EQ Bank Reviews 

We opened a eq bank account under my mom's name for her to get high interest. But they have been holding my mom's money hostage for over 3 weeks they keep saying they need security documents but I have been providing them all and then they're come back and they're like oh actually it has to originate online even though it was a perfectly scanned PDF they're like it has to originate online also we f***** up here's another link provided again it's like Non-Stop. I've called four times already and spent hours on this

Avoid this bank at all costs.

They froze my account citing security issues and sent me an email asking me to call in . I did and spoke to a rep who asked me about a transaction which I verified along with all other transactions for that day . She still refused to release the account , made no mention of an email that would be sent to me to complete the verification process and hung up on me .

I called back in and spoke to a second representative who mentioned the email so I checked. Sure enough , I had been sent an email asking me to submit one of a list of documents and do a selfie verification using their app ( or link or secure portal that was in the email) which I did .

Called back in and was told it will take them 1-3 business days to "review" the document. I told them very clearly I cannot wait as I was 100 km away from my home and needed the money to get back home . Asked to speak to the manager, who then tells me their security team found my proof of address ( the pink slip of my auto insurance ) was blurry and I need to send a different document to verify my address. So I sent them a copy of my cell phone bill .

Then I got told that would not be enough as I need to send them proof that I have business dealing with the company who triggered the "freeze". (Apparently it was my auto insurance provider who supposedly first deposited into my account, reversed that transaction and then debited my account which is what they should have been doing to begin with ) . So I then went then a copy of my payment schedule which I had received from them when I got my auto policy . Again, that too was unacceptable as it was just 1 page of the 14 Pages contained in the policy they had sent me . Now they wanted all 14 Pages of what my auto insurance company had mailed me.

So I sent that in- missed noticing that when the documents were scanned , only one side so was scanned so that too was rejected as they needed "all pages". So I asked their "security" person which pages were missing so I could scan and send the missing pages. Again, that is not acceptable as they need all pages in one document submission.

So back we go to rescan everything and resubmit within 15 minutes. Call back in , and this time a different security team who rep tells me it takes 1-3 business days . I told her the problem has been escalated and I was told it would be resolved. So she "reviews" the account and then gets back to me and tells me the "team" that reviews the document has left for the day . By this time I have spent almost 6 hours on the phone with them trying to unfreeze my account .

All this after

1. I verified my identity with proof of address, a copy of my driver's license and the selfie verification
2. I verified all the transactions on my account for that day
3. They also asked for proof of source of funds in my account to which I had to tell them to lol at my account because all the funds in the account at that time were from 2 payroll deposits that went into the account so the proof was already there .
4 They had absolutely no reason legal reason to ask for a complete copy of my auto insurance policy as they did not have a lien on my vehicle and I had completed all the verification process to validate that I was the actual owner of the account, funds in the account and verified the transactions in the account .

Now I have been asked to call back in tomorrow . Can't wait to see what new excuse they come up with to refuse access to my funds. My son's works in the same security Division in a different bank and even he said their demands were excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary even more so because the amounts in question related to one single transaction for about 1000.
And too it all - one of their CC reps also told me she needed to get me off the call as they have a "policy" that they can only keep a customer on hold for so long if they needed to be transferred to a manager or different department .

They have absolutely no clue how to treat their customers and find a solution and care little of what impact their actions can have on people.

I see several reviews that show the same pattern of behaviour when dealing with their security teams. Maybe time a deeper investigation is done into their "policies" especially the ones that also seems to violate the law.

intrest not that great better offers elsewhere if you use this bank they dont admit it but they hold funds they have zero customer service and there slowly getting put in the same bracket as koho where most places dont accept because prepaid card and there reputation for bieng quick to take but slow to pay witch is where they make money if your ok not have your funds always available do not use this bank

They keep refusing my security verifications saying the photos are blurred. I can’t believe it. I have had a manager say everything was okay except for the last page of the utility bill. I sent it again for the fourth time and still get the same message. They won’t let us access our money.

1 star is the lowest I can put. Absolute trash experience. nothing but issues. Can register for a business account, won't tell me why, customer service can't tell me why, try again, never ending load screen on ID verification. If I didn't know this was an actual bank I would assume its a scam site.

Absolutely pathetic and you should be ashamed to even exist as a company

The customer service is incompetent or those people are unable to communicate correctly between them to solve simple problems. I gave up; I don't bank with EQ bank. Too bad.

