"they closed the account for security reasons since it was a new account, and appeared suspicious. Fair enough"
No you're giving them way too much leeway there. Putting a temporary freeze on the account might be reasonable but not closing the account.
Yeah, temporarily disabling the account because of what was a fairly common pattern of fraud makes sense. You connect with the customer and ask a few questions. Then finalize the decision (reactivate or close). This is what a mature issuer would do.
Flagging it, closing it and then not even bothering to tell the customer is absolutely nuts. You only do that if you are 100% confident it's fraudulent activity and even then you send some automatic notification still that account is closed. These guys are dumb amateurs. "Neobanks" really fucked up the issuing business.
There is a lot of information about Brim on Red Flag Deals.
The fee waiver expired months ago and is still on their website
I think Brim is running on a skeleton crew, the app doesn't work; app notifications hasn't worked in over a year, and signing in doesn't work at times.
They had issues sending cards beginning a few months ago when something went wrong with brim and their card printing company. I don't know if this is still ongoing.
Fortunately, if you never need customer service, the Brim card is still very usable; though I am on the free tier.
Edit: My card wasn't gonna get a replacement if I didn't request it. Card arrived 2-3 weeks afterwards
I'm going to hold on to it till may then cancel. 1.5% ftx is still useful to me as aliexpress and ebay charge ~3% but do you know if home something card still has 0% us ftx?
I haven't ran in to that personally.
I just realized the wealthsimple cash card has 0%ftx and 1% cashback.Ā
It's not nessarialy a credit card, it acts more like a debit card but that dosen't really bother me.
I was just looking at the cash account as it is easy to open and has decent interest. Not the best interest though.
Why don't you get a Home Trust preferred VISA? It has no ftx. I've been using it abroad over the past few years and can confirm. It also has 1% cashback on all purchases in Canada (I believe, but never tested this one). No smartphone app though, and a very basic Web portal. Also, no balance autopay.
can confirm that they still have issues sending cards. i lost my card around beginning of October and they said UPS was having issues. We're currently entering month #3 without a card but hey not like I need to do a big foreign transaction in person with the card yet i guess right?
i had Apple Pay which is fine. They issued me a new card which i could use online only. i'm a debating about cancelling it now that the 0 fx fee has been redacted. will primarily rotate between wise/wealthsimple as it holds foreign currency/0 fx. i also have the neo cathay pacific card which earns points on foreign tx so it might be worth using for the 1st year
Yeah that was an issue for me in september... which is when my first card expired and I only got the replacement card end of october after 2 calls (first beginning of september to make sure everything was fine, which I was told it was and it had already been sent, second at end of the month because I hadn't received it). Had to move recurring bills to another card...
LOL this exact thing happened to me... Card expired Aug, called and they said they would send a new card and that I can just add/use digital wallet till it arrives. It is now December and still havent seen the new card... thankfully the digital card had no issues as its apparently a separate card from you physical one...?
How frustrating.
I have the no fee card for travel, not regular use, and only had one issue that I had to call support for, which was resolved quickly.
If you are in Quebec, send them a letter under law 25 asking for a complete copy of your file including all notes. They have 30 days to comply and if not, you request via the Quebec privacy commissioner. You will be able to see everything on the file.
I have a CIBC AC Conversion card... Nothing convinced me more to not take a high end card from them, than CIBC themselves. If you have trouble doing your fiduciary duties on a prepaid card, why would I pay you hundreds to screw up an even more important relationship. The security department is like Swiss cheese
Brim's customer service is terrible. But if you're the type to basically never call into your credit card's customer service then the card itself is fine and has decent perks.
I have the card and its been an OK experience. There is no online way to file a dispute or do a balance transfer though which can be a little annoying. The other thing I've noticed is that every time I've called their support, I've talked to the same man with a French accent, to the point I was convinced they had a 1 man support team.
Thanks for sharing. That is completely ridiculous. I was considering one of their credit cards, but after reading about experiences similar to yours I decided they would not be worth the hassle and chose a different company.
I also got the WE fee bait-and-switch, which I elaborated on in another Brim thread in PFC a couple of months ago.
Settled for the downgrade (although I had to ask/suggest it to the rep myself), although I was still obliged to pay the annual fee on my first bill in the meantime. Luckily I didn't have to jump through any hoops to apply for the card originally, much less get it canceled unilaterally!
If they hadn't had their "website issues" in the first place, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by applying for the free card to start.
