Tangerine vs. Simplii Review 2024 (2024)

Moneywise.com / Moneywise.com

ByTyler Wade

Fact Checked:Amy Tokic

🗓️

Updated:September 16, 2024

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Overview of Tangerine and Simplii bank accounts

The goal here is to help you understand the ins and outs, pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks of these two online neo banks. We ultimately want to help you decide which one to go with (or not, Money.ca doesn’t play favourites).

I've broken everything down into comparison categories, so feel free to use the left rail table of contents to jump around to the content most valuable to you.

First, a quick introduction on how Tangerine and Simplii are similar but different from your traditional “big 5” bank.

Tangerine and Simplii pros and cons

Tangerine vs. Simplii: High-interest savings accounts

Tangerine and Simplii consistently give you better-than-a-big-bank's interest rates while charging no fees and requiring no minimum balance.

As of this writing, Tangerine offers you 0.70% interest in its high-interest savings account.

Simplii high-interest savings account gives you 0.35% interest in its high-interest savings account.

Tangerine offers a 6.00% savings rate for five months. Limits apply.

Currently, the HISA offer for Simplii is 6.25% for five months and the offer ends on October 31, 2024. Limits Apply.

You can set up automatic deposits with either bank, which are great for things like emergency and slush funds to save for specific short-term goals like vacations or car maintenance.

At the end of 2023, Tangerine launched a business savings account to complement a business chequing account at another financial institution.

There are no fees or minimum balances, and you can keep your cash stashed while earning at least 2.35% for balances under $99,999.99.

Comparing Tangerine vs. Simplii Financial: Chequing account options

Both banks offer unlimited debit purchases, bill payments and withdrawals with no fees. You can also set up direct payroll deposits and pre-authorized bill payments to automate your finances.

With either account, you can access overdraft protection if you need it. Simplii charges you $4.97 and a fixed interest rate of 19% when you go into overdraft. Tangerine charges you $5, or $0.03 more, with the same fixed interest rate.

You get free Interac e-Transfers with both Tangerine and Simplii.

Tangerine chequing account promotion: As of February 5, if you open a Tangerine no-fee chequing account and a savings or investment account, you can earn up to $500 and get a 6.00% savings rate for five months.

Simplii chequing account promotion: If you open a Simplii Financial no-fee chequing account, you can earn $500†. Limits apply. Offer ends October 31st, 2024.

Tangerine Money-Back vs. Simplii Cash Back Visa

Forgoing the special promos and offers, we'll look at the general features of Tangerine and Simplii's credit card offerings.

The Simplii Cash Back Visa rewards a high 4.00% cash back from restaurants, bars and coffee shops^†, then 1.50% cash back on gas, groceries, drug store purchases and pre-authorized payments^†, until closing out with 0.50% cash back on all other purchases^†.

Tangerine's Money-Back Mastercard gives you 2% back on two categories of your choice: groceries, restaurants, gas, recurring bills, drug stores and more. Since we're comparing the complete offerings from both banks, you need to know that when you open a Tangerine Savings account, youunlock a third category for 2% cash back. All other purchases earn 0.50% cash back.

Neither card charges an annual fee, but the Simplii Financial™ Cash Back Visa* Card has a minimum income requirement of $15000.00, whereas Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card requires $12000.00.

This debate may rage on, but it comes down to if you go out to restaurants, bars and coffee shops. As an aging millennial, I'd opt for the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card because you won't find me at restaurants and bars much anymore, but your personal life may opt for the Simplii cash back.

If you're a student and plan to use this card with roommates to buy all your groceries and pay your shared bills, know that you can get an additional five cards with Tangerine and three additional cardholders with Simplii to earn cash back faster. With Simplii, you can set spending limits—a pretty cool feature. With Tangerine, you can quickly use "Pause My Card" if an "Orange Alert" pops up for more customization.

Finally, both cards give you 90-day purchase assurance and an extended warranty† to protect any purchases you make with the card.

Simplii Financial vs. Tangerine Investment options

Tangerine and Simplii offer RSPs, TFSAs, GICs and Mutual Fund accounts.

Tangerine vs. Simplii: Savings account rates

So, the RSP and TFSA savings rates are the same as its high interest savings accounts. Both a TFSA and RRSP should be used for long term savings (retirement or buying a home). It doesn’t make sense to earn so little over a long period of time.

Instead, you can lock in your money for nine months to 10 years when you buy a GIC and hold it in an RRSP or TFSA.

Tangerine vs. Simplii: GIC rates

Over a one year time span, it’s not a terrible return and certainly better than the lowly savings rate. To maximize the money your money can earn with compound interest, let’s talk about your investment options.

Tangerine vs. Simplii investment funds

As far as mutual funds are concerned, they're typically known for high fees—management fees and management expense ratios (MER) where an additional 1% can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost from your investments.

