Refresh Financial Review for 2024

In today’s precarious economy, it’s all too easy to ruin your credit score. And if it happens, Refresh Financial is a great option to consider. It provides credit builder loans, secured credit cards, and tools for tracking your progress toward your ideal credit score.

What Is Refresh Financial?

Refresh Financial is a credit repair company that has been around since 2013 and is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia. The company serves customers across Canada except for Saskatchewan, Quebec, and New Brunswick.

In 2021, it was acquired by Borrowell, one of the largest financial education and technology companies and the first to offer free credit score checks to the public. 

After the acquisition, Refresh Financial’s mission remained unchanged. It continues to help people improve their financial well-being by providing them access to credit products and services they might otherwise be unable to get. 

What Does Refresh Financial Offer?

There are several ways to improve your credit score, but it all comes down to making timely payments. It may appear simple enough, but it can be a challenge when no one wants to give you a credit card or a loan without imposing stringent conditions that will only exacerbate the situation. 

To make life easier in these troublesome times, Refresh Financial offers two services: the Refresh Credit Builder loan and the Refresh Financial secured card, but that’s not all. It also offers a tool that allows you to check your credit score for free, access your credit report, and more. 

If you are confused by credit scores and credit reports, what they do and how they impact your life, you’re not the only one. For that reason, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada offers a useful guide and a free publication called Understanding Your Credit Report and Credit Score to help you get your bearings. 

In short, a credit report represents your credit history, and a credit score represents your credit risk. The lower your credit score is, the riskier you are to a bank as a borrower. Consequently, if you want to get better credit cards and loans, you must keep a good credit score.

Refresh Credit Builder Loan

You might think this is another one of those popular personal loans specifically tailored for people with bad credit, and you have probably seen a few such deals.

However, the loan works by reversing the typical lending process. Instead of taking a loan from the bank and paying it back, you give the money to the bank bi-weekly or monthly, which you can collect when the loan term ends or any time during the loan period.

In a way, you are putting some money away for rainy days and building your credit score back up. 

Keep in mind, though, that there are some drawbacks. Firstly, a $20 fee is charged for any early withdrawal. Secondly, you don’t get back the total amount of invested money. It’s called a loan for a reason. You must pay a 19.99% Annual Percentage Rate and any other fees at the end of your loan term before collecting your funds. 

The Refresh Credit Builder loan has four available plans.

The company reviews each application by doing a soft credit check, which does not affect your credit score.

You must also prove that you are a Canadian citizen or resident and that you have reached the age of majority in your state.

That is all that’s required. There is no jumping through hoops and hoping that you’ll be approved.

Refresh Financial Secured Card

All secured credit cards work the same way: You make a security deposit and may spend up to that amount. As a result, the credit card issuer is protected if you fail to make a payment on time.

The fascinating part is that Refresh Financial guarantees approval with a minimum deposit and does not conduct hard credit checks. The minimum security deposit is $200, whereas the maximum is $10,000. The interest rate is 17.99%, which is the market average. Some cards go as high as 19.99%, while you can also find those that have an interest rate of 14.90%.

There are other fees associated with this card, one of them being a monthly maintenance fee of $3 and an annual fee of $12.95, which adds up to $48.95. You should use the card on a regular basis to improve your credit score and because there is a $2 monthly inactivity fee. Not a lot, but no reason to let it add up. 

Additional fees include:

The Refresh Financial credit card is one of the most accessible credit cards for rebuilding credit, intended for people with bad to fair credit scores. The credit card also provides access to free online financial management courses. It's worth noting that Refresh Financial reports to both credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion.

Refresh Financial Black Tier 

Unlike the first two services, the Refresh Financial Black Tier is not a credit rebuilding service. It’s a platform that lets you track your credit-building progress, establish credit score targets, and view your TransUnion credit report and credit score. 

It also includes a credit simulator that lets you see how your decisions can influence your credit score and helps you build healthy financial habits. Gaining access to the Black Tier will cost you an additional $16.95 per month.

Is Refresh Financial Legit?

Refresh Financial is a Canadian Lenders Association member, which requires its members to adhere to a strict code of conduct, including ethical business practices.

As part of our review, we also checked the Better Business Bureau rating and were pleasantly surprised with an A+ score, but that is not the best part.

Going through customer reviews and complaints, we noticed that the company is quick to respond, and most of the complaints were resolved promptly. At the time of writing, there was no unanswered complaint on BBB. 

Further bolstering Refresh Financial’s favourable industry standing is the fact that it is now part of Borrowell, one of the largest credit education organizations. As such, Borrowell would not allow its subsidiary to participate in any unethical activity that would mar the parent’s reputation.

Conclusion

Refresh Financial is a great way to rebuild your credit rating and access free financial management courses. The company’s membership in renowned Canadian associations speaks to its legitimacy.

Overall, we are convinced that Refresh Financial is an excellent choice for anyone looking to improve their credit score.