National Bank vs Desjardins (2026): which one should you bank with?

If you’re weighing National Bank vs Desjardins for your everyday banking, the choice usually comes down to one number: how much you have to leave sitting in the account to stop paying a monthly fee. Desjardins cancels the fee on every plan if you keep a minimum balance, and on the cheapest plan that balance is $1,500. National Bank’s cheapest plan can’t be cancelled by a balance at all, and the two that can be cancelled need $4,500 or $6,000 in the account every day of the month. That’s the whole comparison for most people, and it goes Desjardins’ way. National Bank wins if you’re 18 to 24, or if there’s a chance you’ll be living outside Quebec in a few years.

What’s the difference between National Bank and Desjardins?

One is a bank, the other is a cooperative. National Bank (BNC to most Quebecers) is a publicly traded Big Six bank, headquartered in Montreal and regulated federally. Desjardins is a group of caisses owned by the people who bank there, regulated by Quebec. Month to month, what you’ll actually feel is the fee waiver, and Desjardins sets a far lower bar for it.

National Bank is the sixth largest bank in Canada and the largest one in Quebec, with about 3.1 million clients and branches in most provinces. It got noticeably bigger in Western Canada when Canadian Western Bank amalgamated into it on March 1, 2025.

Desjardins is the largest cooperative financial group in the country: more than 10 million members and clients, 189 caisses and branches plus 547 points of service across Quebec and Ontario, and $510.2 billion in assets as of December 31, 2025. Because it’s a cooperative, every member gets one vote at the annual meeting and a share of the surplus each year, regardless of how much they hold.

National Bank: the packages, and what it takes to pay nothing

National Bank sells three chequing packages. The Minimalist is $3.95 a month for 18 electronic transactions, The Connected is $15.95 for unlimited electronic ones, and The Total is $28.95 for unlimited electronic and branch transactions. Only the last two can be cancelled by keeping a balance, and it takes $4,500 or $6,000 held every single day of the month. Those figures come from National Bank’s fee guide (opens in a new tab), effective February 15, 2026.

The Minimalist and The Connected include no branch transactions at all. A withdrawal or transfer at the counter costs $2.50 on either one, and paying a bill at the counter costs $2.00. If you still bank in person, The Total is the only package that covers it, and it’s the one with the $6,000 waiver.

Who banks free at National Bank

National Bank’s free tiers are genuinely generous. Anyone 18 to 24, students included, gets The Connected with the fee fully discounted, so a young adult gets unlimited electronic transactions and nothing to maintain. People under 18 get the same treatment. The Minimalist is free for seniors 65 and over receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement, for RDSP beneficiaries, and for Indigenous Peoples. Members 60 and over take $5 a month off The Connected or The Total.

Two savings accounts, and one of them pays almost nothing

National Bank’s High Interest Savings Account pays 0.55% at every balance, per its posted rates (opens in a new tab) effective September 1, 2026. Check which savings account you actually opened, though. The Daily Interest Savings Account pays 0.010%, which on $5,000 comes to 50 cents a year.

On custody, National Bank is a CDIC (opens in a new tab) member, so eligible deposits are insured to $100,000 per category, per depositor. One wrinkle if you were a Canadian Western Bank customer: money you held there before the amalgamation on March 1, 2025 keeps its own separate $100,000 of coverage until March 1, 2027, or until a term deposit matures.

Desjardins: the packages, the waiver, and the member dividend

Desjardins sells four everyday plans: Basic at $3.95 a month for 12 transactions, Intermediate at $10.95 for 30, Unlimited at $15.95 and Unlimited Plus at $23.95. Every one of them waives the fee outright if you keep a minimum balance all month, at $1,500, $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 respectively, per the everyday account page (opens in a new tab). The bottom plan is where the two separate. There’s no National Bank equivalent to $1,500 cancelling a $3.95 fee.

The waiver is a full-month test, not a statement-date test. Dip under the minimum for a day and the fee comes back that month, so treat the number as a floor you don’t touch rather than a target you hit.

Who banks free at Desjardins

The youth offer gives the free Unlimited plan to anyone 18 to 24, and to full-time students aged 25 to 30, who confirm their student status each year. It ends on the last business day of the month you turn 31. Newcomers to Canada get the free Unlimited plan for their first two years. Members 60 and over take $4 a month off their plan, and anyone born before April 1, 1943 pays nothing for regular transactions.