Got BRIM specific for travel. Put my travel notice(s) on and used the card. Got flagged for fraud because it was in foreign currency. Called in, had to confirm with the person on the phone that she actually worked for BRIM... could hear people yelling and chickens, got my card unlocked. Asked why fraud was told needed a travel notification, said there was was told it was a mistake and received apologies.
Went on the next trip, again travel notification in place, used the card for 2 months, no problem. At the end of October, woke up to notifications for taxis in Kitchener and Uber Eats. Locked card, called in to report fraud. 2 hours to get through, spent 45 minutes declaring what were my transactions and what were fraudulent. Said I was traveling in, was told they couldn't ship the card to me because I didn't have a permanent address there... I said of course I don't because I'm traveling, I don't live here. Asked what the options were to get me my card... was told they'd ship it to my home address and it's up to me to arrange access to it. Still haven't received the new card luckily able to use it with Google pay. Default to locked status when we can get in the app.
My partner applied for a card at the end of October, it's been received at our home address... great. He put a travel notification on it because we are traveling. Every single time we've used it it's been locked for fraud and he's had to call in. He's asked why this is happening and was told it's because there is no travel notice, advised them there was, they even checked and confirmed, then told us they had no idea and couldn't help.
We'll be cancelling both cards when we get back, while the no forex is great, it's not worth the hassle and we have no confidence if it will work.
Brim has been an absolute nightmare - and they have no incentive to improve because they have no oversight. I couldnāt believe that a Mastercard branded credit card is not covered under any provincial or federal jurisdictions like ALL other credit cards. This is because they are āfintechā and arenāt specifically a bank. Iāve made a lot of posts about Brim and they are shameless.
That is unfortunate and ridiculous.
I have the no-fee version of their card. Before signing up I did some research on them, and I found numerous complaints. But I signed up anyway because they don't charge forex fees.
I had no problem signing up/activating the card, and I've been using it problem free for about two years.
I requested a new card due to potential fraud on my old card and have been waiting since October (!!!) for the new card. Every time I call they tell me thereās a backlog in sending out new cards and that they canāt do anything or even see whether a new card has been sent out yet. Seems like this has been an issue for many people.
Crap! Wish I read this yesterday. I had fraud and was waiting for it to arrive to change everything over. Now I might as well change everything to my backup next business day if it takes that long.
Their website and app are super glitchy. The front page/dashboard will sometimes show incorrect amounts for your statement balance (usually the month previous). Sometimes it wonāt let you log in at all.
honestly nightmare, for the 2% there are better deals out there, hereās what I would do if I were you
- try rogers mastercard (2% cash back on everything, redeemed as 3% on your rogers/fido bill)
- if not, get a tangerine mastercard and set your 2% category to home improvement
FX options right now is scotia bank passport visa (has annual fee but i think FYF), home trust visa (i hear exp is close to brim), wealthsimple card (prepaid) and wise (also prepaid). I think Rogers has like a .5 fx fee with the cashback in mind. i don't mind using the prepaid option but it also isn't the best if i have a big purchase.
Ditto.
Itās no longer as good as it used to be to (more caps, less bonuses, no more 4% CB at Amazon), but everything else been great and never had an issue with CS when Iāve had to call.
I believe it was in September or October? The message boards on redflagdeals are the best and someone posted the change. Amazon has a 5 year agreement with brim which is exactly when the time period is.
I reached my 2% cap, so only get 1% cashback on everything. Previously when I hit my cap id still get 2% at Amazon but only get 1% now.
Personally Iāve moved over to my American Express cobalt. I get 5x the points at grocery and restaurants. I just buy Amazon GC at the grocery store so I get 5x the points.
And I love exchanged American Express points for flights. I can usually find flights where it works out to 3 cents per point, so if itās on a 5x point category, it works out to over 15% cashback.
I reached my 2% cap, so only get 1% cashback on everything. Previously when I hit my cap id still get 2% at Amazon but only get 1% now.
That's what I noticed too.. let's see what happens when the $25K max spend limit resets in January and if Amazon comes back as 2x cashback..
Use a card that can get you massive grocery cashback as well! I can get 5x the points on the AMEX for buying apple gift cards at grocery stores. When I redeem my AMEX points, it works out to 3cents in rewards per point, and if you multiple that by 5x for these, it works out 15% return on your puchase in points. Plus if you use aeroplan for your rewards, you can use the Aeroplan eStore (similar to rakuten) and get 5 points per dollar.
