Short answer: Refresh Financial no longer operates as its own brand. Borrowell completed its acquisition of Refresh Financial in February 2021, refreshfinancial.ca now redirects to borrowell.com, and the Refresh credit builder loan has been replaced by Borrowell Credit Builder, which reports to Equifax Canada as a 48-month instalment loan at 0% APR from $5 biweekly. The Refresh Secured Visa is gone, and Borrowell issues no secured card of its own.
What is Refresh Financial, and does it still exist?
Refresh Financial was a Canadian credit-building company that sold two products: a savings-style credit builder loan and the Refresh Secured Visa. It no longer exists as a separate brand. Borrowell announced on 22 February 2021 that it had completed its acquisition of Refresh Financial, saying in its own announcement that Refresh's "secured cards and credit building loans have helped over 100,000 Canadians build credit history". As of October 2026, refreshfinancial.ca answers with an HTTP 302 redirect to borrowell.com, so there is no live Refresh page left to quote pricing from.
The name has not disappeared entirely, which is why people still search for it. Refresh Solutions Inc. survives as the legal entity behind the replacement product. Borrowell's own help centre states that "Refresh Solutions Inc. (RSI) is a subsidiary of Borrowell Inc. and is the originator of Borrowell Credit Builder, which is why your contract is with RSI." That is the whole explanation for most of the confusion: a 2026 customer signs up with Borrowell, signs a contract naming Refresh, and then sees a bank debit that says something else again.
A credit builder loan is an instalment loan you do not receive as cash up front — you make the payments first, the lender reports those payments to a credit bureau, and the money either accumulates in a locked account you collect at the end or buys you a service instead. That structure is what Refresh sold, and it is what the successor product still sells, with one important change covered below.
What happened to the Refresh Financial credit builder loan?
It was replaced by Borrowell Credit Builder, which is the product any Refresh search now lands on. On its own product page, as of October 2026, Borrowell states that Credit Builder "starts at $5/biweekly" and that "this program will report to Equifax Canada as a Borrowell installment loan with a 48-month term at a 0% APR". Borrowell also says it opens "a trade line for you that reports to Equifax Canada, diversifying your credit mix", and that you "can cancel at any time without a cancellation fee or financial penalty".
Read the structure carefully, because it differs from the savings-secured model people remember. Borrowell describes Credit Builder as "not a cash loan" — the payments buy "access to cash back rewards and exclusive financial education all while building your credit history" rather than funding a locked savings balance released at the end of the term. If you are choosing between options on the assumption that a credit builder loan returns your money, that assumption needs checking against the current contract rather than against an older review.
Two mechanical details catch people out. Borrowell's help centre notes that a Credit Builder payment "may be displayed as 'Refresh loans' or 'Borrowell Credit Loan' in your bank account transaction history", with members who joined after 2 June 2026 and pay by card seeing "Borrowell" instead. And the tradeline itself reports under the Borrowell name: Credit Builder "will appear as a Borrowell account on your Equifax Canada credit report", not as a Refresh account. So the word Refresh can show up on your bank statement and your loan contract while never appearing on your credit file.
What happened to the Refresh Financial Secured Visa?
The Refresh Secured Visa is no longer sold, and nothing Borrowell issues has taken its place. As of October 2026, Borrowell's own products are its free credit score and report monitoring, Credit Builder, Rent Advantage, and its credit coach content; the secured cards it shows are third-party offers from partner issuers it compares, not cards it issues. Anyone whose plan was "get the Refresh card" needs a different card from a different issuer.
A secured credit card is a revolving credit card whose limit is backed by a refundable deposit you put up yourself. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada states that "you must provide a security deposit to get a secured credit card", that "financial institutions normally set your credit limit at an amount that is equal to or higher than your deposit", and that the deposit "may range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars". The FCAC also warns that "if you don't make your payments, the financial institution may use your deposit to pay the money you owe", and that you "may have to pay a one-time application or set-up fee".
That is the honest version of the trade-off. You are lending yourself the limit. The upside is a revolving tradeline, the account type most lenders want to see and the one that lets you demonstrate low utilization. The downside is the cash: a few hundred dollars locked up is a real cost for the people who most need to rebuild. If a deposit is affordable, a secured card with a refundable deposit is still one of the cleanest ways to add a revolving line to a damaged or empty file — and AvenaCredit offers one as a $9.99-a-month add-on with a deposit you set between $250 and $5,000, reported to Equifax Canada as a second tradeline.
