Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) 

The application period has ended

 

$60,000

in emergency loans

 

 

0% interest

until January 18, 2024

 

 

Up to $20,000

 exemption upon repayment, conditions apply
 

 

Program supported 

by the government

 

An unprecedented measure

To address the challenges of COVID-19, the Canadian government has established an emergency account for businesses. This program allows small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and non-profit organizations (NPOs) to apply for a loan, interest-free until January 18, 2024. Please note: The CEBA loan must be in good standing for the business to benefit from the loan forgiveness.

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Loan repayment

The loan will remain interest-free until January 18, 2024.

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. Find and 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 this biller COVID-19 – CEBA-CUEC.

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

What you need to know about the emergency business loan 

How the emergency loan works

Borrowers that meet the CEBA eligibility criteria and are in good standing will be eligible for loan forgiveness. All CEBA loan holders have received a formal communication stating whether they are eligible for loan forgiveness.

CEBA eligibility criteria validations have been completed for all borrowers and the results of these validations are final. These validations were conducted in partnership with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and revalidated periodically since the launch of CEBA in April 2020 to ensure an accurate reflection of the information in CRA records.

We remind you that the loan is interest-free until January 18, 2024.

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. Find an 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 this biller COVID-19 – CEBA-CUEC.

You can also visit your National Bank branch with your CEBA statement in hand to pay the loan. The necessary details can be found in this statement or in your welcome letter.

For questions about your specific loan details (i.e., the loan balance, the outstanding amount that must be repaid, acceptable methods of repayment, and terms of the loan) please contact our CEBA Support Team at National Bank: support_CEBA@nbc.ca.

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 in good standing who benefitted from the $60,000 loan

If you repay $40,000 by January 18, 2024:

  • You will not have to pay interest
  • You will be exempted from paying the remaining $20,000

 

For businesses in good standing who benefitted from the $40,000 loan

If you repay $30,000 by January 18, 2024:

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

 

On January 19, 2024:

  • If there is a remaining balance, the loan will be automatically renewed for a 3-year extended period ending December 31, 2026, at a fixed interest rate of 5%.

 

For businesses not in good standing:

  • The loan will have to be repaid in full (including the loan forgiveness amount) by December 31, 2023.
  • The loan remains at 0% interest until December 31, 2023.

For questions about your specific loan details (i.e., the loan balance, the outstanding amount that must be repaid, acceptable methods of repayment, and terms of the loan) please contact our CEBA Support Team at National Bank: support_CEBA@nbc.ca.

For questions regarding eligibility for the CEBA program and the final status of CEBA loan applications (i.e., final loan statuses, reasons for failed applications, and application history) you may call the CEBA Call Centre at 1-888-324-4201. The CEBA Call Centre is available Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, excluding statutory holidays.

Yes, all applicants that received funding through the CEBA program are required to repay their loan in under with the repayment terms of their respective loans. Please refer to the repayment terms provided to you by your financial institution for details regarding your repayment deadline and forgiveness of the loan. For all questions about the details of your loan (i.e., the loan balance, process for repayment, or other loan account details), please contact your financial institution.

Borrowers that do not repay their loan by the deadline are considered in default of their CEBA loan. If this situation applies to you, we will contact you regarding the next steps. Additionally, depending on the reason that your loan is not in good standing, you may not be entitled to receive loan forgiveness.

For borrowers that met CEBA eligibility criteria and are in good standing, if you do not repay your loan by January 18, 2024, you will not receive forgiveness. From January 19, 2024 to December 31, 2026, you will be required to pay interest on your CEBA loan. In these cases, the loan will have to be repaid in full by December 31, 2026.

The impact of a change in ownership of the borrower on the repayment terms depends on the legal structure of the borrower (i.e., whether the business is a sole proprietor or a corporation). Please contact our CEBA Support Team at National Bank for further details on repayment and other loan terms: support_CEBA@nbc.ca.

The forgiveness portion of your CEBA loan is taxable. For any other taxation questions relating to your CEBA loan, please contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or your accountant.

No. The CEBA Program is no longer providing a review, assessment or re-determination of a CEBA borrower’s eligibility status, outcome or repayment term. As the application and funding periods for the CEBA Program have now closed, the opportunity for further resolution has now passed. Applications will no longer be reconsidered by the CEBA Program.

You can consult the government website.

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.

Additional information

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.

We send statements on a quarterly basis, during the months of January, April, July and May until the loan is repaid to businesses that have been accepted for the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) through National Bank. If you did not receive your statement, if you need to change the business address or for any questions related to your statement, please contact us at: support_CEBA@nbc.ca.

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