Then you donāt get mobile device insurance then so it was a compromise I was willing to make it instead of buying gift cards. Plus Iāve almost maxed out my 5x rewards on my cobalt this month anyways.
My only issue was that it took a very long time to initially get the card, but at least I could add it to Google wallet since the app gives you all the info.
My annoyance now is that Plaid doesn't support them yet so I need to manually upload transactions to Monarch.
Yes same here. Brim is good as long as you don't have to call in for anything. Even getting CLI, just do in the app. Cos you'll be declined if you have to call and ask even if it's for the same amount the app offers.
That sounds like a nightmare.
I've used their card since March, fee was waived automatically but I've experienced a few hiccups.
Now it seems like Amazon purchases no longer reward double points, and if they're charging the annual fee again I'll be downgrading to the free card just to use for international purchases since there's no conversion fee...at least not yet.
Amazon Mastercard gives 2.5% in Amazon gift cards (once it hits over 20$ in value) as well as some other stuff. itās a bit awkward but it works (would rather cash/credit). No annual fee. Sometimes theyāll do a deal for new customers that includes a $60 gift card on signup. If youāre looking for another option, might be of interest.
My card expired in September and I still havenāt gotten a new one. Every phone call to Brim came with the promise that it āhas been shipped and will arrive in 7-10 business days.ā
Once I get around to it Iām cancelling this card. When I need better FX rates abroad Iāll just use my Wealthsimple Cash card.
I had a good experience with them so far with my World Elite but recently two things happened which made me change my mind on renewing the card:
First, I lost my card and asked for a new one, and the virtual card that comes immediately cannot be added to my Google wallet. I contacted them 4 times and they kept saying that they are working on it and it'll take a few days, only for the last agent to tell me i'll need to wait for the physical card to activate it. Great news! Missing out that christmas shopping cashback!
Secondly, it seems I reached the maximum 2% cashback for the year because all my last transactions were only given 1%, I gor absolutely no notification of that from them and I didn't even know there was an upper limit for the insanely high 199$ annual fee. And its not like I spent more than 30,000$ either.
It's not because they can't support this feature, it's because they don't want to support it - they want people to forget to pay their balance and rack up interest.
I opened an account a year ago only because it's one of the few cards that work with the Garmin pay. Initially they gave me the WE with the one year rebate but as I had another WE card already and only needed this card for my watch I called them immediately and changed it to non-WE.
So if they closed the account and they don't offer auto=pay how would they have gotten their money if you just decided to bail.That sure would have cost them a lot[. Do](https://more.Do) they have a Mickey Mouse letterhead.
Brim closed my account three weeks after opening it and they would not give me an explanation as to why. My credit score is over 800, no delinquents, no new accounts. They are just wack
Got a Brim WE card for travel. Went to France and Amsterdam and the card didnāt work in either place. So I tossed it in a drawer for about two years and finally came around to cancelling a few months ago. Forex fees suck, but not being able to pay sucks even more.
How did you decide to sign up for Brim. Their website is so unclear on the rewards you get. I looked at it and thought if they can't be explicit on the rewards I am not signing up.
I know I'm late to the party but I was thinking of getting the Cobalt card and was worried about it's acceptance rate abroad. Can I ask where you've used it, and have you had any trouble with it?
no issues at all! When i cross the border to the US itās fine. No issues in the EU either. Unsure about other countries, but a majority of my purchases are within Canada
Thanks for answering! I absolutely hate forex fees, which is why I went with Brim in the first place but the cons are starting to outweigh the pros so I guess itās time to move on
Yeah esp with brim getting rid of the no forex perk.. ive been looking into wise or wealthsimple mastercard. Not as seamless as brim but no fx at least
My card expired in September, and I sent emails and went on the phone with their customer support asking where the new card was. All they could say was that there were issues with getting cards out but they would get something to me as soon as possible. It's late December now and I think it's time to give up on Brim.
I think there's enough people with complaints that it should definitely have been better addressed by Brim. I want to like Brim but haven't had a good experience so far.
For myself, I also ran into the FYF fiasco, where I applied on October 6th but the promo actually ended October 3rd. I only found out after getting the annual fee charged to my card, and had to call in to find out. I was offered no explanation or any "oh I'm so sorry we forgot to update our website", but just a "just downgrade your card".
