We’re dedicated to providing you with a service that meets your
needs. Your satisfaction is our priority.
We understand that your experience may not have lived up to your
expectations. This is important to us.
Our commitment is to meet your needs and resolve your
dissatisfaction quickly and thoroughly. That's why we offer a
three-step approach. You will know exactly what to expect
throughout the process.
Our objective is to give you true peace of mind while we find a
solution.
Together, let's find the solution that best meets all your needs.
Get answers to your questions about our products and services by visiting our help centre.
Learn more about our three-step process for reporting any dissatisfaction you may have experienced. If you wish to make a complaint regarding your investments and you reside outside of Quebec, find out about the process to follow for handling your request on our dedicated page.
For further information regarding complaints about our banking products and services, see our complaints settlement document.
For further information regarding complaints about our products and services offered by National Bank Savings and Investments TM for residents of Quebec, see our complaints settlement document.
We can often resolve most dissatisfactions directly at the source. First, contact the appropriate department immediately. The person responsible for handling your complaint will contact you shortly. A solution will be proposed to you within a maximum of 14 days. You will be able to communicate with this person throughout the process. If necessary, they can also assist you with the formulation of your complaint. Please note that if processing takes longer than 14 days and the complaint is escalated to the Customer Complaint Review Office (CCRO), it will be handled by another member of the office.
Have you been unable to reach an agreement with the department
concerned? Check
that you’ve submitted an eligible complaint. You can request a
review of your complaint by the National Bank Client
Complaint Appeal Office.
Your request will be
reviewed in an impartial, objective, and fair manner. A decision will
be made within 56 days from the time we receive your complaint
(first step).
Has the relevant team not been able to
process your complaint within 14 days? Your complaint will
automatically be handled by our Client Complaint Appeal Office without
any action required on your part.
Are you unhappy with the conclusion reached by the Client Complaint Appeal Office? A conclusion hasn’t been reached within 56 days? You can refer your case to an external agency.
Upon receipt of your complaint, regardless of the channel you used to
contact us, we will send you an acknowledgment of receipt confirming
the date we began examining your complaint.
At your
request, the Client Complaint Appeal Office will provide complete,
up-to-date information about your complaint. You will be contacted
once a decision has been made.
The Office will
communicate its decision in writing within 56 days of the receipt of
your original complaint (first step).
Make a complaint or request a review
Regardless of the department concerned, you can contact us about your dissatisfaction.
The Client Complaint Appeal Office: An
impartial team
The National Bank Client Complaint Appeal Office offers
a fair, impartial and objective investigation of complaints made by
clients that remain unresolved. When the Office reviews a complaint
about National Bank products and services, it takes into
account:
It’s purpose: promote the settlement of disputes between National Bank and its clients.
The Client Complaint Appeal Office has full leeway to carry out the
Office’s mission and achieve its mandate. It also makes
recommendations to National Bank to improve its services and better
meet your needs.
Client Complaint Appeal Office
Nathalie Marcil
Email complaintappeal@nbc.ca
| 2024 | |
|---|---|
| Number of complaints reviewed by the Client Complaint Appeal Office | 2,638 |
| Number of complaints outside the mandate of the Client Complaint Appeal Office | 950 |
| Number of complaints resolved | 688 |
| Number of complaints closed | 1000 |
| Resolution rate1 | 41% |
| Average time to review a complaint | 26 days |
1 Excluding the number of complaints outside the mandate of the Client Complaint Appeal Office
| Product | % |
|---|---|
| Transactional | 28% |
| Credit Card | 21% |
| Mortgage Loan | 14% |
| Investment | 8% |
| Loan | 5% |
| Home Equity Line of Credit | 4% |
| Line of Credit | 3% |
| Insurance | 2% |
| Other | 15% |
| % | |
|---|---|
| Service provided | 46% |
| Processes and policies | 26% |
| Fraud | 17% |
| Pricing | 6% |
| Other | 5% |
Still not satisfied with the solutions we offered? Discover the list of external agencies that you can turn to.
Does your complaint involve a banking or investment product or service, including those offered through our subsidiaries: National Bank Trust TM, National Bank Direct Brokerage, National Bank Financial – Wealth Management ®, or National Bank Savings and Investments TM?
To help you submit your file to the appropriate external organization, learn more about the role of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) in the complaints handling process.
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada supervises all federally regulated financial institutions, which includes banks, (financial institutions), for compliance with federal consumer protection laws.
Financial institutions are legally required to have a complaint-handling process in place.
