Review of Tangerine Bank

Thanks for stopping by to read my review of Tangerine Bank!

This review of Tangerine Bank is my personal opinion. I have not been paid or compensated in any manner from Tangerine Bank or any other source.

ING DIRECT

I’ve had an account with Tangerine Bank for a long time.

That’s because I opened an account with ING bank over 25 years ago. An online bank in Canada was a very new concept when I signed up.

ING offered a higher interest rate on savings accounts than the other Canadian financial institutions. It was a decent place to park money.

ING offered other banking services including mortgages. I actually applied for a mortgage there in 2007 for the last house I purchased, aka the money pit.

ING was a little slow on the draw. They approved me – a day after I signed mortgage papers with one of their competitors. Oh well – better luck next time!

In 2008 ING offered a new product called Streetwise Mutual Funds. To gain interest, they enticed me with an offer to take out a $1,000 RRSP loan (a Canadian registered retirement savings product). If I bought a minimum of $1,000 in the new Streetwise mutual funds, I’d get a $25 bonus. I had 10 months to repay the loan. Including interest it came to $1,018. Well, I really couldn’t lose.

I regretted taking out that loan right away because I’m not about going into further debt.

See my post: Is taking an RSP Loan from Tangerine Bank a Good Idea?

BECOMING TANGERINE BANK

In 2012, Scotiabank purchased ING Direct, and the company was rebranded Tangerine Bank.

Scotiabank is the former Bank of Nova Scotia, one of Canada’s Big 5 banks. I had an account there when I was younger.

Besides a name change, what else changed with the Scotiabank purchase?

They offer more financial products and their website has become a huge shit show to navigate.

You decide for yourself whether you think those are good or bad things.

The Streetwise mutual funds were all renamed to various types of “portfolios”. My old Streetwise funds are now called “Balanced Growth Portfolio”. I purchased more funds over the next few years, the last time in 2014 I transferred in around $1,500 from a former employer’s RSP account. I’ve probably invested about $4,000 and my portfolio has close to tripled.

I have no further interest in investing in mutual funds or Tangerine, so I’ll probably pull that money out the next time I need to buy a car.

ING Direct used to send out a nice monthly statement in the mail. The last one I see in my filing cabinet is dated 2011. Tangerine Bank does not mail statements – unless you want to get ripped off and pay $2 a month for one. I know, I know. Be more environmentally friendly and just view your banking online and ditch the paper.

Ha ha! Easier said than done!

INTEREST RATE?

Years ago, ING Direct was known for higher interest rates on savings accounts than regular financial institutions.

Since the Scotiabank takeover and name change to Tangerine, they’ve faced more competition when it comes to online banking.

Notably, the new kid in town, EQ Bank.

As of July 12, 2021, the interest rate on a Tangerine Savings account is .10%.

For comparison’s sake, the current interest rate on a CIBC savings account is .05%.

How about the interest rate at Scotiabank where Tangerine operates under? Same as the other bank, .05%.

The current interest rate at Coast Capital Savings is .10%.

In other words, a bricks and mortar credit union has the same interest as Tangerine. And the big banks are worse. Plus the big banks have all kinds of crap about minimum amounts to get that “high interest rate”. No minimum amounts at credit unions or Tangerine.

As part of my review of Tangerine Bank, I call out that there is no interest rate benefit any more. You can walk into your hometown credit union and get a similar interest rate on your savings account.

Let’s bring out the star!

EQ Bank is 1.25% interest. And even that sucks because the interest has dropped a few times this past year. But it’s still much higher than a fraction of 1% interest that the other financial institutions are offering. EQ Bank’s interest rate is listed right on the landing page of their website.

All the other financial institutions forced me to go on a hunt and seek mission to find their interest rate. Well, it is kind of embarrassing offering up such a paltry interest rate, I can understand why they make it difficult for customers to find it.

LOGGING ON

No review of Tangerine Bank would be complete without mentioning their Achilles’s Heel.

The worst part about dealing with Tangerine Bank is logging on to their website. And that sucks for any company that relies on customers logging on to their online portal.