I applied for a EQ bank Mastercard and Cheq. account a few months ago. I loaded pre-paid EQ Mastercard and paid some bills. One of the bills did NOT go through and stayed pending for 3-4 days. I called the company where the bill was due and they gave me an official receipt that the transaction didn’t go through. I called EQ bank and THEY said it is on the merchant to return the money. I’ve worked in Banking for 15 years and that is not true. EQ bank is responsible to make sure my money is to be credited back to my account.

However, the customer service representative didn’t know what she was doing. Said I see your transaction pending there’s nothing we can do. You will have to wait up to 30 days. I advised them I need that money back to pay my bill or I will incur late fees. The customer service rep did not care. I said I want to speak to a manager the rep put me on hold then said the manager said the same thing. I said that’s not a solution to wait 30 days when the merchant got a transaction notice saying funds were declined from EQ bank. This is the worst experience I have had with customer service and a financial institution. EQ bank does not care about the errors the company makes that affect clients financially. The WORST COMPANY. DO NOT USE THEM FOR ANYTHING. Having working in banking it should never take 30 days for funds that were declined by EQ bank to go back in your account. THAT IS NOT INDUSTRY STANDARD. EQ BANK IS A HORRIBLE COMPANY.

negative -100 that what there score should be.

After my husband passed away, our joint account—my main account for pension deposits and essential expenses—was suddenly locked without any warning or communication. I only discovered this when a payment failed, which resulted in a $45 penalty fee.
To regain access, I was required to submit multiple notarized documents, the whole process took a few weeks.
While I understand procedures are necessary, the lack of communication and long delays are unacceptable. I expected better support and responsiveness, especially under these circumstances.

I noticed there's a lot of bad reviews about this bank and consistently apparently by Forbes Magazine it says their Canada's newest Number One Bank somehow something's getting mixed up and no one seeing the true side of them they've recently changed their refunds for ATM fees to a limit of five per month I consistently have to call to get mine manually done because the system just conveniently misses them sometimes for an all online digital bank that seems pretty counterproductive considering your digital it should happen right away I got an email from their customer relations department indicating they understand the situation the acknowledge the problems before to call in verify the account which makes sense for security and they'd be happy to reimburse me right away I called in and spoke to a Jacqueline a manager for a call center who was very arrogant stuck to the policies even though I had a case number and everything indicating that I was told to call in and you would take care of it EQ Bank stuck to their 10 business day policy which I do get they have those policies but it's their policy and they do have the capability of doing reimbursements before that date especially when I was told to call in just to verify the account and get it done immediately over the phone Not only was I cold transferred to a supervisor after representative said that they would speak to them but that manager I indicated came on she was very arrogant kept interrupting me when I was trying to explain the situation in the email the representative had basically said to me well I don't see an email that was sent to you from us I made it seem like I was just fabricating it or lying when I told him I have a case ID and I can provide him a copy of the email they didn't even acknowledge that if you're going to reimburse fees and claim that you treat every customer is equal then you should actually do that because making customers wait 10 business days for a refund that you advertise as almost immediate is ridiculous also I noticed they don't respond to any of the reviews good or bad which tells me they truly don't care I don't understand how they are rated number one Bank in Canada in Forbes Magazine 3 years or 4 years in a row when they have nothing but bad reviews everywhere there are 1.8 on here how the hell could they be the number one Bank in Canada by Forbes Magazine somebody's not providing true information other than that the bank is actually been pretty decent no complaints other than the way they handle reimbursement for ATM fees especially when you call in and are told just to call to verify everything and notifying that you got an email to do so if one part of the team is telling you yeah it's okay just give us a call and the other team part of the team says no that's not customer service friendly and that's what they gear themselves to highly recommend you speak to your representatives about their attitudes and the way they speak to customers on the phone I could care less for arrogance and the cold way to stick to your policies instead of understanding the situation and abiding by what was said by another department you get what you pay for here they do reserve the rights to change their policies at any time so just remember it's a bank and you're not paying for the account I just recommend you review the policies about reimbursements and make those types of things happen sooner than later especially when you limit five per month now thank you I doubt they're going to read this and respond cuz they don't seem to respond to anybody else's reviews