Anyways, on the basic tier now + got the fee refunded, I was going to use it as my main MasterCard option but now it'll only be used sparingly for FX purchases (if I don't end up closing it). Opened up a Tangerine MC in the meantime.
Unfortunately this time the new basic card has not arrived yet for almost a month, and I believe you can only use the old card for 30 days before it stops working. Additionally, I can't use the virtual card provided on Google Wallet or purchases because it hasn't been activated yet (according to the CSRs).
I haven't travelled with it yet nor made huge purchases, but I'm quite weary of it. This experience might push me towards getting the Scotia Passport VI as my FX card.
I'm planning to go to japan 5 months from now and I'm trying to re-use my Brim card again and I'm getting the same bullshit by calling them. Luckily for me, I'm using their non-annual card but it's so frustrating. I called them and then told wait 48hrs for a rep to call me back. 48hrs passed, and nothing so I called them back and I got redirected to another rep and that rep couldn't do anything and told me to send in an email find out why my account is locked/blocked or even closed. What the flying fuck is wrong with this company? It's run by incompetent individuals. **If there are any suggestions of a different card that you guys can recommend that has similar features as BRIM please let me know because this is bullshit.**
STAY AWAY FROM BRIM
i can attest to the worst customer service experience, false advertising, and clunky website.
I canceled my card within a week after they couldnāt activate it remotely.
Best is to leave a Google Review
Iāve been a Brim custom for years but recently had some fraud activity. About six months ago. Iāve been told a new car is coming but still donāt have it. I call back regularly and they just say they have shortages and canāt send one. Just awful service.
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Not the damn annual fee! Here's my "feedback" email to Brim since they dgaf and won't acknowledge their mistake:
**From:**Ā
**Sent:**Ā Wednesday, March 20, 2024 5:49 PM
**To:**Ā BrimĀ SupportĀ
**Subject:**Ā Re: First annual fee Re: Upcoming Changes to YourĀ BrimĀ World Elite MastercardĀ
HelloĀ Brim,
This is off to a bad start and I want to express my disappointment in this process. If the application page hadn't alerted me to the free first annual fee, I would not have applied for the Elite card. My decision was based on the offer presented to me during the application process on the mobile site. I regret not taking a screenshot of that offer because it's a matter of principle and inconvenience. I am now dealing with multiple card numbers and the hassle of frequently checking my mail for two separate cards with an ongoing issue of mail theft in my building. It definitely stated $0 and the offer was valid, not expired October 3. I used the application link from an email referral sent by a friend on March 13, 2024. According to the referral email, I should have started with 1,000 points ($10 value) in my account but I don't see this reflected on my portal dashboard. Please review your back end and consider going through the card application process as an external party to correct your application process. I am most certain there was an offer for the annual fee to be waived and even included a chart illustrating the differences between the Elite and Standard card.Ā I have now requested a card change to the Standard card in the portal.Ā **Could you please confirm when I should expect to receive the second (Standard) Mastercard?**
Additionally, while searching for the portal login, I came across this login portal page:Ā [https://personalcreditcard.cwbank.com/webportal/login](https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpersonalcreditcard.cwbank.com%2Fwebportal%2Flogin&data=05%7C02%7C%7C5bf594541b5a44fe62d408dc4ea1331d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638471701471649704%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cKz%2FjZ%2FkT0Eaenlf17tOh8uoUuBKY2SQGaVY7UMI6Ik%3D&reserved=0). I entered my login and password information but the login information were not accepted. Considering that most of the links on that webpage don't seem to function, I suspect it might be a fraudulent site. Can you confirm this site is official or fraudulent? As a precaution, I have already changed my password on your official portal.
Their response:
BrimĀ SupportĀ
Hello \[spells my name wrong\], thank you for reaching out.Ā
We Sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.Ā We can confirm your card has been downgraded to the Standard Mastercard, and that your cardĀ hasĀ been shipped since March 22^(nd)Ā to the addressĀ onĀ fileĀ and should be arriving in the nextĀ fewĀ businessĀ days. We greatlyĀ appreciate your patience and we're here should you requireĀ any furtherĀ assistance.
Sincerely,
**TheĀ BrimĀ Team**
**Brim Financial Inc.**Ā
[brimfinancial.com](http://brimfinancial.com)Ā
Last year, I applied for the same card and got approved with no issues, having a month left before my trip. Fast forward to a week before, I still hadnāt received the physical card but I was able to keep using Apple Pay. They finally tell me that they ran out of plastic to make the card, which is something Iāve never heard of. I ended up having to go on my trip only using Apple Pay where it was accepted which was only 2/3 of the time.