If you have a problem with a financial product or service, you may file a complaint with the responsible financial institution directly.
If you are not satisfied with how your complaint has been handled or 56 days have passed since you made your complaint, you can escalate the complaint to the following External Complaints Body:
Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI)
20 Queen Street West, Suite 2400, P.O. Box 8
Toronto ON M5H 3R3
Toll-Free Phone: 1-888-451-4519
TTY Phone: 1-844-358-3442
Toll-Free Fax: 1-888-422-2865
Email: ombudsman@obsi.ca
Website: https://www.obsi.ca/en/
If you want to know your rights or need information about the complaint-handling process of a financial institution, you may contact FCAC by online form, mail, or telephone. FCAC uses information from consumer enquiries to support its mandate.
Website: www.canada.ca/fcac
Online form: https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/corporate/contact-us.html
Phone:
Video Relay Service: FCAC welcomes Video Relay Service (VRS) calls. You do not need to authorize the relay service operator to communicate with FCAC. Visit https://srvcanadavrs.ca/en/ to learn more.
Mailing address:
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
427 Laurier Avenue West, 5th Floor
Ottawa ON K1R 7Y2
Is your complaint about an investment product or service with National Bank Savings and Investments?
Contact Autorité des marchés financiers (Quebec residents)1
Monday to Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET)
Website : Visit the web page
Phone : 1‑877‑525‑0337
Email : plaintes@lautorite.qc.ca
Is your complaint about car or home insurance?
Contact Autorité des marchés financiers (Quebec residents)1
Monday to Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Website : Visit the web page
Phone : 1‑877‑525‑0337
Email : plaintes@lautorite.qc.ca
Is your complaint about life insurance, loan, credit card, or the Cabinet?
Contact OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance1
Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET)
Website : Visit the web page
Phone : 1‑888‑295‑8112
Additional contacts
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Website : Visit the web page
Office de protection du consommateur (Quebec only)
Website : Visit the web page
1Other external organizations may be authorized to intervene. You will be informed if necessary.
The Client Complaint Appeal Office can analyze
the process by which a decision was made. However, the Office does not
intervene in and does not provide reasons or explanations about
decisions made by the Bank concerning risk management or financial
criteria, such as:
The Client Complaint Appeal Office cannot:
Certain situations do not fall under the mandate of the
Client Complaint Appeal Office. In particular, it does not open any
files concerning:
The Reporting Office receives, processes, and archives complaints and concerns regarding a wrongdoing and also accounting, internal accounting controls, or auditing matters at National Bank. Employees, clients and other non-employees can report confidentially on corruption to the Reporting Office.
Here are a few examples of unpleasant situations, inspired by real cases, that may occur as part of a business relationship with a financial institution, and some tips to prevent them from occurring.
Case
Mr. D. lost his job and was having financial
troubles. He missed a few payments on his personal loan held at the
Bank. Mr. D. avoided having his loan sent to recovery by discussing
the matter with the Bank's collection department and coming to a
payment agreement. Though he was late with a few payments, the loan
was eventually repaid in full. Later on, Mr. D. had to renew his
mortgage loan at another financial institution. His application was
declined because of the unfavourable note in his credit report. Mr. D.
was upset and asked the Bank to correct his credit report. His request
was declined.
Investigation
The investigation revealed that any payment overdue by more
than 30 days for a loan from a financial institution automatically
generates a note in the individual's credit report. This is the case
for payments overdue by 60 days and by 90 days. After this period, the
Bank has the right to transfer the loan to recovery. In such cases, an
R9 rating (the most severe rating to appear in a person's credit
report) is entered in the report and remains on file for seven years.
The investigation revealed that Mr. D. was more than 150 days late in
paying his loan. Thanks to the payment agreement with the Bank, he was
able to avoid having an R9 rating entered in his credit report. The
Bank did not make a mistake in this situation. It was not required to
ask for a correction to Mr. D.'s credit report, and the notes
appearing in it were legitimate.
Except for a few exceptions (e.g., when you apply for financing), the Bank does not have the right to consult your credit information. It therefore cannot ask for a correction to be made to a note in your credit report, unless it can be shown that it is due to an error the Bank has made.
Case
Ms. T. was selling a couch online on Kijiji and was contacted
by a potential buyer who lived in another province. The buyer, who was
in fact a fraudster, claimed to be the owner of a transport company
and asked her to send the couch through his company. Ms. T. agreed to
send it to him once she had received a cheque for the price of the
couch and the delivery fee. Ms. T. went to a Bank branch to deposit
the cheque, then carried out an Interac e-Transfer in the amount of
$970 to the bogus company. Shortly thereafter, an employee from the
Bank's security department contacted her to confirm some of the
details of the transfer; the transfer was finally authorized, while
the cheque was returned to National Bank as a "fraudulent
cheque."
