EQ Bank Referral Code: $20 Bonus and How to Get It

The requirements listed above are taken from EQ Bank Personal Account’s official offer terms, checked on Oct 11, 2026. Offers can change, so confirm the terms there before you apply.

An EQ Bank referral code is the only route into EQ Bank’s Referral Program, which pays a new client $20 for opening and funding a Personal Account. This page sets out what EQ Bank’s own terms require, who is shut out, when the money arrives and what the account costs once the bonus has been paid. It is general education, not financial advice.

EQ Bank referral bonus at a glance

Source: EQ Bank Referral Program Terms and Conditions, read October 8, 2026. Every row is repeated in a sentence below.

How does the EQ Bank referral code work?

An existing EQ Bank customer shares a Referral Link, the newcomer opens a Personal Account through it and deposits at least $100, and EQ Bank then pays both people.

The terms do not open the program to every account holder automatically. They make the program available to current EQ Bank customers who receive an offer from EQ Bank to take part, and EQ Bank sends each of them a unique code or link. The terms describe that link as something shared with friends and family the referrer knows personally, and business contacts, who have said they want to hear about the program.

Two payments follow a successful referral. The new client receives $20. The referrer receives $20 for each new client, to a limit of $500 per referrer, and can see the status of the referral, including whether the minimum deposit has been made.

The EQ Bank referral link on this page is YieldMaple’s own referral link of exactly this kind, so the EQ Bank account behind this site is credited the referrer amount, up to the per-referrer limit, when a reader qualifies. It costs the reader nothing and does not reduce the new-client bonus.

Who does not qualify for the EQ Bank referral bonus?

Anyone who has held an EQ Bank Personal Account before, and anyone who joins through a joint-account invitation, is outside the definition of a new client in EQ Bank’s terms.

The wording is specific on both points. A new client does not include any person who had an EQ Bank Personal Account before the referral. Nor does it include a person who signs up for a Personal Account through a link to join a joint account. Three further limits apply:

• Account eligibility. EQ Bank opens accounts only for a Canadian resident who has reached the age of majority in their province (18 or 19) and has a Social Insurance Number, and online sign-up needs a Canadian mobile phone number. The Personal Account is available to Quebec customers.
• No stacking. Payment under the program cannot be combined with any other offer unless EQ Bank expressly permits it.
• Late funding. A deposit that arrives after the 30 calendar days window does not meet the condition, because the terms count the window from account activation.

EQ Bank also keeps the right to end, pause or change the program without prior notice, and a bonus obtained through fraud or a breach of the terms is null and void, and EQ Bank may require repayment.

When is the EQ Bank referral bonus paid?

EQ Bank credits the referral bonus within five business days of the new client qualifying, into the new client's EQ Bank Personal Account.

The terms attach no holding period to the deposit or to the bonus: the conditions end at opening the account through the link and funding it. Separately, EQ Bank’s Personal Account page says that money withdrawn by sending an Interac e-Transfer to yourself is generally not subject to holds; that sentence is about transfers in general, not about the referral bonus. The absence of a hold in the referral terms is a real difference from Wealthsimple, whose referral terms require the bonus to stay in the account for 180 days.

Measured against the minimum deposit, the bonus is a 20% one-time return. For scale, the same $100 left at EQ Bank’s base rate of 1.50% earns roughly $1.50 in a year, so the bonus equals about 13 years of base interest on that deposit.

What does the EQ Bank Personal Account cost after the bonus?

The Personal Account’s monthly fee is $0, with no minimum balance, so keeping it open after the bonus costs nothing in account fees.

Everyday transactions are free — no fees to send or receive Interac e-Transfers or pay bills, and no account, overdraft or dormant-account fees. With the EQ Bank Card there is no EQ Bank fee on ATM withdrawals in Canada, with fees charged by Canadian ATM providers reimbursed up to $5 per withdrawal, up to 5 times per month. Balances earn 1.50% at the base rate and 2.75% with payroll direct deposits of $2,000 a month, per EQ Bank’s rates effective October 2, 2026. Deposits are eligible for CDIC protection up to $100,000 per insured category, per depositor (Equitable Bank, which trades as EQ Bank, is a CDIC member).

The trade-offs are in what the account leaves out: no cheques, no bank drafts, no in-branch support and no cash deposits. YieldMaple’s EQ Bank review covers the fees and limits in full, and EQ Bank’s interest rates today tracks the savings and GIC rates.

EQ Bank referral bonus vs the Wealthsimple referral bonus

Wealthsimple’s personal referral pays $25, which is $5 more than EQ Bank’s $20. Both ask for the same minimum: Wealthsimple wants a deposit of $100 or more within 30 days.

The payout rules pull in different directions. Wealthsimple pays faster, within 24 hours of the qualifying deposit being processed, but pays into a Wealthsimple Chequing account (you need one to receive it) and requires the bonus to stay put for 180 days. EQ Bank takes up to five business days and names no hold.

• EQ Bank’s offer fits a reader who wants a no-fee account with posted savings interest and no condition on the bonus after it is paid.
• Wealthsimple’s offer fits a reader who wants the larger amount and accepts the 180 days hold; see our complete Wealthsimple guide and the Wealthsimple Cash vs EQ Bank comparison.

For a wider view of savings rates, the high-interest savings account comparison for Canada lists the alternatives.