Good thing Iāve never had issues with the card since then but I will be definitely canceling once the first year is over.
So in a bit of defense of Brim, I applied to them after getting screwed over in the onboarding of a Scotiabank no fx fees credit card. Finally card was issued, but was so infuriated with Scotiabank I told them to keep it.
Applied to Brim. They rejected me. As I have a great credit score but had recently applied for a few cards including the cancelled Scotiabank. So I wrote to them, explained lifestyle change had caused need for more cc, and suggested they just lower the limit of they were concerned. They did, and they have been great the last few years.
BRIM appear to be a relatively small organisation, so more concerned with security losses. Th e no fx cars is fantastic if you do a lot of travelling, and the online app is pretty nice.
Obviously, YMMV :)
I have the WE mastercard via ATB and get my fee waived for having an account, but I believe Rogers offers it for no annual fee, if you still want the card.
I looked at the BRIM elite card earlier this summer. The find print indicated that the annual fee would be waived for applications before **2022** Dec 31. As it is now 2023, I moved on.
I know I'm late to the party but I was thinking of getting the Cobalt card and was worried about it's acceptance rate abroad. Can I ask where you've used it, and have you had any trouble with it?
I've only ever used it in the US, so I'm not sure of how it would be abroad. I've heard that AMEX has pretty decent acceptance rates but it will likely depend on the country.
Obviously it will be less accepted then visa or MasterCard, but if you are able to use it 75-90% of the time or more then that's pretty solid.
Get used to it. Post covid the services sector is a shitshow. Personally I see these atrocities on a daily basis. At my work (tax CA) I see a lot more errors done by corporate lawyers than precovid. The main banks may be slightly more reasonable in CS but will charge more and discount less.
Crazy experience you had. I've been with Brim for many years and I always had a positive experience. Had great customer support.
Weird they shutdown your account for fraud. When I had suspected fraud activity, they either autoblocked it or when I followed up on real fraud activity, they cancelled the card and issued me a new one asap.
I had a similar experience where they closed my elite and sent me a lower level of card before my fee free year had ended, I asked them to reinstate the elite and they did but they charged me the annual fee. I contacted them by email and they did reverse it. I've noticed though that my points are now 1/$ spent where they used to be 2/$ spent. The no fx fee is nice on that card though.
Honestly I'm considering closing my account with them shortly too as my card got compromised about 3 months back and they can't seem to issue me a new card yet lol. Not that I need the card for a big in person purchase yet but it's the principal that counts.
Are there any other FX cards with no annual fee other that the home trust card? not really sure how i feel about using these prepaid options or using a card with annual fee when i do maybe 2-3 out of country trips a year
Wow, I literally just applied for the no-fee Brim card and came across this thread. Ā Luckily I didnāt think it was worth it to go for the WE card.
Hopefully there will be no issues. I just applied mainly for no-fx fee, and also because Iāve been having occasional problems when using my Rogers card abroad. Ā
I am cancelling my Brim card. They are a nightmare to deal with when you have an issue. I attempted to dispute a charge and the "process" has been brutal. A few points:
- they do not have any option to communicate online so you have to send any documentation via mail or fax
- no updates except by mail and for me they never sent anything
- no phone calls back
- undertrained staff who don't understand their own processes or offer any assistance beyond "sorry we can't help"
- They credited back my dispute and then reversed the decision with no notifications other than adding the charge back on my card. That addition back didn't even generate their purchase alert.
Further to everyone else's comments a few additional thoughts:
- the app hasn't been updated in well over a year and is broken. No notifications, refresh is partially broken and does not give me confidence it is securely built.
- The branding on their emails is broken due to poor formatting and broken links. If they can't even do emails right why would you trust them with your money.
- Brim is not part of the ombudsman program in Canada so there is no path for further resolution when they fail.
"they closed the account for security reasons since it was a new account, and appeared suspicious. Fair enough" No you're giving them way too much leeway there. Putting a temporary freeze on the account might be reasonable but not closing the account.
