It’s been interesting to follow the story of Neo Financial in the recent past.
Despite being one of the newer fintechs in Canada, the Calgary-based company has managed to expand rapidly. It has co-branded credit card deals with icons such as the Hudson’s Bay Company, and has also launched the first à-la-carte credit product on the market.
It seemed to only be a matter of time until Neo dipped its toes into everyday banking, which it has now done with the launch of the new Neo Money™ card. This product offers cash back on everyday transactions, as well as interest and a bevy of other features. Let’s take a look.
The Neo Money™ Card: A New Prepaid Payment Solution
Neo launched the Neo Money™ card in Q2 of 2023, just in time for the summer travel season. This new product type is something we’ve seen a few times now: a prepaid credit, rather than debit, product with many features similar to those of a typical chequing account.
It’s important to note that as a prepaid credit product, this new Neo Money™ card will function anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Unfortunately, this means that it cannot be used everywhere that a debit card can, such as at merchants or retailers who only accept cash or debit.
That being said, this product comes with a variety of advantages over regular banking products. The benefits of the Neo Money™ card are as follows:
- 2.25% annual interest on all deposits, calculated daily
- Earn unlimited cash back at Neo Financial’s partners
- Create bill payments for other credit products or bills, with the option for autopay
- Free domestic and foreign ATM cash withdrawals anywhere Mastercard is accepted
- No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements
- Complimentary Interac e-Transfers
- CDIC deposit insurance, up to $100,000
The ability to earn cash back with Neo Financial’s partners, as well as daily interest accrual, are the main incentives to draw customers to the card. Though Neo partners with many brands, the exact amount of cash back to which you may be entitled is only revealed once you’ve signed up for the product.
Should you wish to acquire the Neo Money™ card, all you need to do is complete your application via Neo’s secure web portal and be ready to present some ID for verification. The process is similar to that required for its credit card products, and usually takes only a few minutes.
Once your account is opened, you can choose to load your Neo Money™ card via Interac e-Transfer from another financial institution, or opt to have your payroll deposited directly onto the card. Of course, should you ever wish to return money to another source, you can always use the e-Transfer function to move money around.
The Neo Money™ card is meant to be a digital-first payment solution. You can automatically add your card to your Apple Wallet or Google Pay account, and if you’d like a physical card, you can request one directly from the app.
While the Neo Money™ card doesn’t have monthly or ATM withdrawal fees, it does have a 2.5% foreign exchange fee on all transactions not denominated in Canadian dollars, as well as a $500 cash withdrawal limit per day.
Neo Continues Expansion Efforts
As I’ve covered in the past, the Canadian prepaid market continues to grow. While the fintech sector has seen somewhat of a slowdown since the end of the pandemic, including certain prepaid products such as the MogoCard shutting down entirely, Neo has decided to enter the everyday banking space.
Neo also recently chose to expand its credit card offering by providing the first à la carte product on the market. This means that customers who use the Neo Credit card are permitted to select a bevy of benefits, ranging from mobile device insurance to expanded cash back on restaurants, in exchange for a variety of monthly fees.
Neo has decided to continue expanding not just with a credit card and now prepaid card, but also with the virtual-only mortgage lending experience Neo Mortgage, which is also a partner with the Air Miles program.
Clearly, Neo is not slowing down on acquiring retail partners or releasing new financial products, so I’ll be curious to see what else they will bring forth in the future. Will we see subscription bundles on the prepaid Neo Money™ card? Or will we see an entirely new type of product, such as auto loans? Only time will tell.
Conclusion
Neo has launched the Neo Money™ card, a prepaid Mastercard product. This no-fee product offers 2.25% interest on deposits, as well as cash back at each of Neo’s retail partners. As one more feather in Neo’s cap in the last few months, the company shows no sign of slowing down on growing its operations or product lines.
We will be closely watching what the Calgary-based fintech will launch for its customers in the future, so stay tuned.