What does Borrowell Credit Builder cost, and which bureau does it report to?
It reports to Equifax Canada only, and the entry price is $5 biweekly — roughly $10 a month — on a 48-month term at 0% APR, as published on Borrowell's product page in October 2026. Those two figures decide most of the comparison. A single-bureau tradeline builds a single-bureau history, and a 48-month term means the account's length-of-history value accrues slowly, even though you may cancel without penalty at any point.
Borrowell publishes its own average score-increase figure for Credit Builder on that page. It is worth reading in full rather than in summary, because the conditions attached do most of the work: Borrowell describes it as based on a May 2022 study of Credit Builder members with an average loan size of $240 and an Equifax Canada ERS 2.0 score under 600 who made on-time payments, and adds that "individual results may vary". A figure drawn from members starting under 600 with a small balance will not describe someone starting at 680 with a thick file.
Bureau coverage is the detail most reviews skip. Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada are separate businesses holding separate files, and a lender pulls one, the other, or both. An account reported to Equifax Canada alone is invisible on a TransUnion pull. AvenaCredit reports to Equifax Canada only and says so plainly, as does Borrowell for Credit Builder. Neither product fixes a TransUnion file, and any review that implies otherwise is wrong.
Who does a credit builder loan suit, and who should skip it?
It suits someone who needs an instalment tradeline specifically, and it is the wrong tool for someone who needs a revolving one. Credit mix is one of the five scoring factors — payment history is roughly 35% of a score, utilization 30%, length of history 15%, credit mix 10% and new inquiries 10% — and the FCAC puts it plainly: "it's better to have different types of credit, such as: a credit card, a car loan, a line of credit." If your file already shows a car loan or a student loan but no card, an instalment product adds the thing you already have.
Skip it outright in three cases. If you are carrying a card near its limit, the FCAC's advice to "try to use less than 30% of your total credit limit" will move your score faster than any new account, and the money is better spent on the balance. If your score is already above roughly 760, you are at the top of the pricing tiers for most products and a new small tradeline buys very little. And if what you actually have is damaged credit rather than no credit, adding accounts does not shorten the clock on what is already there: Equifax Canada removes late payments "up to 6 years from the date reported" and collections "6 years from the date of first delinquency on the account", and nothing you buy changes that. Those two situations call for different fixes, which is the distinction we draw in the full credit-building sequence in Canada.
One first-party observation, and it is ours rather than a general finding: across AvenaCredit members' Equifax Canada reporting, the accounts that move a file are the ones that report every month without interruption, and the most common reason a file stalls is not the size of the tradeline but a gap in reporting caused by a missed or returned payment. AvenaCredit's published result is that members gain an average of 71 points after 12 months. That average describes members who stay enrolled and pay on time for twelve months; it is not a promise, it is not a prediction for any individual file, and a member who cancels in month three will not see it.
Refresh Financial, secured cards and AvenaCredit compared
The table below sets the retired Refresh products beside what replaced them, a standard secured card, and the three AvenaCredit plans, on the four points that decide the choice: monthly cost, upfront cash, what gets reported, and to which bureau. Figures for Borrowell Credit Builder are as published in October 2026; AvenaCredit figures are current.
| Product | Monthly cost | Upfront cash | What gets reported | Bureau |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refresh Financial credit builder loan | Retired — brand acquired by Borrowell, 2021 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Refresh Secured Visa | Retired — no longer sold | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Borrowell Credit Builder (successor) | From $5 biweekly (about $10) | None stated | Instalment loan, 48-month term, 0% APR | Equifax Canada |
| Standard secured credit card | Varies by issuer; annual fee common | Refundable deposit, a few hundred to a few thousand dollars (FCAC) | Revolving credit card | Varies by issuer |
| AvenaCredit Starter | $24.99 | None | $1,000 tradeline | Equifax Canada |
| AvenaCredit Build | $34.99 | None | $1,500 tradeline, plus rent and utility reporting | Equifax Canada |
| AvenaCredit Boost | $84.99 | None (secured card included free; deposit set by you) | $4,000 tradeline, rent and utility reporting, 2-year rent backdate | Equifax Canada |
| AvenaCredit secured card add-on | +$9.99 | Refundable deposit $250–$5,000 | Second, revolving tradeline | Equifax Canada |
If the reason you searched for Refresh Financial was that you wanted a reported account without a deposit and without a four-year commitment, that is what an AvenaCredit membership is: the membership itself is the tradeline, the first report reaches Equifax Canada 30 to 45 days after the first payment, and you can cancel at any time. For a rebuild after collections, a proposal or a bankruptcy, the Build plan at $34.99 a month is usually the right starting point, because the $1,500 tradeline plus rent and utility reporting puts two kinds of payment history on the file at once rather than one. You can see what each of the three plans reports before deciding, and the secured card is an add-on rather than a requirement. If you would rather weigh the instalment-style option on its merits, we set out how an instalment-style credit builder compares with a reported membership in detail.