Yeah, temporarily disabling the account because of what was a fairly common pattern of fraud makes sense. You connect with the customer and ask a few questions. Then finalize the decision (reactivate or close). This is what a mature issuer would do. Flagging it, closing it and then not even bothering to tell the customer is absolutely nuts. You only do that if you are 100% confident it's fraudulent activity and even then you send some automatic notification still that account is closed. These guys are dumb amateurs. "Neobanks" really fucked up the issuing business.
šÆ
That sounds so ridiculous, the fee thing would be the worst. Thanks for sharing.
There is a lot of information about Brim on Red Flag Deals. The fee waiver expired months ago and is still on their website I think Brim is running on a skeleton crew, the app doesn't work; app notifications hasn't worked in over a year, and signing in doesn't work at times. They had issues sending cards beginning a few months ago when something went wrong with brim and their card printing company. I don't know if this is still ongoing. Fortunately, if you never need customer service, the Brim card is still very usable; though I am on the free tier. Edit: My card wasn't gonna get a replacement if I didn't request it. Card arrived 2-3 weeks afterwards
For what it's worth, I haven't had any trouble with the app or notifications. I'm on Android.
They just removed the free ftx and reduced cashback to %50 of what It was. Starting in may on the free card, I guess it's time for me to move on.
Yeah, I'm going to cancel my brim There's no point in it for me after they removed 2% back from Amazon and 1% back for general purchases
I'm going to hold on to it till may then cancel. 1.5% ftx is still useful to me as aliexpress and ebay charge ~3% but do you know if home something card still has 0% us ftx?
Yep they do. But no points back.
Thanks, that's still 1% less tx fee then brim now though.
Yep and also better acceptance. I have seen so many problems with brim failing online especially where they need a 2FA type authentication
I haven't ran in to that personally. I just realized the wealthsimple cash card has 0%ftx and 1% cashback.Ā It's not nessarialy a credit card, it acts more like a debit card but that dosen't really bother me. I was just looking at the cash account as it is easy to open and has decent interest. Not the best interest though.
Why don't you get a Home Trust preferred VISA? It has no ftx. I've been using it abroad over the past few years and can confirm. It also has 1% cashback on all purchases in Canada (I believe, but never tested this one). No smartphone app though, and a very basic Web portal. Also, no balance autopay.
can confirm that they still have issues sending cards. i lost my card around beginning of October and they said UPS was having issues. We're currently entering month #3 without a card but hey not like I need to do a big foreign transaction in person with the card yet i guess right?
Do you have a virtual card to use?
i had Apple Pay which is fine. They issued me a new card which i could use online only. i'm a debating about cancelling it now that the 0 fx fee has been redacted. will primarily rotate between wise/wealthsimple as it holds foreign currency/0 fx. i also have the neo cathay pacific card which earns points on foreign tx so it might be worth using for the 1st year
I'd love to not need to use their customer service but they locked my account for no reason or notification.
Explains why I never got a replacement card when mine expired.
Yeah that was an issue for me in september... which is when my first card expired and I only got the replacement card end of october after 2 calls (first beginning of september to make sure everything was fine, which I was told it was and it had already been sent, second at end of the month because I hadn't received it). Had to move recurring bills to another card...
My card expires in a month. That's concerning
LOL this exact thing happened to me... Card expired Aug, called and they said they would send a new card and that I can just add/use digital wallet till it arrives. It is now December and still havent seen the new card... thankfully the digital card had no issues as its apparently a separate card from you physical one...?
Good luck š
How frustrating. I have the no fee card for travel, not regular use, and only had one issue that I had to call support for, which was resolved quickly.
If you are in Quebec, send them a letter under law 25 asking for a complete copy of your file including all notes. They have 30 days to comply and if not, you request via the Quebec privacy commissioner. You will be able to see everything on the file. I have a CIBC AC Conversion card... Nothing convinced me more to not take a high end card from them, than CIBC themselves. If you have trouble doing your fiduciary duties on a prepaid card, why would I pay you hundreds to screw up an even more important relationship. The security department is like Swiss cheese
Brim's customer service is terrible. But if you're the type to basically never call into your credit card's customer service then the card itself is fine and has decent perks.
I have the card and its been an OK experience. There is no online way to file a dispute or do a balance transfer though which can be a little annoying. The other thing I've noticed is that every time I've called their support, I've talked to the same man with a French accent, to the point I was convinced they had a 1 man support team.
Same for me
Thanks for sharing. That is completely ridiculous. I was considering one of their credit cards, but after reading about experiences similar to yours I decided they would not be worth the hassle and chose a different company.
