Review: Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card and Mogo platform
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We are currently witnessing a profound transformation of the financial world in Canada, as traditional banks are gradually losing ground to online institutions.
These platforms offer many advantages to Canadian investors such as very low management fees, free basic services (Interac, withdrawal and money transfer) and financial products (credit card and debit card, among others) with affordable annual fees.
What’s more, some of these financial institutions offer even more innovative services at reasonable prices. Indeed, we are talking about personal loans and mortgages, tools for building a good credit score and extensive access to competitively priced crypto-currency platforms.
Mogo Financial Institution is part of this trend, offering a wide range of financial products to Canadians.
We will deal with this establishment in the next few lines by first defining its main goals. Then, we will make a detailed analysis of the main financial products offered by Mogo Finance. Finally, we will draw up an assessment of this platform, taking care to explain its main advantages and disadvantages.
Presentation of Mogo Finance
Mogo Finance is a Canadian financial company based in Vancouver specializing in monetary loans and personal financial support. This institution has over 1.6 million members across Canada. However, it should be noted that Mogo Finance does not currently operate in Quebec.
The financial services offered by Mogo Finance are numerous. Here is a short overview of the financial products offered:
- Credit score checker
- Fraud Protection through Mogo Protect
- Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card
- Personal loan
- Mortgage loan
- The Moka savings application
- Buying bitcoin through a specialized platform
Now that we have a general vision of Mogo Finance’s mission, we can proceed to a complete study of the financial products it offers.
Mogo Finance products
Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card
Here is a summary of the Mogo Card main features:
| Account features | Details |
|---|---|
| Annual fee | Free |
| Interest rate | None |
| Maximum balance | Maximum of $10,000 based on various criteria |
| Minimum income | None |
| Required credit rating | No check required |
| Other features | 2% returns on all purchase categories |
The Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card is affiliated with the Visa cards network. It works differently from a normal credit card in that the user must deposit cash on the card rather than receive credit from the supplier.
This free card has no eligibility requirements and the maximum balance is $10,000. There is also a 2% bitcoin return available on all purchase categories.
Usin this card also reduces the global carbon footprint as each dollar spent will reduce the CO2 output of the Amazon rainforest by one pound.
Finally, this product offers a disclaimer for loss and theft. You will find a detailed explanation of this protection on the linked web page.
The use of this financial product gives you free access to the Mogo Credit Checker as well as the Mogo Protect anti-fraud and identity theft platform. Here is also a table showing the main fees and spending limits for this prepaid card.
| Description | Fees and spending limits |
|---|---|
| Maximum balance on the card | $10,000 |
| Maximum transfer in a 24-hour period | $9,900 |
| Maximum transfer for one (1) transaction (other than by Canada Post) | $5,000 |
| Maximum number of transfers in a 24-hour period | 10 |
| Minimum transfer amount over a 24-hour period | $10 |
| Maximum purchase amount in a 24-hour period | $5,000 |
| Maximum purchase amount for one (1) purchase | $3,000 |
| Maximum number of cash withdrawals in a 24-hour period | 1 |
| Maximum amount that can be withdrawn for one (1) transaction | $500 |
Credit score checker
Mogo Finance has a partnership with the Equifax credit bureau, which allows its users to have quick access to their credit score. In addition, Mogo Finance has developed an interesting educational section that outlines the main reasons why the credit score may be lowered.
Honourable mention also to the segment on credit rebuilding, which provides a clear and concise picture of the different ways to increase your credit score with concrete examples, such as paying bills on time and respecting your credit limit, while avoiding reaching the maximum spending limit at all costs. Please note that the application is currently only in English. Here is a visual overview of the platform.
It is also important to note that Mogo Finance makes a great effort to make monitoring its credit score entertaining. In fact, it promotes this good practice through monthly competitions that reward the most outstanding users. Currently, deserving users can accumulate up to $200 in bitcoin as noted here.
