, the Tangerine World Mastercard is one of the best no-fee credit cards on the Canadian market. In particular, it allows you to accumulate 2% cash back in 2 or 3 purchase categories that you choose according to your needs. However, other excellent cash-back credit cards with no annual fee are available in Canada. For example:

To compare other credit cards according to your needs, use our credit card comparator.

Tangerine’s investment funds are also interesting. The financial products offered are diversified (mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), socially responsible investment funds) and provide exposure to different levels of risk (conservative, balanced, growth).

The management expense ratio (MER) of Tangerine’s investment funds is below the Canadian average, but higher than those of leading providers of index ETFs or asset allocation ETFs. However, these require financial knowledge and self-management of investments on an online brokerage platform such as Questrade or Wealthsimple.

Tangerine Bank offers a comprehensive range of mortgage products. It stands out for its attractive rates, lump sum repayment options (up to 25%) and mortgage rate hold (for 120 days). But in recent years, new players in the mortgage business have emerged to take market share.

Overall, Tangerine Bank’s range of financial products is attractive to Canadians. In our opinion, this online bank’s best financial products are its bank accounts (both checking and savings accounts) and credit cards. Tangerine’s investment funds are also interesting, especially the ETF portfolios.

However, Tangerine is lagging behind its competitors for certain specific products, such as FHSA, which is not yet available. But also hybrid bank accounts (high-interest chequing accounts).

In recent years, competition has been fierce between Canadian financial institutions, both traditional and online. Tangerine must therefore continue to offer competitive products and services that meet the needs of Canadians, while developing new financial products.