The savings rate

The regular savings account and the RRSP savings account both post 0.55%, the TFSA savings account 0.35%, and the FHSA savings account 2.00%, per Desjardins’ savings account rates (opens in a new tab). Chequing pays nothing.

Desjardins is covered by the AMF, not CDIC

Quebec caisses are authorized deposit institutions under Quebec law, so the Autorité des marchés financiers insures deposits up to $100,000 per person, per category, across nine categories. Same limit as CDIC, different insurer. Members in Ontario fall under FSRA, which applies the same rules.

The member dividend

Part of the surplus goes back to members each year, which is one thing a bank can’t do. Desjardins set aside $505 million in individual dividends for its 2025 financial year, up from $437 million for 2024, paid out in early June. It comes in two parts: a product dividend of up to $75 if you hold something from each of four product lines, and a volume dividend calculated per $1,000 on your balances, card purchases, fees and premiums.

Which is better for everyday banking?

Desjardins, for most people, and the waiver on the cheapest plan is what decides it. Keeping $1,500 in a Basic account cancels a $3.95 monthly fee, which is $47.40 a year you don’t pay. To get to zero at National Bank as a regular adult you need The Connected and $4,500 in the account every day. Below that, you’re paying $3.95 a month on The Minimalist with no way out of it.

Two things go the other way, though. If you’re 18 to 24, National Bank hands you unlimited electronic transactions for nothing, which matches Desjardins’ youth offer and beats it on paperwork, since there’s no annual student confirmation attached. And the bigger waiver is worth more. $4,500 held at National Bank cancels $191.40 of fees a year, which works out to 4.25% on the money you’re leaving there, better than any savings rate either institution pays. If you have $4,500 to spare in the account, National Bank’s waiver is the better deal. Most people don’t, which is why Desjardins takes this one.

Which is better for your savings rate?

Neither one. Both post 0.55% on a regular savings account, so there’s no rate argument to have between them. If the rate is what you came for, look outside both. Several online banks and credit unions were paying multiples of that through 2026, and we go through them in our roundup of the best high-interest savings accounts in Canada.

Two details worth checking before you park anything. At National Bank, make sure you’re in the High Interest Savings Account and not the Daily Interest Savings Account. At Desjardins, the TFSA savings account pays less than the regular one, at 0.35%, while the FHSA savings account pays 2.00%.

Which is better if you might leave Quebec?

National Bank, and this is the clearest win either side has. Desjardins caisses serve Quebec and Ontario only. Move to Calgary or Halifax and you’re opening an account somewhere else. National Bank holds a federal charter and has branches in most provinces, with more of them in the west since it absorbed Canadian Western Bank.

This matters less than it did ten years ago, since most banking happens on a phone now. It still shows up in the things that need a person: a mortgage renewal, a business account, an advisor you can sit across from. Those work better where the institution actually operates.

Can you use both?

Plenty of Quebecers do, usually a caisse from childhood alongside a National Bank account that arrived with a job or a mortgage. It works fine.

The catch is that neither one is free by default, so two plans means two monthly fees unless you clear both balance thresholds at once. That’s $1,500 at Desjardins and $4,500 at National Bank sitting still at the same time, which is a lot of money doing nothing. If you want two accounts, the cheaper setup is one full-service account where your pay lands, plus a no-fee online account for everything else. We’ve listed those in our roundup of the best no-fee bank accounts in Canada.

Pick either one, and add a weekly draw

We make Lodavo, and it works with both, along with virtually any other Canadian bank or credit union. Connect the savings or chequing account you already use and every $25 you save earns you a free ticket in a weekly cash draw. Someone wins at least $100 every week, and the jackpot runs to $10,000.

Nothing moves, so the fee waiver you just worked out still holds and the account stays exactly as you set it up. It’s free, and there’s no minimum to start.

Neither National Bank nor Desjardins paid to appear in this comparison.

Pick by the balance you can leave sitting

If you can keep $1,500 in the account, Desjardins is the one that lets you bank for nothing. If it’s $4,500 and you’re comfortable leaving it there, National Bank’s waiver is worth more, and if you’re 18 to 24 you get unlimited electronic transactions free either way. If there’s a move out of the province on the horizon, take National Bank. On the savings rate they’re the same, and neither is where to keep money you want earning something. Both publish their fees and rates openly, so check them before you sign anything, because they change.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.