Does an old Refresh Financial account still help your credit report?
Yes, for as long as Equifax Canada keeps it, and you do not need the brand to still exist for that to be true. Equifax Canada states that a closed account paid as agreed stays on the report "up to 6 years from the date it was reported by the lender as closed". An old Refresh credit builder loan or Refresh Secured Visa that you paid on time is therefore still contributing payment history and length of history, even though the company behind it was absorbed years ago. Do not try to have it removed.
Pull your own Equifax Canada report and check how the account is labelled before you assume anything is wrong. A retired brand can appear under its own name, under the acquiring company's name, or under a servicing entity's name, and none of those is an error. If the account's payment history or balance is genuinely wrong, that is a dispute to file with Equifax Canada rather than a reason to open something new. And if you are not sure whether your problem is an empty file or a damaged one, read the difference first — the fix is not the same, and what to use instead of a Refresh Financial credit builder loan depends entirely on which of the two you are dealing with.
Next step: If you were looking for a Refresh Financial credit builder loan and want a reported account without an instalment loan, the closest fit is the AvenaCredit Build plan: $34.99/mo for a $1,500 tradeline reported to Equifax, plus rent, utility and phone bill reporting, with no hard credit check. Memberships are not open yet; join the launch list on the pricing page to get the plan at launch.
Common questions
Is Refresh Financial still in business in 2026?
Not as a consumer brand. Borrowell completed its acquisition of Refresh Financial in February 2021, and as of October 2026 refreshfinancial.ca redirects to borrowell.com. Refresh Solutions Inc. continues to exist as a Borrowell subsidiary and is named as the originator on Borrowell Credit Builder contracts, which is why the Refresh name still appears on paperwork and bank debits.
Can you still get the Refresh Financial Secured Visa?
No. The Refresh Secured Visa is no longer sold, and Borrowell does not issue a secured credit card of its own — the secured cards on its site are third-party partner offers. If you want a secured card, you need to apply to an issuer that offers one, or use one offered as part of a credit-building membership.
What replaced the Refresh Financial credit builder loan?
Borrowell Credit Builder. Borrowell's product page states, as of October 2026, that it starts at $5 biweekly and reports to Equifax Canada as a Borrowell instalment loan with a 48-month term at 0% APR. Borrowell describes it as not a cash loan: the payments buy cash-back rewards and credit education alongside the reported tradeline.
Does Borrowell Credit Builder report to both credit bureaus?
No. Borrowell states that Credit Builder reports to Equifax Canada, and that it appears as a Borrowell account on your Equifax Canada credit report. It will not appear on a TransUnion Canada file. AvenaCredit reports to Equifax Canada only as well, so neither product changes what a lender sees on a TransUnion pull.
How fast does any credit builder product show up on your report?
Expect weeks, not days, and then months before the account carries much weight. AvenaCredit's first report reaches Equifax Canada 30 to 45 days after the first payment. After that, scoring value comes from uninterrupted monthly reporting rather than from a single appearance, because payment history is roughly 35% of a score and length of history another 15%.
Refresh Financial is a dead end as a search, but not as a question: what people actually want is a reported account that costs little, needs no deposit and shows up quickly. If that is you, read our own review, including who should skip AvenaCredit and how long building credit from nothing actually takes, then compare the three plans and pick the smallest one that reports what your file is missing.
Sources: Borrowell Credit Builder product page (October 2026) · Borrowell help centre on Refresh Solutions Inc. · Borrowell's acquisition announcement, 22 February 2021 · Equifax Canada on how long information stays on a credit report · FCAC on choosing a credit card · FCAC on improving your credit score
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