So, you're better off with a robo-advisor or a passive investment solution where you can save the fees.

Simplii doesn't state their mutual fund fees. Instead, they tell you that as a Simplii financial customer, you'll get a discount of 10 basis points (aka not enough). For Tangerine, browsing on its website, using its search function, and trying advanced Google searches, I couldn’t find its mutual fund fees.

When companies are private with this information, I assume the fees are high.

However, thanks to their "Investment Fund" accounts, Tangerine does come out on top here.

These passively managed funds invest in stocks and bonds, with quarterly rebalancing and global diversification. You can choose from its core portfolios, global ETF portfolios and socially responsible global portfolios.

Tangerine core portfolios

NOTE: Each fund charges 1.06% MER or $10.60 for every $1,000 you invest (or $1,060 for every $100,000 you invest)

Depending on your risk tolerance, you can also try Tangerine's ETF funds with low to high-risk options that invest in a range of ETFs. These ETF funds charge an MER fee of 0.76% or $7.60 for every $1,000 you invest so that you can save a little bit of money.

Tangerine Global ETF Portfolios

Finally, Tangerine also offers “socially responsible global portfolios” that charge a 0.82% MER.

What is a socially responsible portfolio?

According to Tangerine, it’s not investing with companies that:

• Controversial business activities: Companies that seem to be earning revenue from questionable activities, such as fossil fuels, tobacco and more.
• Carbon intensity: Companies ranking in the top 25% of their sector for producing the most carbon (CO2/Revenue).
• Established norms: Companies with alleged or verified non-compliance with established international norms (e.g. anti-corruption, human labour laws, and environmental rights).
• Gender representation: Companies with no female representation in key decision-making positions.
• Controversial weapons: Companies with verified ongoing involvement in controversial weapons.

These exclusions mean that your investment in certain industries, such as energy for example, won't be as extensive as with our Global ETF Portfolios. You’ll pay a little bit more for a Portfolio that is managed to avoid companies involved in these categories. Because of these differences, the Socially Responsible Global Portfolios may perform differently than the Global ETF Portfolios.

In addition to MER, the annual management fee is 0.80% of each Tangerine Core Portfolio, 0.50% of each Tangerine Global ETF Portfolio, and 0.55% of each Tangerine Socially Responsible Global Portfolio. There is also a “fixed administration fee” of 0.15% of each portfolio’s value for all Tangerine Portfolios.

Those percentages start to cost a lot.

By contrast, Wealthsimple and Questwealth charge 0.50% MER for a similar product. Alternatively, you can check out Moka.ai, which charges a flat $7 monthly fee to invest in the S&P 500, which historically returns 10% annually.

Comparing Tangerine Core portfolios to passive investment solutions and a robo-advisor

Read more: Wealthsimple vs. Questrade

Read more: EQ Bank vs. Tangerine

Read more: Questwealth review

Read more: Moka app review

Or, to get the most value out of investing, you can start investing in Canada's Best ETFs using some of the best trading platforms in Canada.

Simplii vs. Tangerine Mortgages

You can get mortgages from Simplii or Tangerine, but you don’t have to (we’re just comparing the two banks here).

Frequently, Canadians are loyal to a fault to their financial institution of choice (or parent’s choice). With other providers, you can shop, compare and have different accounts—chequing, saving, credit cards, insurance, investments, and mortgages.

Generally, despite all the “bundle” discounts a single provider may offer, you can find better deals (or products that suit you better financially) elsewhere.

That said, let’s compare Tangerine and Simplii mortgages.

Simplii vs. Tangerine: Current promotions

The bottom line

Although Tangerine and Simpli have similar offerings, benefits and drawbacks, key differences do exist where one might be more appealing than another.

Tangerine grabs attention with its slightly higher savings account interest rates, two credit card choices, and an extensive selection of investment products. This makes it a great pick if you're looking for a comprehensive banking solution that offers competitive returns.

Meanwhile, Simplii brings substantial value with competitive rates, particularly appealing for no-fee daily banking and attractive promotional offers.

Both banks provide solid online and mobile banking experiences, so your choice might come down to personal preferences, like specific financial products you're interested in, the kind of customer service you expect, and the promotional offers that catch your eye.

Ultimately, picking between Tangerine and Simplii should hinge on your banking habits, financial goals, and the features and benefits that matter most to you. Think of it as choosing the best tool for your personal finance toolkit.

"Simplii Financial^TM" is a trademark and division of CIBC. Banking services are not available in Quebec.

Tyler WadeContent strategist & writer

Tyler WadeContent strategist & writer

Tyler Wade has worked in personal finance for over 5 years writing for brands like Ratehub, Forbes, KOHO, and now Money.ca.