EDIT: As of 2023, Mogo no longer offers the ability to check your credit score or free identity protection 🙁
Knowing your credit score is really important when you’re looking to apply for a credit card, personal loan or a mortgage. Basically, it’s a number that demonstrates your credit worthiness to financial institutions.
In Canada, there are many ways to check your credit score but it comes at a cost. For example, the credit bureau Equifax charges between $12 and $20/month for credit report monitoring.
But now, Canadian fintech companies Borrowell and Mogo both allow you to check regularly your Equifax credit score completely for FREE!
So, this article will help you decide between Borrowell and Mogo which one is best for you.
The importance of your credit score
First, a reminder of what exactly is a credit score and why it’s important.
Your credit score is a mathematical formula that translates the information in your credit report into a number between 300 and 900. The higher the number the better. Generally, a score between 650 and 750 is good and anything above 750 is an excellent.
This number determines your overall credit worthiness. So, when you apply for a credit card, banks will check your score. This check is called a “hard inquiry” and will show up on your credit report regardless of the outcome of your application.
Borrowell
Borrowell is a proudly Canadian financial services company and was founded in 2014. They have provided more than 1.5 million members with free access to their credit information.
They are one of the first companies to provide Canadians with their FREE Equifax credit score which is updated every week!
It only takes minutes to sign up and check your score with Borrowell !
Plus, you can check your score anytime on the Borrowell website or on your smartphone with their iOS and Android apps.
Check your credit report for FREE with Borrowell
Another great feature of Borrowell is that it offers you the ability to view, print or download your credit report. This is a record of your history with debt including any credit card, loan or mortgage inquiries and accounts. Also, the information on your credit report is used to determine your credit score.
Overall, Borrowell will show you the status of all your credit accounts (open or closed), what date they were opened and their payment history. Plus, it will indicate the date that your credit report was last retrieved.
In addition, Borrowell will show you the date of any Equifax credit inquiries on your credit report.
Both of these features are great because you can review your credit report with Borrowell at anytime. This allows you to verify if your account information is accurate and check for any irregularities. Ultimately, this protects you against credit fraud and identity theft.
Also, Borrowell members receive access to an intuitive AI credit coach which analyzes their profile and sends them personalized tips to improve their score.
Lastly, Borrowell offers various recommendations for different financial products including loans, credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts, insurance and investing.
Check out my Borrowell review for more details and features they offer.
Mogo
Mogo is Vancouver-based fintech company founded in 2003. With over 1 million members, Mogo aims to empower Canadians with simple and powerful solutions to help them improve their financial health.
It’s easy to sign up for a free Mogo account in less than 3 minutes either through the Mogo mobile app or on the Mogo website.
Currently, Mogo is available throughout Canada except in Quebec.
Check your credit score for FREE with Mogo (DISCONTINUED)
EDIT: As of 2023, Mogo no longer offers the ability to check your credit score or free identity protection 🙁
Mogo has partnered with Equifax, to let their customers check their credit score for FREE! It’s updated every month so members can track their Equifax (ERS 2.0) credit score on regular basis. Also, what’s great is these ongoing updates will not impact your credit score!
Plus, you can check your credit score anytime on the web or on your smartphone with the Mogo iOS and Android apps.
Also, Mogo provides tips to improve your credit score and stay on top of your financial health.
FREE identity fraud protection (DISCONTINUED)
Mogo is the first and only company in Canada that offers free identity fraud protection to all its customers. Similar services with other provides cost as much as $20 a month!
The service is called MogoProtect and alerts customers to any activity (legitimate or fraudulent) in regards to their credit identity. This is critical as 75% of Canadians (or over 28 million) were affected by data breaches in one year according to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Basically, MogoProtect monitors your Equifax credit bureau on a daily basis for any new hard credit inquiries.
For example, if a fraudster is using your personal info to apply for credit, this could cause a hard inquiry to appear on your Equifax credit bureau. Mogo monitors for this and sends a mobile and email notification within 24 hours of the inquiry being reported. Therefore, you can quickly act with the bank or Equifax to resolve any issues about suspicious inquiries on your account.
Also, Mogo offers a variety of other features like personal loans, mortgages and a free Visa Platinum Prepaid Card called MogoCard. It helps members save money while saving the planet because Mogo will plant a tree for each transaction on the MogoCard!
My Mogo review provides more details and how to quickly sign up for their service.
Similarities between Borrowell & Mogo
As previously discussed, both Borrowell and Mogo provide your Equifax credit score for free. With both companies, you can check your score on their websites or on their respective mobile apps. Although, Mogo refreshes your score monthly while Borrowell does it weekly.
Also, both services will show you any previous Equifax credit inquires to your account.
Differences between Borrowell & Mogo
Some differences exist between these two fin tech companies. For example, Borrowell allows you to view and download your credit report including the status of credit accounts, application date and your payment history.
While Mogo may not provide all the details of your credit report, it does offers free identity fraud protection with MogoProtect. This service informs you, within 24 hours, of any inquiries on your Equifax report and alerts you via a mobile or email notification. Thus, this feature lets you act and resolve quickly any unwanted credit inquires.
Summary
To conclude, Borrowell is a better choice if you want to check your Equifax credit score for free and also view details of your credit report at any time.
Mogo also lets your check your Equifax credit score for free. But it’s better suited for those who want lots of features all in one. Some features included are free identity fraud protection with MogoProtect, free Mogo prepaid card and the ability to buy bitcoin.
Finally, you could do just like me and use both Borrowell and Mogo to get the best of their free features! 😉
Which do you use to track your credit score, Borrowell or Mogo? Let me know in the comments below.
Affiliate disclaimer: This review is based on my own personal experience with Borrowell and Mogo and is not sponsored by them. My blog contains referral or affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your continued support.
Borrowell and Mogo are not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information, please visit the Borrowell and/or Mogo website.
I lived in canada for 12 months in 2019. I now live in Ireland ( my nationality ) –
I need a credit score of my time in canada –
Is this possible ?
Hello Martina,
In Canada, to obtain a credit report & score, you first need to have a credit product in your name. So, if you had a credit card, personal loan or post-paid cellphone plan during your time in Canada, it might be possible to obtain your credit score. I would suggest Borrowell to check your Canadian credit report & score for free.
Hope this helps!
I use both but I find even when mogo “updates ” it’s less accurate, mine didn’t change for them but with borrowell it went up 21 pts becauseI paid a bunch off, so that felt good to see. Mogo made zero changes in update that was after. But I like the bit coin and also just comparing the two.
Thanks for your comment Red. I like Borrowell for their weekly credit score updates and Mogo for buying bitcoin. Both have their pros & cons.