As of Monday, October 17, 2022, Refresh Financial, will no longer be offering its secured credit card. With its recent acquisition by Borrowell, the Refresh product offerings are being updated to better serve its audience. Refresh Financial will continue to offer its Credit Builder Loan.
For Canadian consumers who are looking to stick with Refresh and want to continue to make credit improvement a goal for the upcoming year, their Credit Builder Loan is an alternate option.
The Refresh Financial Credit Builder Loan can be considered a credit building program, as consumers won’t receive any upfront money. Instead, users will choose between four payment options and make bi-weekly payments to Refresh. These payments will be deposited into a secured account and reported to both credit bureaus to help build payment history.
After either 36 or 60 months, consumers can access the money saved in their secured account, minus fees and interest.
Consumers can choose from the following four payment options:
No credit history is required to get approved for the Refresh Financial Credit Builder Loan and borrowers can cancel at any time.
For consumers looking for more credit building solutions to meet their needs, there are a wide variety of options currently available.
With the Neo Card (Secured), consumers are guaranteed instant approval if they’re able to provide the minimum security funds. Once approved, they can use the secured credit card to earn cash back and build their credit.
When consumers use the Neo secured credit card and make on-time payments, Neo will report them to TransUnion, which will help them build a positive payment history. Moreover, the Neo Card has no annual fees and users can earn unlimited cash back.
When consumers sign up for KOHO’s spendable account, they can gain access to KOHO’s 6-month Credit Building Program for a monthly subscription fee of $10. When a consumer subscribes, KOHO will open a line of credit for them and use their monthly subscription fee as payment toward the line of credit. These payments are then reported to the credit bureau, which helps create a positive payment history.
The more on-time payments a user makes, the more positively it may affect their credit scores. If they’d like to continue building their credit after completing the 6-month program, they can re-subscribe. Note that users must first sign-up for the free KOHO Account to access the credit-building program.
The Foundation by Spring Financial is a credit building program that also allows users to not only build credit but save money. The Foundation involves making bi-weekly payments of $55 for 12 months. Users can opt for lower payments by extending the term by 6 months. Each payment made by the user is reported to a credit bureau and a portion of the payment is set aside as savings for the user.
At the end of the 12-month period, the user will have built up their payment history which should help lead to better credit scores. Moreover, they’ll get back $750 in savings that they can put toward paying off debt or other savings goals.
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Caitlin Wood is the Editor-in-Chief at Loans Canada and specializes in personal finance. She is a graduate of Dawson College and Concordia University and has been working in the personal finance industry for over eight years. Caitlin has covered various subjects such as debt, credit, and loans. Her work has been published on Zoocasa, GoDaddy, and deBanked. She believes that education and knowledge are the two most important factors in the creation of healthy financial habits. She also believes that openly discussing money and credit, and the responsibilities that come with them can lead to better decisions and a greater sense of financial security.
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