Neo Financial

Neo Financial: Our review of their financial products


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To the point In this article, we explore the various financial products offered by Neo Financial, such as the Neo Mastercard and the Neo Everyday account.

Neo Financial is a Winnipeg-based Canadian financial institution specializing in savings and credit products. It’s 100% digital and allows you to earn rewards on your purchases with their credit cards and save with their high-interest savings account. But also, to obtain a mortgage with their mortgage solutions. In this article, we explore the various financial products offered by Neo Financial, such as the Neo Mastercard and the Neo Everyday account.

What is Neo Financial?

The Canadian banking landscape has undergone profound changes in recent years. Indeed, new financial institutions such as EQ Bank, Wealthsimple and Tangerine are gaining in popularity.

These online banks compete with the big five Canadian banks (BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotia and TD) with their low-cost financial products. What’s more, their chequing and savings accounts offer higher interest rates than traditional banks. These competitive offers are made possible by savings on rental costs. In fact, these institutions have no physical premises in which to carry out their operations, as their activities are carried out online.

With this in mind, a number of secure digital platforms are emerging. This is particularly true of Neo Financial, a Winnipeg-based Canadian financial institution specializing in savings and credit products. It offers the following products and services to its customers:

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Neo's Financial Products

As mentioned above, Neo Financial offers a wide variety of financial products: credit cards, secured credit cards, bank accounts, mortgage services, etc. In this analysis of Neo Financial products, we focus mainly on credit cards and bank accounts.

Neo Mastercard

The Neo Mastercard is a cash-back credit card affiliated with credit card provider Mastercard. There are no annual fees, and it’s fairly easy to obtain, as various credit ratings are accepted.

The credit limit can vary depending on different criteria such as your payment history, the presence of debts and your annual salary. Failure to pay your account balance can be costly, depending on the credit rate on purchases and cash advances in your province of residence.

With the Neo Mastercard, you get $25 cash back as a welcome bonus.

You get unlimited cash back from thousands of partners. On average, you can earn up to 5% cash back at over 10,000 Neo partners across the country.

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Unlike traditional banks offering cash-back rates for specific categories of business (grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, etc.), Neo has chosen to partner directly with selected retailers. The discount rate will therefore vary and may be amplified by certain partner offers.

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Neo Financial’s mobile app is easy to use, while you can easily track your cash rewards accumulation. Here’s a visual overview of the rewards program interface:

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Neo Secured Credit

With the Neo Secured Credit, you can easily obtain a secured credit card:

  • Guaranteed Approval
  • No hard credit check
  • Only $5 per month

You get unlimited cash back from thousands of partners. On average, you can earn up to 5% cash back at over 10,000 Neo partners across the country.

Neo Money™ card (prepaid)

With the Neo Money™ card, you get up to 6% cash back:

  • 6% on average on restaurants, bars and cafés
  • 4% on your favorite apps (Netflix, Disney+, Crave, Apple, Uber, Lyft, SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and UberEats)
  • Up to 3% on gas and groceries

Cathay World Elite Mastercard

The Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo is Canada’s only Mastercard credit card that allows you to earn Asia Miles.

For a limited time, you can earn up to 27,000 Asia Miles as a welcome bonus:

  • 7,000 Asia Miles on approval
  • 20,000 Asia Miles after $5,000 in purchases in 3 months

With the Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo, you get:

  • 2 Asia Miles for every $1 spent on purchases made in foreign currencies
  • 2 Asia Miles for every $1 spent on Cathay Pacific flights
  • 5 Asia Miles for every $1 spent at thousands of Neo partners nationwide
  • 1 Asia Miles for every $1 spent on purchases in Canada, including at Costco

As it’s a World Elite Mastercard credit card, you’ll enjoy a host of benefits, including paid access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide.

When you fly with Cathay Pacific, you get priority check-in, an extra bag and redeemable access to Cathay Pacific’s business class lounge.

Finally, you get a 10% discount on Cathay Pacific flights purchased with your Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo.

JA Money Card

The JA Money card—powered by Neo, is ideal for teenagers. You can get this prepaid Mastercard from the age of 13 (14 in Quebec).

With the the JA Money card—powered by Neo, you get up to 5% cash back:

  • Restaurants & Food Delivery: Enjoy 5% average cashback at awesome restaurants and Uber Eats.
  • Clothing & Footwear: Shop the latest styles and score 2% cashback at stores like Dynamite, JD Sports, and Simons.
  • Books & eBooks: Catch up on reading with 2% cashback at places like Chapters, Indigo, and Kobo.
  • Games & Entertainment: Level up with 2% cashback at spots like PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Steam.
  • Health & Fitness: Stay active with 2% cashback at places like GoodLife Fitness and YMCA.

 

Neo Everyday account

The Neo Everyday account is provided by Peoples Bank of Canada, a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). This means it’s eligible for deposit insurance up to a maximum of $100,000.

With the Neo Everyday account (formerly Neo Money), you get up to 6% cash back:

  • 6% on average on restaurants, bars and cafés
  • 4% on your favorite apps (Netflix, Disney+, Crave, Apple, Uber, Lyft, SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and UberEats)
  • 1% on gas and groceries

Neo High-Interest Savings Account

Neo is a digital alternative to the big Canadian banks. It offers no-fee credit cards and a high-interest savings account.

The savings account offers an interest rate of 4% on the entire balance, with no minimum deposit and no monthly fees.

To open an account, you must be at least 13 years old (14 in Quebec).

The main features of the account :

  • No monthly fees or transaction charges
  • No minimum balance required
  • Interac transfers and bill payments available
  • 4% interest rate
  • 1% cash back on all purchases

Comparison with other banks

Credit Cards

In our opinion, the Neo Mastercard and Neo Secured Credit are good cashback credit cards. They are affiliated with credit card provider Mastercard and are thus accepted at Costco. They stand out in several respects, including unlimited cash back from thousands of partners. However, there are other excellent cash back credit cards available in Canada. For example:

To compare other credit cards according to your needs, use our credit card comparator.

Chequing Accounts

In our opinion, Neo Financial’s chequing account, called the Neo Everyday account, is a good choice. First, because it’s an account with no monthly fees. But also, because of its cash rebates with its partners and free banking operations. However, other online banks also offer attractive chequing accounts. For example:

To compare other chequing accounts, use our bank account comparator.

Savings Accounts

In our opinion, the Neo High-Interest Savings account is a good choice. However, other financial institutions have tempting offers, mainly from online banks. For example:

To compare other savings accounts, use our bank account comparator.

Our review of Neo Financial products

Neo Financial offers Canadians an interesting concept with financial products such as the Neo Mastercard and the Neo Everyday account, as well as the Neo High-Interest Savings account. These products are free of charge and easy to obtain.

Secondly, we like the simplicity and ease of use of Neo Financial’s mobile application.

The company is still young and its partnerships relatively new. However, it will be interesting to follow it over the next few years. Who knows, new financial products may soon be available.

In any case, we invite you to give their no-fee credit card a try.

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Vincent Morin
My name is Vincent and I've been a stay-at-home parent to two young boys since achieving financial independence in 2021 (FIRE). Previously, I worked for 12 years in financial technology for a major US investment bank (G-SIB). I'm passionate about personal finance, stock market investing, reading, writing, cycling and gardening. I'm also the founder of Retraite 101, a personal finance blog followed by over 20,000 people on social networks and quoted in several media, blogs and finance books. Despite early retirement, I continue to write about personal finance to share my passion with Quebecers and motivate them to take charge of their finances.

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