Refresh Financial was one of Canada's best-known credit-building fintechs, offering credit builder loans and a secured card to people rebuilding their score. The company no longer exists as a standalone brand: Borrowell announced its acquisition of Refresh Financial in January 2021, the secured card was retired in October 2022, and today refreshfinancial.ca redirects straight to borrowell.com. This page explains what happened, where each product went, and the honest alternatives in 2026 - whether you came here to build credit or to borrow money.
Loanspot is a free matching service, not a lender: one application reaches multiple licensed Canadian lenders at once, so if you came to Refresh Financial looking to borrow, you can see real priced offers side by side instead.
Choose your amount and confirm income securely with IBV. There is no hard credit pull and no obligation.
Your profile reaches multiple licensed Canadian lenders at the same time, each pricing inside the federal cap.
Accept the offer that fits your budget and receive the money by e-transfer, often the same or next business day.
Refresh Financial was a British Columbia based fintech built around one idea: helping Canadians with damaged or thin credit rebuild their file. Its flagship credit builder loan worked in reverse - instead of handing you money up front, the payments you made were reported to the credit bureaus and the saved funds were released to you at the end of the term. Alongside it sat a secured card that let people put everyday spending on a card while rebuilding. For years, Refresh Financial was one of the first names Canadians heard when they searched for a way to build credit without a bank's approval.
Then the brand changed hands. In January 2021, Borrowell - the Toronto fintech known for free weekly Equifax credit score monitoring - announced it had acquired Refresh Financial. The product line was folded in over the following two years: as of October 17, 2022, the Refresh secured card was retired, and the credit-building products were absorbed into Borrowell's own lineup. Today the takeover is complete in the most literal way: type refreshfinancial.ca into a browser and you land on borrowell.com. The brand is gone, but the search demand for Refresh Financial has never stopped - which is why an honest answer about what happened, and what to use instead, still matters in 2026.
Photo by George Milton on Pexels
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Before 2021 | Refresh Financial operates independently: credit builder loans plus a secured card for Canadians rebuilding credit |
| January 2021 | Borrowell announces its acquisition of Refresh Financial |
| October 17, 2022 | The Refresh secured card is retired; credit-building products continue under Borrowell |
| August 2026 | refreshfinancial.ca redirects permanently to borrowell.com - the standalone brand no longer exists |
Sources: the acquisition and card retirement are public record; the redirect from refreshfinancial.ca to borrowell.com was verified directly in August 2026.
| What you used | Where it lives in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Credit builder loan | Borrowell lists a Credit Builder program in its current product lineup - pricing is on its site |
| Secured card | Retired in October 2022; secured cards are available from most Canadian banks and credit unions |
| Your account or records | Handled through Borrowell's support - the acquiring company services former customers |
| Your reported payment history | Stays on your Equifax and TransUnion files - history already reported does not disappear with the brand |
Product details belong to Borrowell and can change - confirm current terms on borrowell.com before signing up for anything.
One application shows you several licensed offers next to each other before you commit.
Apply once and reach multiple licensed lenders at the same time.
Read-only income verification in about 60 seconds, nothing to install.
Approval weighs your full-time or part-time income, not just your score.
Comparing offers is free and never touches your credit score.
Photo by Kaboompics.com on Pexels
The right alternative depends on which Refresh Financial product you were actually looking for, because the brand served two very different needs: building credit slowly, and getting money now. They are not the same problem, and the honest answer routes them differently.
The closest successor is the obvious one: Borrowell's own Credit Builder program, which is where the Refresh product line ended up. Beyond that, a secured card from a bank or credit union does the same reporting work - you provide a deposit, spend small amounts, and the on-time payments build your file month by month.
A third route is a small instalment loan that reports to the bureaus, but only when you genuinely need the money anyway: borrowing purely to build credit means paying interest for history you could earn with a secured card instead. Whatever route you pick, the mechanics that made the credit builder loan work still apply - on-time payments reported to the bureaus are what move a score, not any particular brand.
Some of the search demand for Refresh Financial was never about credit building - it was people with a low score who needed funds and remembered a brand that said yes. In 2026 that need is served by licensed income-based lenders: approval weighs your full-time or part-time employment income, verified through a 60-second read-only IBV check, every offer must price inside the federal 35% APR cap, and under Canadian cost-of-borrowing rules the full dollar cost must appear in your agreement before you sign.
A free matching service like Loanspot puts several of those offers side by side from one application, for amounts from $300 to $50,000, without a hard credit pull. Start with the bad credit loans page or the personal loans hub.
Photo by AI25.Studio on Pexels
If your search was really about finding a specific lender that approves rebuilt or rebuilding credit, our lender review series puts each brand's own published numbers next to the alternatives: the easyfinancial review, Progressa review, Magical Credit review and Lamina Loans review all follow the same rule this page does - every figure from the lender's own site, and the ceiling stated as plainly as the floor.
Two practical notes if you held a Refresh Financial product. First, your payment history is safe: anything already reported to Equifax or TransUnion stays on your file under normal bureau retention rules - positive history does not vanish because a brand did. Second, for account records, released savings or old statements, Borrowell is the company to contact, since it acquired Refresh Financial and services its former customers. If a collection agency or unfamiliar company contacts you about an old Refresh account, verify the debt in writing before paying anything - a changed brand name is exactly the confusion debt scammers like to exploit.
Before signing up for any replacement product, run the same short check this site recommends everywhere. Find the full cost in dollars, not just a rate. Test the payment against your real monthly budget. Check what optional extras add per month. And hold a second offer next to the first - the one habit that would have served every Refresh Financial customer then, and serves every borrower now.
What Canadians ask most about the brand in 2026.
Photo by Jeff Vinluan on Pexels
Borrowell announced its acquisition of Refresh Financial in January 2021. The secured card was retired on October 17, 2022, the credit-building products were folded into Borrowell's lineup, and refreshfinancial.ca now redirects permanently to borrowell.com. The standalone brand no longer exists.
Not as a standalone company. The brand was absorbed by Borrowell after the January 2021 acquisition, and its website now redirects to borrowell.com. Former customers are serviced through Borrowell, which lists a Credit Builder program among its current products.
It was retired as of October 17, 2022, following the Borrowell acquisition. Canadians who want the same tool today can get a secured card from most banks and credit unions: you provide a deposit, and on-time payments are reported to the bureaus while you rebuild.
Yes. Payments already reported to Equifax or TransUnion stay on your credit file under normal bureau retention rules - reported history does not disappear when a brand is acquired. For account records or old statements, contact Borrowell, which services former Refresh customers.
It depends on the goal. To build credit: Borrowell's Credit Builder program or a secured card from a bank or credit union. To borrow money: licensed income-based lenders that verify income with a quick read-only IBV check and price inside the federal 35% APR cap - a free matching service like Loanspot shows several of those offers side by side from one application.
Yes. Credit builder products still exist - Borrowell markets one, and several credit unions offer their own versions. The mechanics are unchanged: your payments are reported to the bureaus and the saved funds are released at the end of the term. Compare the monthly cost against a secured card before committing, since both build the same history.
One 60 second application reaches multiple licensed Canadian lenders - free, no obligation, no impact to your credit score.
Compare my offers →Loanspot works with lenders in every province and territory.
Bad Credit Loans Canada No Credit Check Loans Compare Loan Types Progressa Review easyfinancial Review Iceberg Finance Review Magical Credit Review Freedom 500 Loans Review Lamina Loans Review
