Introducing the new MogoAccount dashboard and the new Mogo iOS app

If you’ve logged into your MogoAccount recently, you’ve probably noticed a few changes—actually a lot of changes. We wanted to make your account experience as intuitive, intelligent, functional, and enjoyable as possible. Our Product and Design teams worked tirelessly over the past year to create a seamless, interactive experience. We took your feedback as well, so we could build the best possible Dashboard for your financial needs. Okay, and we also wanted it to look super cool. The New MogoAccount Dashboard We knew it was important to give you a full snapshot of all your Mogo products right when you log in. So, you’ll see your MogoMoney (whether you currently have a loan or what you’re pre-approved for if you ever need it), your MogoCard balance, and your current credit score. From here, you can get into the nitty gritty in each section by using the side navigation. And, if you’re brand new to Mogo, creating an account is faster, easier, and more intuitive. You can create an account in just 3 minutes and have access to your free credit score, and everything else the MogoAccount has to offer. *captured on August 30, 2016

What’s an Equifax credit score? Do I only have one credit score?

We’ve partnered with Equifax* to offer the first free credit score with free monthly monitoring in Canada. Equifax is the largest credit bureau in Canada and is the bureau most used by lenders when making decisions on your credit-worthiness. You can have multiple credit scores. If you’ve checked your credit score with the Equifax consumer website (or somewhere else), you might notice a difference in the score you got vs. your Mogo credit score. Here’s why: 1. Your credit score changes every day and credit bureaus each have different credit score reports. 2. The credit score you get directly from Equifax (vs. the one we give you) uses a slightly different model for weighing different factors in your credit history and is primarily intended for educational uses. 3. The credit score we give you is a leading score used by a variety of lenders in various industries. That’s important because it’s the score that will help determine whether you get a loan - including when you apply for a mortgage. Do you know your Mogo credit score? Get it now, with no impact to your score. CREDIT SCORE ME Already signed up? Learn more about

Things to look forward to (other than the Suicide Squad movie)

Can you believe that 2016 is half over already? We’ve been telling you about so many exciting things these past few months and we’re finally going to be releasing them soon! Before we get into what new #FinancesWithBenefits you can expect, here’s a recap of some recently-launched MogoAccount upgrades you're enjoying so far. Stuff that you’re already getting Free credit score: When you sign up, you’ll see your free credit score (paid for by us, provided by Equifax Canada) once, but if you get a MogoMoney loan, you’ll get it updated every three months for free (as long as you’re a MogoMoney customer). MogoMini Snapshot: Our members love their MogoLiquid snapshot, so we were like, let’s do a MogoMini Snapshot too and proactively send you your loan details (like your next scheduled payment and how many payments until you Level Up to a lower rate). MogoAccount Snapshot: Why share the magic of a Snapshot with only MogoMoney customers? Our MogoAccount snapshot keeps those members that don’t have MogoMoney in touch with what is happening in their MogoAccount. Fewer fields on our MogoAccount signup page: Good news, you don’t have to

Meet Steven Kerr: VP Credit Risk and Collections

Technology and data are at the heart of what we do here at Mogo, but what exactly does our Credit Risk team do with all that data? Well, there are a few things, but one of the big uses for the data is to create effective rules for our pre-approval system—this helps make our MogoMoney loans accessible while making sure that we lend in a socially responsible way. Meet Steven, our go-to rulemaker and VP of Credit Risk and Collections. Hey S. Could you start off by giving us a quick overview of how Mogo uses tech and data to make credit approval decisions? Steven: So in addition to traditional credit data, we look at a ton of other non-traditional factors when determining MogoMoney offers. Using the technology platform that we created, we can come up with models and strategies for fraud detection, credit adjudication, and income verification. Just to name a few. Which is not only good for business, but also makes sure that our automated loan decisions are tailored to each customer because we’re not just looking at their credit score. Would that be accurate? Steven: Yes, I’d say that we have an obsessive approach

The Gamification of FinTech

Playing tennis on your Wii U is fun, sure. Addictive, even. But what if we could use the powers of gaming for good? That’s what our team is working hard at every day: dreaming up new ways to make it fun to be smart with your money. It’s a tough one—we know from personal experience. Using game design techniques to instill positive behaviours in consumers, we’re taking a creative approach to social responsibility in finances. Keeping track of finances isn’t a chore anymore; it’s now a fun experience that gets people excited to see how they’re doing. Does your bank do this? PROBABLY NOT. Meet Rob Let us introduce you to Rob. Before joining Mogo’s product design team, Rob was Executive Producer at DeNa, one of the largest mobile and social gaming companies in Japan. Here’s Rob explaining how gaming works to get you financially fit: In the Mogo experience, we’re creating multiple positive feedback loops, which allow us to effect positive change by rewarding the user for financially healthy decisions. We’re giving the user the real benefit of saving money—it’s a game with real-world value. -