Personal loan
Here is a summary of the Mogo Credit Construction Loan:
| Account features | Details |
|---|---|
| Amount of the loan | Between $100 and $35,000 |
| Interest on the loan | 19,99 % |
| Terms of the loan | Repayment over a period of 2 weeks to 5 years |
| Other conditions | Minimum income of $13,000 Not available in Quebec |
Personal loans offered by Mogo Finance range from $100 to $35,000. The loan is repaid over a period of between 14 days and 5 years depending on the amount owed. Note that the final amount of the loan repayment depends on several separate factors. Here is an exhaustive list of these criteria:
- Place of residence
- Gross annual income (a minimum of $13,000 is required to apply)
- Employment status
- Debt history and past bankruptcies
- The current debt you have accumulated
- Credit score (ideally between 660 and 900)
- The interest rate received
- The length of the payment term
An application is made available to users to track the repayment of their personal loan. Here is a visual overview of this platform which is very easy to use.
Finally, it should be noted that the payment terms and the applicable interest rate are flexible. Indeed, the user can contact Mogo Finance at any time to renegotiate various aspects of their loan.
Also, all personal information collected by Mogo Finance is encrypted and protected by the most secure system. The risks of data theft and identity theft are therefore very low.
Users with a Mogo Finance loan also have free access to the credit score checker and the Mogo Protect platform.
Mortgage loan
Mogo Finance also offers competitively priced mortgages. In particular, we’re seeing some great deals on 3 and 5 year fixed rate mortgages.
These rates are very attractive compared to what is offered by the major Canadian banks.
| Mogo | RBC | BMO | CIBC | |
| Fixed rate mortgage (3 years) | 1,54 % | 2,24 % | 2,23 % | 3,49 % |
| Fixed rate mortgage (5 years) | 1,99 % | 2,49 % | 2,34 % | 2,44 % |
| Variable rate mortgage (5 years) | 1,40 % | 1,63 % | 1,55 % | 1,60 % |
Mogo Finance’s 5-year variable rate mortgages also stand out from the competition. The current rate is 1.40% which is slightly lower than what is offered by RBC, BMO and CIBC.
The mobile phone interface is easy to access and gives you an overview of your payments and upcoming transactions. Here is a visual overview of the platform.
When your application is complete you will be asked to choose a mortgage option. This process is facilitated by the Mogo Finance mobile application which will present you with two options, taking care to outline all the details needed to make your decision. Here you can see an example of a comparison between two mortgages.
The Moka savings application
Mogo Finance acquired the Moka app in May 2021.
The primary goal of this virtual platform is to help Canadians save and grow their assets. The main interface is very easy to use. Here is an overview.
The primary goal of this virtual platform is to help Canadians save and grow their assets. The main interface is very easy to use. Here is an overview.
Money earning is done quickly by following a simple protocol. For example, if you charge $6.77 to your account or credit card using the Moka application, you will get $0.23 for free.
This is a feature of Moka that rounds up the total amount of the expense. This additional money ranges from $0.01 to $0.99 depending on the amount of the expense and can be used in a variety of ways. Here are some ways to use this amount.
- Investment. The application allows you to invest the money you get in a balanced portfolio.
- Refunds. You can use the earned amounts to pay off debts or loans.
- Online shopping. You can use the amounts collected from Moka and Mogo Finance’s affiliated partners.
- Donation. The money can be donated to charity.
Buying Bitcoin
Finally, Mogo offers a platform for buying Bitcoins. It has over 1.6 million users in Canada. Here is a brief overview of the main advantages and disadvantages of this virtual interface.
Advantages
- Simple and easy to use platform; ideal for crypto currency beginners.
- Quick access to funds through Interac transfers in less than 30 minutes.
- Frequent promos to get money, including by referring friends.
Disadvantages
- Not a wide variety of crypto-currencies offered, only Bitcoin is available.
- High transaction fees (1%).
- The bitcoins purchased are not yours; they are the property of a third party, the Coinsquare platform which lends bitcoins to Mogo Crypto at the start.
