Savers Roundup November 2025: Tiered interest rates; Qtrade joins the commission-free club

Near the end of October, the Bank of Canada made the 9th cut to its key interest rate in the past 1.5 years, dropping it by another 25 basis points. In that time, the top rate on our savings account comparison chart has gone from 4.20% to 2.80%.

Neo Financial recently implemented some tiered interest rates, offering a chart-topping 2.90% if your Neo Savings balance is at least $20,000.

If you’re into the short-term promo game, you can currently get up to 4.75% with a few new deposit promos.

GIC rates topped out at 6.00% (for 1-year GIC) in 2024, whereas the best available GIC rate is now 3.95% for a 5-year GIC.

Qtrade goes commission-free

In February, Questrade became the 4th Canadian online brokerage to offer fee-free self-directed trading (joining National Bank Direct Brokerage, TD Easy Trade, and Wealthsimple), and now Canadians have a 5th option. Qtrade has gone commission-free, and is also offering a 5% bonus on the first $15,000 of new funds (and 1% thereafter) until January 5, 2026. We have listed this alongside a couple of other transfer bonuses at Canadian online brokerages.

Reactions to National Bank’s offering for Motive Financial customers

Last month, we detailed the upcoming move for Motive Financial customers to National Bank. In that same newsletter, we simply asked who is currently a Motive Financial customer. 60% of respondents said yes, and all 34 of the write-in comments from current customers expressed displeasure with the move, with most of them noting that they were either planning to leave, or had already emptied their accounts.

Forum users are also overwhelmingly not pleased with the new offerings. National Bank’s underwhelming offer is not surprising if we take the perspective that Motive Financial was just a necessary inclusion in National Bank’s acquisition of Canadian Western Bank. In that case, National Bank is likely doing the mandatory minimum, and sees little value in keeping Motive Financial’s clients.

Our cash back portal includes the Tangerine Money-Back World Mastercard

The Tangerine Money-Back World Mastercard is listed amongst many offers on our cash back portal. Tangerine itself has increased its welcome bonus to be an extra $120 back when you spend $1,500 in your first 3 months. And you can also get an additional $180 via Interac e-Transfer or $200 Amazon.ca gift card if you sign up through High Interest Savings Cash Back.