Why is it so difficult to log onto Tangerine Bank and check your accounts?

This has been an ongoing issue for MANY years.

To log in, you need your bank account number.

You will also need to know your PIN. That’s the number you chose when you set up your account with Tangerine.

I have my account number written down along with my password and PIN.

I’ve also written down my security questions and the answers. There’s a lot of crap to know when dealing with Tangerine to crack their log in. Write it down and don’t lose it!

I’m very organized that way. This information is kept in a binder that is tucked away in a case in one of my closets.

My Tangerine PIN is memorized. The number I don’t know off the top of my head is the account number. This should not be a problem. Tangerine has a “Remember Me” button so when you open their website, it should automatically populate.

From there you enter your PIN because that’s not auto saved. Now you have access to the Tangerine Bank website and your accounts, and you’re good to go. Right?

Tangerine’s log on is the worst piece of shit I’ve ever encountered. And I’ve dealt with many companies, including financial institutions where I have to log on to access my account.

AMNESIA

Tangerine’s log on is supposed to remember the account number. You log in, you check off the “remember me” button, and the next time you log in, it should pre-populate. All the user needs to do is enter their PIN to access their banking information.

Occasionally, the “remember me” feature works. If I log on again a couple of weeks later, the account number is there, I type in my PIN, and I’m in.

If the time lapse is anything more than a few weeks, the next time I try to log in, Tangerine has forgotten my account number. This means I have to toddle off, haul out my binder, drag it back to my computer, and type in the information I so very carefully keep track of.

Again.

And check off the “remember me” button.

Again.

For all the good that does.

SNARKY TANGERINE STAFF

I’ve had a few angry exchanges with Tangerine staff over the website’s amnesia problem.

In every case, Tangerine staff deny anything is wrong with their log in feature and accuse me of forgetting my PIN.

I have never forgotten my PIN! Even when I changed the password after separating from the deadbeat. I’ve got it memorized.

The last time I got into it with Tangerine was in February 2017 with Arti S, Manager Investment Funds. He tersely told me to reset my PIN. I took some time to fully explain the situation, even providing screen shots of attempting to log in.

Arti didn’t even have the decency to respond.

What a jerk!

Arrogant prick!

Banks don’t seem to get it that people take their business where they get the best deal and the least amount of hassle.

I removed most of my money from Tangerine in 2016 because I was so ticked off about the amnesia problem.

After dealing with snarky Arti, I don’t waste my time complaining to Tangerine Bank anymore about the bullshit I go through trying to log in. Instead I Tweet about it, and now I’m writing a review of Tangerine Bank.

FEES

In 2020 I received notice from Tangerine Bank about new service fees that would be going into effect.

The fee that concerned me is an annual $20 dormant account fee.

Once 2 years have passed since your last login (online or over the phone), your Accounts are considered dormant, and at that point, a $20 fee is charged annually per Account. The fee is charged on the anniversary of your last login date.

– Tangerine Bank –

I couldn’t believe it when I read that. Especially since Tangerine makes it extremely difficult for people to log in to their website!

I phoned in to close a joint account with $5 in it that I kept open for a long time just in case a check showed up payable to both of us. It didn’t matter to me if Tangerine decided to split the money between us. Good luck finding the deadbeat to give him a couple of bucks! At that time, the rep suggested I transfer in a small amount of money from time to time so my account doesn’t go dormant.

I’ve set up my calendar reminder so that twice a year I log in to Tangerine – if I’m able to! – and transfer in a small amount of cash from my account at Coast Capital.

$5. Just so the damn account doesn’t go dormant.

Tangerine has an auto transfer that can be set up, so last year I tried to auto set up $1 to transfer in each month.

Tangerine hits me up with an error message that I need a minimum amount of $10 a month. So to hell with that. $5 one time transfer it is then.

BIRTH YEAR?

A few days ago I got my calendar reminder to put some cashola in to my Tangerine account.

