Pros & cons
Pros
- Earn an average of 5% cash back with Neo retail partners.
- Guranteed approval as a secured credit card.
- Only requires a minimum security deposit of $50.
Cons
- Limited rewards outside of Neo partners.
- No insurance included.
- Card not issued by a bank.
Your rewards
How you earn rewards
Each card earns rewards differently. Part of choosing your card is deciding what type of rewards you want to get. With Neo Secured Credit, here's how you earn rewards:
- Average of 5% cash back at partner retailers
- 1% cash back on gas , up to $500 spent monthly
- 1% cash back on groceries , up to $500 spent monthly
For all reward details click here.
How much your rewards are worth
The dollar value of your rewards depends on the specific rewards program ‒ and what you choose to redeem your points for. For Neo Secured Credit in particular, if you spend $2,000 per month, here's our estimated annual rewards earned depending on which reward you choose:
| Statement credits | $126 |
Calculating your annual rewards
$24,000 annual spending x 0.53% return on spending = $126 annual rewards
$126 annual rewards − $95.88 annual fee = $30 net annual rewards
Details and eligibility
- Estimated Credit Score
- 300 - 559
- Personal Income
- N/A
- Household Income
- N/A
- Annual Fee
- $95.88
- Extra Card Fee
- $10
- Card type
- Credit
- Purchase
- 19.99% - 29.99%
- Cash Advance
- 22.99% - 31.99%
- Balance Transfer
- 22.99% - 31.99%
Genius Rating
Neo Secured Credit's 1.6 Genius Rating is based on the weighted average of the following scores:
Methodology
All scores are produced by our math-based rating algorithm that takes into account over 126 credit card features.
Top cards if you have Poor Credit
Neo Secured Credit review
Need to improve your credit score? One of the best ways to get your score started on the road to recovery is with a secured credit card.
One of your best options is Neo Secured Credit. Unlike with other secured credit cards, you can earn plenty of rewards on purchases for a monthly fee of $7.99.
Here's what this card has to offer.
Getting Neo Secured Credit
How do you get Neo Secured Credit? It's quite easy.
You can use our secure links to take you to Neo's site by clicking on any "Apply Now" button on this page.
This is where things get easy with Neo.
First, they won't conduct a hard credit check when you submit an application. No need to worry about a credit check showing up on your credit file.
Once your application is done, you'll need to provide a security deposit to get a card issued. With most secured cards, you'll need to provide at least $500.
But with Neo, you'll only need to provide $50, making it much easier for anyone to open an account.
And with that, you'll have the best secured credit card available in Canada.
Why is it the best? Here's why.
Neo Secured credit card rewards
Neo Secured Credit is a rare secured credit card in Canada that also offers rewards.You'll be earning cash back at these rates:
- Average of 5% cash back at partner retailers
- 1% cash back on gas, up to $500 spent monthly
- 1% cash back on groceries, up to $500 spent monthly
Now, there are some things to point out. The base rates aren't very good. But if you have a Neo Everyday Account you can earn more, depending on how much you have deposited.
| Neo Everyday account balance | $0 | $1,000 | $3,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| Groceries | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| Everything else | 0% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% |
You're also subject to spending caps. Once you reach the annual spending cap in each category, you'll no longer be earning rewards.
- Groceries – $6,000
- Gas – $10,000
- Everything else – $20,000
3 benefits of Neo Secured Credit
On top of the rewards and how easy it is to get one, here are 3 benefits to the Neo Secured Card.
1. Redeem your rewards on demand
With many cash back credit cards, you only get to redeem your rewards once per year, as a statement credit.
But not here. With Neo, you can choose when you want to redeem your rewards and there are no minimum redemption options.
You don't even have to get statement credits either – you can choose to redeem your cash back for merchandise and other rewards with Neo.
2. Many one-time welcome bonuses
While there's no overall welcome bonus, you can still earn many one-time bonuses with Neo's partners.
With select partners, you can earn 15% back on your first purchases – that’s some really easy cash back to earn with your new Neo Card.
3. Upgrade to Neo Premium
Want to take your secured credit card to the next level? For only $4.99 per month ($59.88 per year), you can upgrade to Neo Premium and get more rewards and a few extras.
Let's start with the rewards. First, you'll get a pair of base earn rates:
- 3% cash back on gas and groceries, and
- 0.5% cash back everywhere else.