The FinTech Pillars

FinTech represents innovation of financial services products yielding category creation or paradigm shift and causing marketplace disruption. Category creation relates to providing a product that establishes a new market. Paradigm shift occurs when a new solution addresses an existing market in a better way, potentially eliminating the need for the incumbent. The FinTech evolution focused on the consumer world of personal finance management is built on four significant infrastructure technologies. These can be categorized as the FinTech Pillars. The four pillars are the foundation necessary to create the customer panacea of total digital experience. It is basically the foundation of a house before building walls and a roof. The four pillars are: Fulfillment Engine, Customer Self-Service, Customer Relationship Manager and Big Data Analytics. The Fulfillment Engine is the mechanism providing a total automated and frictionless product acquisition experience. Fulfillment is the process that transcends from client application to product deployment. There are numerous technology obstacles to achieve a digital experience. Application input fields need to be minimized. The product acquisition process requires real-time automation of qualification and verification events. Minimizing the application fields and automating approval events is accomplished by the fulfillment engine exploiting Big Data Analytics. Customer Self-Service provides

A better digital alternative: why you’ll be ditching your bank

You probably don’t feed your Tamagotchi or play with Pogs anymore, but you might still be going to the bank that you grew up with. (Why would you do that to yourself??) If you didn’t grow up with a big bank or aren’t currently tethered to one, high-five. Canada’s adoption rate of financial technology is 8.2%, which is below the average global rate of 15.5%, and way below Hong Kong’s adoption rate of 29.1%. Which means that most of us are still stuck with our old banks/not exploring or taking advantage of our financial options. But that 8.2% is estimated to double this year, as more and more people become aware of FinTech (and how awesome it is). If you have a MogoAccount right now, you’re already one of these FinTech early adopters. ;) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for the 21st Century A huge reason why people are leaving their banks is because of the inefficient/inconvenient/crappy bank experience. Want to get stuff done on the go with your smartphone? Good luck. At Mogo, we’re all about creating an amazing digital experience and we’re always thinking about

Building the MogoCard: Behind the scenes

We’ve heard your cries for the MogoCard, and it’s coming! We promise. The card is now going through rigorous testing in its alpha product stage; here’s a sneak peek so you can actually see what it’s gonna look like. Load it all—at once With your MogoCard, you can load the full daily load limit onto your account through INTERAC® Online, which means you can load $2,500 at once. With other card programs, you’re usually only allowed to load small amounts at a time, at least at first until your card issuer feels that you’re trustworthy. Or they just keep the load limit low... which kind of sucks. Ilya, our UX/UI designer, is one of the key driving forces behind why the app is so easy to use: “We wanted to minimize the steps it takes for someone to get their card and start using it—no hoops to jump through.” All about the experience With prepaid cards, if you accidentally try to go over the card load limit, you might come across issues like "Sorry, your card can't be loaded…you're outta luck." Then you’d need to call the issuer

The FinTech Perspective

FinTech is the current term relating the application of modern software technology to financial services. The scope of these modern software mechanisms include digital experience, machine learning, data-driven decisioning, predictive behavioral analysis and self-service. Fintech is broad, from payments to wealth management, from lending to funding, from credit/debit cards to crypto-currencies (like bitcoins). Opportunities that required the innovation of products providing category creation or paradigm shift and cause a marketplace disruption are the focus of fintech. Category creation relates to providing a product that establishes a new market. Paradigm shift occurs when a new solution addresses an existing market in a better way, potentially eliminating the need for the incumbent. I had numerous career responsibilities that inspired the enthusiasm for category creation and paradigm shift. Managed the development of the first commercial relational database (DB2) for IBM. This product not only created a major market category, but became the standard data infrastructure for the packaged application world. It was not only a significant category that fueled the evolution of major software companies, but was the enabler of a paradigm shift from hierarchical transaction databases to relational databases that supported both decision support and transactions. Managed the creation and evolution

Fintech’s taking over the world

We’re constantly amazed and impressed by the many FinTech startups that are popping up around the world and offering solutions that make managing/investing/saving/spending/borrowing money less painful. (Which shouldn't be a surprise, considering 43.4% of people who use FinTech do so because of how easy it is to set up an account). So, we decided to feature some innovative companies that are on our radar—and are doing great work. Hello, it’s us. From the other side, revolutionizing the old way of doing finance. How? Wellll with technology that uses thousands of data points to approve our customers, the free no-monthly-fee Mogo Platinum Prepaid Visa® Card, a sleek new app launching later this year… oh and we pay for our MogoMembers to see their Equifax Canada credit score. An app based out of the United Kingdom, Mondo is bringing banking to your smartphone. Because no one wants to go into a bank, line up, and wait—that’s so last century. We love how convenient and painless they’re making banking. Shameless plug: our Mogo App is launching soon, with an awesome dashboard that shows your loan info, card balance, transactions and more. Stock