I went to the Tangerine website, and you guessed it. The usual amnesia. My account number is nowhere to be found. Why does Tangerine even bother putting a box to check off “remember me” if they never remember? Off I go to grab my binder, and settle in to my computer to log in.

I enter my account number and probably waste my time yet again checking off the “remember me” button. Then I enter my PIN.

The same PIN I’ve had since 2013 that jerk-off Arti tells me to reset because I’m a dumb ass who forgot it. His opinion and lies, not mine.

Then Tangerine wants me to answer a security question. Oddly enough, it’s NOT one of the security questions that I have recorded in my binder.

However, the question is easy enough: Enter my birth year.

I’ve got it! I know what year I was born!

Tangerine tells me:

WRONG ANSWER DUMB ASS!!!!

There is no doubt in my mind that I know what year I was born. I enter it again.

Once again, Tangerine Bank tells me I’m a fool and I’ve entered incorrectly.

It took half an hour for me to finally get past security and access my account.

Unacceptable!

During which time Tangerine asked me to set up security questions and answers. I spotted the same questions that were there the last time I did this, so I chose the same questions and answered them as I have them written down in my binder.

More proof that Tangerine Bank’s website suffers from amnesia.

THE LOL MOMENT

After 10 minutes of trying to log in to Tangerine, I get a pop up box with a request to fill out a survey on what I think of their website!

LOL!

I gave them really shitty responses. But it’s the truth.

It should not take 30 minutes to log on to a website.

I should not have to fight with some piece of shit online bank that tells me I’m wrong multiple times when I answer what year I was born.

REVIEW OF TANGERINE BANK

ING Direct had its day when it offered higher interest rates than other banks and credit unions.

Tangerine Bank has gone downhill. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse to log on to their website – it did! And that was 6 months after I last logged in. And the last time I checked off the “remember me” box. I’ve probably checked off that useless piece of shit “remember me” box a good 100 times over the years!

Tangerine Bank offers similar interest rates to other financial institutions, so there’s no benefit to a high interest savings account here. In fact, just about every financial product Tangerine offers can be found at every bank and credit union out there.

Tangerine Bank now hits up their customers with service fees like other banks do.

There are no good deals at Tangerine Bank the way it used to be. It’s just another bank. Same old, same old.

Of course, the worst thing about having an account with Tangerine Bank is trying to log in to manage your money. It’s an exercise in futility.

Is it easier to break into Fort Knox than to break into your Tangerine Bank account? I’m beginning to think so!

I just do not understand why Tangerine Bank makes it so difficult for customers to access their banking information. There are other banks with better websites where it’s easier to log in.

My review of Tangerine Bank is the worst thing about banking here is trying to log in to access your accounts.

The next worst thing is the low interest rate on saving accounts.

What I can’t figure out, is what’s the best thing about having an account with Tangerine Bank?

See below for the perfect reaction when trying to log in to Tangerine Bank.

Update

I originally published this article on July 31, 2021, though logging on to Tangerine Bank had been an issue for many years at that point.

Today is June 2, 2026 and you may be wondering if anything has improved with Tangerine Bank when it comes to trying to log in to my account.

I’ve been trying for two days to log in. I took a photo that says it all.

I’ve been travelling and I do use the Tangerine Mastercard when I travel, but rarely use it for other things. All I’m trying to do is log on to see how much is owing so I can pay the bill.

The website log on is having none of it. Stay out!!! Basically telling me not to pay my bill. Apparanently I’m a dumb ass that doesn’t know my password, even though I am meticulous with record keeping.

I logged into the Tangerine app on my phone. And success. The password that the website hates is OK with the Tangerine app. I paid up my Mastercard – about $97 in charges in Mexico during the first week of May. I haven’t used the card since so I won’t have to worry about logging in to pay the bill for the next while.

Published by Cheryl @ The Lifestyle Digs on July 13, 2021 and last updated on June 2, 2026.

MORE READING:

Tangerine Bank should Learn from Aeromexico about Customer Recovery

Frustrating Pitfalls when using your Tangerine Bank Account while Travelling Abroad

Is taking an RSP Loan from Tangerine Bank a Good Idea?