You'll also earn more cash back with Neo's retail partners:
- 6% average cash back at restaurants, bars, and cafes,
- 4% on popular streaming services,
- 4% on ride sharing services,
- 4% on food delivery services, and
- 3% or more at retail partners.
As to extra benefits, this is what it offers:
- credit score monitoring,
- $2,500 group life insurance,
- 24/7 legal assistance,
- purchase protection and extended warranty, and
- priority security support.
2 downsides of Neo Secured Credit
As with everything, there are a couple of downsides to be aware of.
1. No included insurance coverage
First, there's no insurance included, so if you want the extra peace of mind that comes with free insurance, you won't find it here.
With that said, this is pretty common for secured credit cards – it's rare to find one that has any insurance included at all.
2. Caps on earning rewards
There are also some caps on rewards. We've already covered earning rewards at partner retailers, but you get limited rewards outside of them.
You'll only earn 1% back on gas and groceries – and that's it. You won't earn rewards elsewhere. Now, that changes when you have money deposited into a Neo Everyday Account. But you need a lot deposited and you'll only earn 0.1% interest while it's there.
Comparison to the Home Trust Secured Visa
Neo Secured Credit isn't the only secured credit card available. Another option exists in the
Here's how these 2 credit cards compare.
| Neo Secured Credit Card | Home Trust Secured Visa | |
|---|---|---|
| Earn Rates |
* Average of 5% cash back at partner retailers * 1% cash back on gas, up to $500 spent monthly * 1% cash back on groceries, up to $500 spent monthly |
None |
| Insurance Coverage | None | None |
| Minimum Security Deposit | $50 | $500 |
| Foreign Exchange Fee | 2.5% | 2% |
| Annual Fee | $95.88 | $0 |
| Apply Now | Apply Now | Apply Now |
There really isn't much of a comparison – Neo is better in almost every way. It offers rewards on purchases and only requires a minimum deposit of $50, as opposed to $500.
Home Trust does have one advantage in that it charges no annual fee, but otherwise Neo is probably going to be a better option for you.
Your turn
Neo Secured Credit is top dog when it comes to secured credit cards, as it has no annual fee and earns rewards on purchases.
If you get this card, leave us a user review below so others can see what you thought of it.
FAQ
What does Neo Secured Credit offer for rewards?
Neo Secured Credit offers an average of 5% when shopping with retail partners and 1% back on gas and groceries, with the ability to earn more when you have money deposited into a Neo Everyday Account.
What are the requirements to get Neo Secured Credit?
There aren't many requirements. You won't be subjected to a hard credit check, and you'll only need to provide a $50 deposit to get an account opened.
What are the annual fee and income requirements of Neo Secured Credit?
Neo Secured Credit has a $95.88 annual fee and no income requirements.
Key benefits
User reviews
Reviewed by 17 Canadians
Thank you for your review!
Hang tight while we verify and approve it.
If you want to see your review right away...
Create an account:
Finally let it go. Even with a credit history, I wanted a credit card with a very low limit, and I thought that a secured card would be the way. (Prepaid cards sometimes don't work in places like gas station pumps.) Now that it is no longer free to use it, I finally convinced myself to let it go.
Last secured Credit Card was with "Plastk" secured credit card and when I cancelled it took over a year and 4 months to get my $200 deposit back. I haven't had issues with Neo but CS doesn't seem helpful when I tried calling for support. I've made a lot of cash back and mainly use the card to build my credit but when I went to reduce my limit back too $100 it says I need to close my account to do that And I've been told by people after you close the account you can't open another one under the same name so never put more money than what you plan on using for your secured balance. I am really hoping that when it comes time to close this account or move to another credit card that it will take a while to receive my funds again. I hope it's not the case but looks complicated and definitely is giving me vibes from what happened with Plastk. I like the rewards that are offered for travel and tech. The premium version is great but you can subscribe and unsubscribe when you are using the card more. It's been a good experience so far and I haven't had any issues but do fear if I did there wouldn't be someone to turn to. As I said customer support seems a little crusty.
I would give them a 5 stars but they have added a $5 monthly fee to the card. Also raising the price of the Premium Perks from $4.99 to$9.99 monthly. Your cashback will be $15.00 less each month.
My Neo Card with enough funds get declined in some parking payment machines in Vancouver.
It's hard to keep up with which stores they have offers for. You have to keep going back to the app and searching for the store/merchant OR you have to open your app when approaching the store so it detects that you're in the area. I recently went to two stores which previously had offers and then I realized they no longer do. I have another card that has 1% cash back. I could have used that instead of 0.5% on this.
