Canada Post’s MyMoney Loan Goes National: What to Know

Canada Post MyMoney Loan Goes National: What to Know Before You Borrow

The MyMoney Loan offers up to $30,000 in financing with a max of seven years for repayment, but be sure you account for high interest rates before applying.

Editor’s note: As of November 28, Canada Post and TD Bank have paused MyMoney Loan originations due to unspecified “processing issues.” Applications are temporarily unavailable, according to the Canada Post website. NerdWallet will update this story as more information is made available.

Launched as a pilot project in October 2021, the Canada Post MyMoney Loan brought a new personal loan option to 200 rural, remote and Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Manitoba. Now, MyMoney loans will be an option for borrowers across the country.

If you’re already familiar with the MyMoney Loan, its mechanics haven’t changed. But if the concept of borrowing money from Canada Post is new to you, and you’re curious what one of these loans might cost, we’ve got you covered.

How a Canada Post MyMoney Loan works

The MyMoney Loan is similar to other personal loans: you borrow a fixed amount of money that’s paid back in instalments, plus interest and fees.

Personal loans are often used to cover short-term cash crunches caused by things like car repairs and veterinarian bills, but by offering between $1,000 and $30,000 in financing, and allowing up to seven years for repayment, a Canada Post MyMoney Loan can also be used to make larger purchases or consolidate debt.

Even though the loans are available through Canada Post, the approval process is handled by TD Bank. Local Canada Post employees can tell customers where and how to apply, but TD does the number-crunching, and it’s the bank you should turn to with any detailed questions you have about the MyMoney Loan.

TD supports customers “through the application, decisioning and funding process, and customers will have access to customer support including financial literacy resources and online banking, once the loan has been funded,” the bank stated in a press release when the MyMoney Loan program launched in 2021.

You don’t have to be a current TD Bank customer to qualify for a MyMoney Loan.

Applying for a MyMoney Loan

You can apply for a MyMoney Loan either online via the Canada Post website or by calling 1-844-229-0413.

To qualify for a MyMoney Loan, you’ll have to meet the following eligibility criteria:

The loan must be for your own personal use.
You must be a Canadian resident.
Your personal annual income must be at least $1,000.
You haven’t filed for bankruptcy in the last 2 years
You must have a valid bank account with a Canadian financial institution where the loan funds can be deposited.

When NerdWallet filled out a mock application for a MyMoney Loan, it took about 15 minutes. After submitting the required personal, employment and income information, you’ll choose a variable or fixed rate, create an account and then sit back and wait for approval.

According to Canada Post, once a loan has been approved, the money will be deposited directly into your bank account, typically within one to five business days.

MyMoney Loan fees and interest rates

The only fees associated with MyMoney Loans are potential non-sufficient funds charges, which only apply if there isn’t enough money in your account to cover one of your monthly payments. Unlike personal loans offered by other lenders, there are no origination fees, and you won’t be penalized for paying off your loan early.

Lisa Liu, a Canada Post media relations representative, says a MyMoney Loan “is a more affordable option for those requiring a personal loan.” The lack of fees certainly keeps costs down, but there is the little matter of interest rates.

At the time of this writing, interest rates on a MyMoney Loan range from 9.78% to 19.78% for variable rate loans and from 9.98% to 19.98% for fixed interest loans. Variable rates are based on TD Bank’s prime rate, and can fluctuate over time. The rate you’re offered will depend on your personal credit history and other financial factors, like income and living expenses.

We ran a few different scenarios to see if the MyMoney Loan application’s estimation feature, encountered about halfway through the process, would give us an idea of the rates different applicants might be offered. It wasn’t especially helpful.

Even though we increased our hypothetical applicant’s income by $50,000 each time, the estimated rates stayed the same — the highest variable rate and fixed rate available. This felt like a pretty loose guideline, but that could be because the estimation tool doesn’t take credit score into account, the way a human loan evaluator will.

Calculating the cost of a Canada Post MyMoney Loan

There may be no way to know your exact interest rate before you apply, but the loan calculator provided by Canada Post can help you understand how different interest rates and terms might affect the overall cost of your loan.

A three-year MyMoney Loan of $5,000 at 11% interest, for example, would cost you $877 in interest charges, for example. Stretch your term out to the full seven years, and you’ll pay over $2,100 in interest for a total cost of $7,142.

And if you don’t qualify for a lower interest rate, a MyMoney Loan could really cost you. At the highest rate — 19.98% — that same seven-year, $5,000 loan would rack up over $4,100 in interest charges for a total cost of $9,175. Yikes.

Is a Canada Post MyMoney Loan right for you?

Wherever you turn for your next bit of short-term financing, opt for the product and loan term that costs you the least amount of money overall. Whether it’s a personal loan, a line of credit or even a lower-interest rate credit card, take all fees and rates into consideration, as well as your ability to make your payments on time.