Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) 

We remind you that the loan is interest-free until December 31, 2023.

Here are the steps to follow to start repaying your loan:

1. Sign in to Internet Banking Solutions for Businesses
2. Select Manage billers/beneficiaries
3. Add COVID-19 – CEBA-CUEC as the biller, and enter the 16-digit account number indicated on your statement
4. Then pay the loan as a bill payment by selecting COVID-19 – CEBA-CUEC as the biller.

You can also visit your National Bank branch with your CEBA statement in hand. All the details can be found in this statement or your welcome letter.

If you have questions about your application, you may call the CEBA Call Centre at 1-888-324-4201. The CEBA Call Centre is available Monday to Friday from 9AM to 6PM Eastern Standard Time, excluding statutory holidays.

You can also check the status of your request on the federal government's website. 

The emergency loan for National Bank business clients amounted to $60,000 (either a fixed amount of $40,000 with the possibility of an additional $20,000, or a fixed amount of $60,000.

For businesses who benefitted from the $60,000 loan

If you repay $40,000 by December 31, 2023:

• You do not have to pay interest 

• You will be exempted from paying the remaining $20,000
  
  

For businesses who benefitted from the $40,000 loan

If you repay $30,000 by December 31, 2023:

• You do not have to pay interest
  
• You will be exempted from paying the remaining $10,000
  
  

On January 1, 2024:

• If there is a remaining balance, the loan will be automatically renewed for a 2-year extended period ending December 31, 2025, at an advantageous fixed interest rate of 5%.

The Canada Emergency Business Account was intended for small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations. 

To be eligible, the federal government had imposed the following conditions on businesses:

• Have paid an amount greater  than $20,000 and lower than $1,500,000 in salaries in the 2019 calendar year.  

or

• Have paid no salaries or total salaries of $20,000 or less in the 2019 calendar year, and:
• Have filed an income tax return for 2018 or 2019.
• Have a total of non-deferrable expenses as of March 1, 2020, between $40,000 and $1,500,000 that the business was legally or contractually required to pay in 2020 (including eligible expenses that cannot be deferred and have actually been paid since January 1, 2020), deducting any excluded benefits. These expenses could include, for example, rent, property taxes, utilities and insurance. Expenses will be subject to verification and audit by the Government of Canada. 
  
  

Your business was also required to:

• Have an active Canada Revenue Agency Business Number (BN) with an effective date of registration on or prior to March 1, 2020. 
• Have an active business current account in Canadian dollars with National Bank.
• Have National Bank as your primary financial institution.
• Be facing financial difficulties (including, for example, a continued decline in revenues or cash reserves, or an increase in operating costs) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Intend to continue or resume operations.
• Have made all reasonable efforts to reduce its costs during the COVID-19 pandemic and otherwise adapt its activities to improve its sustainability.

To be eligible for the additional $20,000 loan extension, you must have already been accepted for the $40,000 emergency loan under the CEBA program.

Your business had to:

• Have an active Business Number (BN) with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), with an effective date of registration on or before March 1, 2020.
• Have an active business current account with National Bank, in Canadian dollars.
• Not be in arrears in the payment of your existing loans under the Program, not be in breach of the terms and conditions of such loans and not be in default thereunder and with existing credit facilities or National Bank, if any, and were not 90 days or more in arrears as at October 31, 2020.
  

Your business also had to:

• Be facing financial difficulties (including, for example, a continued decline in revenue or cash reserves, or an increase in operating costs) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Intend to continue or resume operations;
• Have made all reasonable efforts to reduce its costs and otherwise adjust its operations to improve its viability; and
• Not have used any loan received under the CEBA program to make a payment or pay expenses other than eligible expenses that cannot be otherwise deferred.

The emergency loan must only be used to cover operating costs that cannot be deferred, such as payroll, rent, utilities, insurance, property tax and regularly scheduled debt service.  

The loan may not be used to repay or refinance a payment, or for expenses such as existing debt or to pay dividends, nor may it be used for distributions purposes or to increase management compensation.

To qualify for the emergency loan, your business must not have previously used the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and must never have used the COVID Indigenous SMEs Initiative or the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund and will not apply for support under the Program at any other financial institution or for support under the COVID Indigenous SMEs Initiative or the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund.

However, you can get additional assistance from other programs available to businesses, provided you meet their eligibility criteria.

Find out more about our support measures and Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. 

In response to the economic impact of COVID-19, the Canadian government established the Canada Emergency Business Account Program to provide interest-free loans of $60,000 for small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations. 

National Bank and several other financial institutions were authorized to implement this program, in cooperation with Export Development Canada.

By requesting an emergency business loan of $60,000 through our website, you were borrowing from National Bank, but supported by the government. 

Visit the Canadian government website for more information.

Check your account balance by signing in to our Internet and mobile banking solutions. You can also visit one of our ABMs or call us at 1-888-835-6281.

We will send statements on a quarterly basis, until the loan is paid, to businesses that have been accepted for the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) through National Bank.
 
 The first time you receive your statement, you will also receive:

• A welcome letter explaining how the loan works, for example, the repayment method;
• The attestation from the federal government to which you provided consent when you applied for the loan;
• The loan agreement detailing the terms and conditions, to which you also provided consent when you applied for the loan.

Should you have any questions about the CEBA loan statement, please call our Customer Service team at 1-844-394-4494. 

It’s important to remember that you consented to the government attestation and terms and conditions of the Canada Emergency Business Account when you submitted your application. The business has, therefore, undertaken to respect the terms and conditions of the loan.

You have questions about your application? You can:

Write to us at the email address listed in the acknowledgement email or contact the CEBA Call Centre at 1-888-324-4201. The CEBA Call Centre is available Monday to Friday from 9AM to 6PM Eastern Standard Time, excluding statutory holidays.

Note: National Bank does not have authority to grant exceptions on any declined applications. Applications are assessed by the federal government. 

Learn more about our support measures, Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, and Emergency Aid for Small and Medium Businesses.