- Platform currently unavailable in Quebec.
Mogo Protect
Mogo Finance offers its users a free application against identity theft and fraud in partnership with a web platform called “Loans Canada”. The process is simple: just download the platform on your cell phone and enter your personal information. You will receive a notification every time a potential threat is detected. Please note that your personal information is protected and that Mogo Finance and Loans Canada adhere to a very strict policy of transparency and respect for privileged information.
You can read this memo to see the outline of their policy.
The interface is relatively simple to use and the features easy to understand as you can see below. Note, however, that the application is currently only in English.
Advantages and disadvantages of Mogo Finance
Advantages
- Personal loans and mortgages at unbeatable rates with great flexibility in payment terms.
- Excellent, easy-to-use virtual apps promoting financial literacy (Credit Score Checker), financial security (Mogo Protect), savings (Moka) and crypto-currency investing (Mogo Bitcoin).
- Affordable and easy to get prepaid card.
- Using those financial products allows you to rebuild your credit score.
Disadvantages
- Penalties for non-repayment of personal loans and mortgages are high and can increase very quickly if they persist over time.
- Mogo Finance financial products are currently unavailable in Quebec.
- The platform only allows the purchase of Bitcoin; it would have been nice for a wider variety of crypto-currencies to me made available to users.
Verdict
In conclusion, we find Mogo Finance’s financial services offering attractive to Canadian users.
We particularly like the mobile apps because they are simple, clear and inexpensive. The educational component of these interfaces is also very interesting, as it allows users to learn more about personal finance.
Furthermore, we find that Mogo Finance stands out favourably from its competition in terms of personal loans and mortgages. In fact, we find that the current rates, payment terms (loan and repayment) and flexibility of offers are among the best in the country.
Finally, the prepaid card offered by Mogo Finance is a good option for Canadians in financial difficulty, especially when you consider that there are no eligibility criteria or annual fees.
However, there is one major drawback with Mogo Finance: there is nothing for residents of Quebec. We hope that this situation will change in the coming year so that Quebecers can benefit from the wide range of financial products offered by Mogo Finance.
Frequently Asked Questions about Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card
Here are frequently asked questions in the milesopedia community about this card.
Is the Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card actually a credit card?
No. Despite carrying the Visa logo, the Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card is a prepaid product, meaning you load it with funds before spending. There is no credit check, no interest charges and no impact on your credit score from using it. That makes it a solid option for travellers who want a Visa-branded card without applying for credit, for users rebuilding their credit history elsewhere, or for parents giving teens a controlled spending tool. It is accepted anywhere Visa is accepted.
How does the Mogo platform earn me Bitcoin rewards?
Spending on the prepaid card earns automatic Bitcoin cashback, deposited directly into your linked Mogo BTC account. This makes Mogo one of the few Canadian platforms that lets you earn crypto on everyday purchases without buying it directly. Beyond the card, the Mogo app also offers commission-free stock trading, a free monthly credit score check and a quarterly Equifax credit report. The integrated approach lets you manage card spend, credit health and crypto exposure from a single login.
Are there any monthly or transaction fees?
The Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid is generally free to open and free to use for everyday purchases in Canadian dollars. Foreign currency transactions carry a conversion fee (around 2.5%, similar to most Canadian cards), and ATM withdrawals abroad may incur additional charges. There is no annual fee and no inactivity fee on the standard tier. Always check the latest Mogo fee schedule directly in the app, since the company periodically adjusts rates and limits as new platform features launch.
Who should choose this card over a regular cash back credit card?
The Mogo prepaid card makes the most sense if you want strict spending control (you cannot overspend what you load), if you are credit-shy or rebuilding after a bankruptcy or consumer proposal, or if you want passive Bitcoin exposure on your daily spend. If your goal is maximum rewards on groceries or travel, a true credit card like the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite + (4% groceries) or American Express Cobalt (5x dining) will deliver a much higher return per dollar spent.