Investigation
The Client Complaint Appeal Office determined that Ms. T. took
the time to share her concerns about the buyer's identity with the
security department employee. However, the employee neglected to
inform Ms. T. that the payee of the account to whom she wanted to send
the funds did not have the same name as the alleged buyer. Finally,
the transfer was identified as potentially fraudulent by Interac, but
the Bank employee nonetheless approved it after his conversation with
Ms. T. The Office recommended that the Bank refund the amount
corresponding to the transfer. However, she concluded that Ms. T. was
responsible for the cheque she deposited.
Fraud is common on advertising websites. Beware of buyers who require that goods be sent before concluding a transaction, and make sure that you know the source of the funds you deposit.
Case
Ms. L. contracted a mortgage loan at a posted interest rate of
5.24%, to which a discount of 2.20% was applied. The term of the loan
was 60 months. Less than three years later, after receiving an offer
to purchase her property, Ms. L. advised the Bank that she wanted to
prepay her mortgage loan.
She was then informed that the
penalty she had to pay was calculated based on the posted rate of the
mortgage loan when it was signed (5.24%) rather than the interest rate
granted (3.04%), which resulted in a penalty of $8,337.58. Believing
this calculation method to be unjustified, Ms. L. asked the Bank to
grant her a refund corresponding to the difference between the penalty
amount charged based on the posted interest rate (5.24%) and the
amount applicable if the calculation had been based on the interest
rate granted (3.04%).
Investigation
The
calculation method used by the Bank was revealed to be compliant with
the agreement signed by Ms. L. when she contracted the loan. The
Client Complaint Appeal Office also concluded that Ms. L. had received
all the information she needed to know the amount of the prepayment
charge should she sell her property before the end of the mortgage term.
Make sure that you read all clauses carefully when you take out a mortgage and understand the information in your annual mortgage statement.
Background
Mr. L. was in charge of collection for a Chinese company. After
having deposited some cheques for large amounts, he transferred these
amounts to an account at another financial institution. Some time
later, the Bank notified Mr. L. that the deposited cheques had
bounced. After having been alerted to this situation, Mr. L. asked the
Bank to recall the funds. Having exceeded the prescribed timeframe,
one of the three transfers could not be recalled and resulted in an
overdraft of a few thousand dollars. Mr. L. was upset with the Bank
for failing to ensure the validity of the cheques and refused to be
held responsible. Consequently, he asked to be compensated for the
amount of the overdraft generated in his account.
Investigation
In cases where a hold is placed on a deposit, the maximum
period cannot exceed seven business days, though it can take longer to
clear a cheque, particularly when it is issued by a bank abroad. In
accordance with the provisions of the Agreement for Mr. L.'s
transaction account, he was responsible for the cheques he deposited.
We also determined that Mr. L. had been reminded by several employees
at the branch about his responsibility when sending funds to other
accounts. The Bank was therefore not required to refund the overdraft
generated in his account.
The Bank is not required to place a hold on an item deposited into an account. Moreover, a limit on the number of days on a hold may apply. You remain responsible at all times for the items you deposit into your account.
Case
Mr. G. reserved a hotel room online and made a
payment with his Mastercard credit card on the hotel booking company's
website. He completed the transaction but did not receive any
confirmation. He then decided to make a reservation at another hotel.
When he received his credit card statement, Mr. G. realized that he
was charged for the first transaction without ever staying at the
hotel in question. He contested the $476.27 transaction, which
Mastercard determined resulted from the client making a mistake when
he entered his email address on the website. After determining that
the merchant had met their obligations, Mastercard had no recourse in
this matter and refused to refund Mr. G.
Investigation
The Client Complaint Appeal Office
determined that Mr. G. made a second reservation without first
checking whether the first one had gone through. The credit card
agreement specifies that Mastercard cannot be held responsible further
to a dispute between a client and a merchant. Moreover, the Client
Complaint Appeal office cannot make a merchant refund a client and
cannot act as mediator between these two parties. Finally, the
Office's mandate only covers the products and services provided by the Bank.
You are responsible for online transactions with your credit card when you provide payment information that allows a merchant to charge you. Make sure that you read the merchant's terms and conditions before finalizing your transaction
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