If i could rate this bank in a negative 5 stars I would, upon opening a savings account and receiving a couple
E-transfers from a employer , my account was frozen, confused and concerned I contacted them to see what the issue was, initially I was told i was a risk , and had to provide Identification documents, which i did , and I patiently waited the additional 10 business days to get my funds, contacting them multiple times throughout this time to provide external bank details to send my legitimate funds to , and upon the 10 day I phoned them again, only to be told I was not getting my funds at all , even though they assured they would. TERRIBLE BANK AND EVEN MORE TERRIBLE PEOPLE THAT WORK THERE, DO NOT USE

**UPDATE**
TODAY IS AUG 5 2026 I SUBMITTED THIS COMPLAINT BACK IN APRIL , ALL COMMUNICATIONS WITH EQBANK HAVE RESOLVED NOTHING AND NO FUNDS HAVE BEEN RETURNED, WHATS EVEN MORE FRUSTRATING THEY WONT PROVIDE A TRACE FUNDS EITHER, IVE BEEN WORKING WITH THE OMBUDSMAN AS WELL, AND EQBANK ISNT EVEN RESPONSING TO THEM EITHER. BANKS HAVE TOO MUCH POWER OVER SOMEONES ABILITY TO SURVIVE , A SIMPLE FUNDS TRANSFER AND PROPER CUSTOMER TREATMENT AND COMMUNICATION WOULD HAVE PREVENTED ME FROM LOOSING MY HOME.

Horrid experience! A technology-based banking company that cannot manage its own technology. Their systems seem highly subject to error and their people are incapable of resolving issues. I waited several weeks for a resolution that never came.

Failed onboarding and inconsistent support timelines...

I opened an account with EQ Bank around April 23 through a referral and completed all required steps, including setting my password. Since then, I have been unable to log in due to a persistent error.

I’ve contacted customer support three times and received conflicting timelines each time:

1–3 business days, then 5–7 business days
then “immediate” escalation followed by another 2–3 business days

It has now exceeded 10 business days with no resolution, no proactive communication, and no clear explanation.

For a financial institution, this level of inconsistency and delay during onboarding is unacceptable. Repeatedly extending timelines without fixing the issue reflects poor internal coordination and undermines trust.

I joined based on a referral from a satisfied customer, but this experience has significantly impacted my confidence in EQ Bank. I am still waiting for a resolution and will escalate this further if it is not addressed promptly

STAY AWAY FROM THEM. Takes five days to clear a check. It’s 2026. There’s no excuse for that. One day? Sure. Five days? No. No Fee Banking is Bad Service banking. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

1 star is me being kind. Horrible experience constantly. 90% of the time I'm unable to send transfers between accounts/etransfers/loading card and yet it shows no issue on their end. Also NEVER change your address! They freeze your account so you have NO access to your money. They also have you submit a bunch of documents and you still have to wait 1-3 days to even find out if they're accepted. If they're not accepted they continue to keep your account frozen!
Once I have access to my money again I will 100% be leaving this horrible bank. Definitely DO NOT RECOMMEND

Update: It's now been a week and I still have NO access to MY MONEY!! They're refusing my license as an I.D and refuse to unlock my account without I.D. I have no other forms of I.D so according to management that means my account will continue to stay locked until I can provide I.D.

WORST BANK EVER. I tried to open a bank account with them and they haven’t even solved the issue on why it’s not possible to open it with them. It’s been months and not one single technical person can figure it out. Worst customer service and employees ever. Everyone is incompetent

Consistent issues with EQ bank, from payment delays to etransfer delays to cards not working online when there is a balance

Customer service not great. Trying to set up an account and keep getting the runaround. Told them I need to talk to the security team on the phone and then got berated for not calling sooner when they haven't reached out to me once even though the process has already been started.

I have had issues with EQ bank from the the time I opened the account in January to date. Issues are mainly due to incompetence of customer service, not having answers or solutions to any questions. Better to pay a monthly fee and get get basic service than not to pay but encounter never ending issues. It's true that cheap is expensive. Stay away if you are looking for convenience.

There is a reason why most reviews of this bank are bad. Poor customer service. They locked my account for no reason. When I called to find out why, they told me we can't tell you. Avoid this bank at all costs

Interest rates go down from time to time with just a short notice. Also, don't get fooled by their promise of 2,5% interest on their US savings account. Whenever you need your money transferred to Canadian money, their exchange rate is too high, and you will lose all the interest paid by them along the road. Mind you, I will be short $100.00 after six months receiving interest from them, if I decide to transfer to Canadian money.