Why Refresh

Like many ideas, Refresh was conceived to solve a simple problem.  The year was 2008.  My wife and I were applying for financing to purchase our first home when the unexpected occurred.  When our mortgage broker checked my credit and the beacon score was 525 due to an unpaid annual fee on a long-since cut up credit card.  This $75 outstanding fee had caused my credit to spiral.  Luckily, the mortgage broker was able to convince the lender that I was still a sensible credit risk.  However the experience got me to wonder how many people fall into this situation challenged to access credit, with no solution?

I searched around for a product that would affordably allow someone to rebuild their credit, but couldn’t find anything that was easily accessible.  So, with my background in private financing I set up to connect the dots to create the Refresh GIC Savings Loan – an innovative financial product that would help rebuild credit while building up “forced savings” in a GIC at the same time.   When the loan funded, proceeds from the loan would go into a CDIC insured GIC account – held as security against the loan.  As the client repaid the loan, they would build equity in the GIC and be able to access those funds, basically acting like an emergency fund.

In an economy where more and more banks were either discontinuing their financial products, or merely turning away customers due to their bad credit, I wanted Refresh to be more about saying “yes” and helping Canadians transition into more affordable credit in the future.  Since our beginnings, I believe Refresh is well on its way to helping more and more Canadians, and it is truly the thing that excites me about what we do at Refresh: providing a financial solution that truly helps the customer move forward to a bright financial future.

Michael Wendland
Founder
Refresh Financial