Review: Secured Neo Mastercard

Secured credit cards are a great tool for those who may not have been as responsible with credit products in the past, and are looking to improve their credit score and credit report going forward. These credit products give customers the opportunity to put down a cash security deposit, which will determine the credit limit on their secured credit cards, and in turn, allow them to use a credit product to build their credit score and credit report.

Needless to say, for many Canadians, secured credit cards fit a need in the market and there are only a number of these cards available. The Neo Secured Mastercard is the newest option on the market, and it adds a unique spin as a secured credit card that earns rewards on purchases.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about the Neo Secured Mastercard to see if this card is worth adding to your wallet.

Overview

Welcome Bonus

The Neo Secured Mastercard currently has a welcome bonus in which new cardholders can earn up to $25 cashback:

• Earn $25 upon credit card approval

Plus: You can earn an additional $25 FlyerFunds Rebate on the Neo Secured Mastercard when you apply through Frugal Flyer Rebates!

This offer has no expiry date.

Neo Secured Mastercard

$25

Apply Now Learn More Terms & Conditions apply

Neo Secured Mastercard

The Neo Secured Mastercard offers guaranteed approval with only a $50 minimum deposit and earns 1% cash back on all gas and grocery purchases, plus additional cash back at partner retailers across Canada.

Check out our Neo Secured Mastercard review for more details.

Earn $25 in FlyerFunds when you apply through Frugal Flyer.

BONUS
$25 cash back

MINSPEND
$0

EST. VALUE
$50+

ANNUAL FEE
$96

FOREX FEES
Yes

EXPIRY
–

Since the Neo Secured Mastercard is a secured card, applicants will need to provide a deposit in the amount of the limit they wish to receive. The minimum security deposit amount is $50 with a maximum amount of $10,000, and whatever amount is deposited will determine the credit limit on the card. This amount will be returned should the cardholder ever close the secured credit card.

The Neo Secured Mastercard does not have a personal or household annual income requirement. While the card does state that instant approval is guaranteed, there may be some outlier situations in which the applicant may not be instantly approved. There are no hard credit checks when applying for this product.

Earning Rates

The Neo Secured Mastercard earns cash back for all eligible purchases made on the card and cardholders can earn up to 5% cash back at partnered retailers across Canada. Cardholders are also eligible to receive up to 15% cash back on their first purchase at specific partners. Cardholders will need to log into the Neo Financial app to review all of the retailer partners, including their cash back earning rates.

Cardholders will also earn 1% cash back on all gas and grocery purchases, and 0% cash back on all other purchases. However, Neo does guarantee that cardholders will earn at least 0.5% cash back on all purchases. 

This guarantee means if at the end of the month, the total cash back earned is less than 0.5% across all your purchases, they will grant additional cashback to the cardholder to bring them to a minimum of 0.5% cash back for that month.

Annual Fee

The Secured Neo Credit Card has a monthly fee of $7.99, which works out to be an annual fee of $96.

Redeeming Cash Back on the Neo Secured Mastercard

Cash back rewards earned from the Neo Secured Mastercard can be redeemed instantly at any time and there is no minimum balance required to redeem your rewards. Once redeemed, the cash back will show as a statement credit on your Neo Financial card.

Credit Bureau Reporting For The Neo Secured Mastercard

If you are looking to get a secured credit card like the Neo Secured Mastercard, you are most likely in a situation where you are looking to improve your personal financial situation and credit score. If the concept of credit scores is new to you, take some time to learn everything you need to know about credit scores.

The one important thing to note is that the Neo Secured Mastercard only reports to Transunion and not Equifax. Transunion and Equifax are the two credit bureaus in Canada and are what lenders use to pull your credit report to determine creditworthiness and if they will approve you for the desired loan or credit product.

While this isn’t a huge problem upfront, do note that it means if you are trying to get a credit product from a lender that pulls creditworthiness from Equifax in the future, your payment history and details related to your Neo Secured Card will not show up on that report.

If you want to check your credit score with Transunion, sign up for Clearscore which is a free-to-use service to access your credit score and credit report. On the flip side, if you want to access your Equifax credit score and credit report, sign up for Borrowell.

Conclusion

If you are in a situation where you can’t get approved for a traditional credit card but still want to build your credit score, the Neo Secured Mastercard is a great option as it requires a minimal deposit to get started and offers cash back rewards on purchases.

There are only a handful of other secured credit cards in Canada and the Neo card is the best of the bunch, so if you are in the market for a secured credit card we would recommend adding the Neo Secured Card to your wallet.