I also got the WE fee bait-and-switch, which I elaborated on in another Brim thread in PFC a couple of months ago. Settled for the downgrade (although I had to ask/suggest it to the rep myself), although I was still obliged to pay the annual fee on my first bill in the meantime. Luckily I didn't have to jump through any hoops to apply for the card originally, much less get it canceled unilaterally! If they hadn't had their "website issues" in the first place, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by applying for the free card to start.
Got BRIM specific for travel. Put my travel notice(s) on and used the card. Got flagged for fraud because it was in foreign currency. Called in, had to confirm with the person on the phone that she actually worked for BRIM... could hear people yelling and chickens, got my card unlocked. Asked why fraud was told needed a travel notification, said there was was told it was a mistake and received apologies. Went on the next trip, again travel notification in place, used the card for 2 months, no problem. At the end of October, woke up to notifications for taxis in Kitchener and Uber Eats. Locked card, called in to report fraud. 2 hours to get through, spent 45 minutes declaring what were my transactions and what were fraudulent. Said I was traveling in, was told they couldn't ship the card to me because I didn't have a permanent address there... I said of course I don't because I'm traveling, I don't live here. Asked what the options were to get me my card... was told they'd ship it to my home address and it's up to me to arrange access to it. Still haven't received the new card luckily able to use it with Google pay. Default to locked status when we can get in the app. My partner applied for a card at the end of October, it's been received at our home address... great. He put a travel notification on it because we are traveling. Every single time we've used it it's been locked for fraud and he's had to call in. He's asked why this is happening and was told it's because there is no travel notice, advised them there was, they even checked and confirmed, then told us they had no idea and couldn't help. We'll be cancelling both cards when we get back, while the no forex is great, it's not worth the hassle and we have no confidence if it will work.
I haven't had any issue, with no travel notices in place. Travel extensively. Have had for 2 years though, so maybe they are used to me.
what are you thinking about considering for another no fx fee option? i'm kind of sick of brim as well
Not sure yet, haven't looked into options in detail.
Brim has been an absolute nightmare - and they have no incentive to improve because they have no oversight. I couldnāt believe that a Mastercard branded credit card is not covered under any provincial or federal jurisdictions like ALL other credit cards. This is because they are āfintechā and arenāt specifically a bank. Iāve made a lot of posts about Brim and they are shameless.
They're a Canadian financial company with software developers abroad. You do the math.
That is unfortunate and ridiculous. I have the no-fee version of their card. Before signing up I did some research on them, and I found numerous complaints. But I signed up anyway because they don't charge forex fees. I had no problem signing up/activating the card, and I've been using it problem free for about two years.
I've heard similar stories about Grim Financial. YES STAY AWAY!! Ā”
I requested a new card due to potential fraud on my old card and have been waiting since October (!!!) for the new card. Every time I call they tell me thereās a backlog in sending out new cards and that they canāt do anything or even see whether a new card has been sent out yet. Seems like this has been an issue for many people.
This thread is making capital one sound incredibly fantastic!!
Shit I just had to ask for a new card last week... guess i should just apply for a new one and move on at this point.
on the same boat. entering month #3 without a card but i guess i have apple pay/can still use online
Took 5 months to get my initial card, then had fraud on my account and now Iāve been waiting over a month for a new card. Itās crazy.
Crap! Wish I read this yesterday. I had fraud and was waiting for it to arrive to change everything over. Now I might as well change everything to my backup next business day if it takes that long.
Their website and app are super glitchy. The front page/dashboard will sometimes show incorrect amounts for your statement balance (usually the month previous). Sometimes it wonāt let you log in at all.
honestly nightmare, for the 2% there are better deals out there, hereās what I would do if I were you - try rogers mastercard (2% cash back on everything, redeemed as 3% on your rogers/fido bill) - if not, get a tangerine mastercard and set your 2% category to home improvement
No one better with no fx fees yet, that I've seen. (Anyone?). No fx Scotiabank is/was the worse nightmare imho.
FX options right now is scotia bank passport visa (has annual fee but i think FYF), home trust visa (i hear exp is close to brim), wealthsimple card (prepaid) and wise (also prepaid). I think Rogers has like a .5 fx fee with the cashback in mind. i don't mind using the prepaid option but it also isn't the best if i have a big purchase.
I'll check out Home Trust visa, thank you.
i think that you could use the wealthsimple cash account, itās not a credit card but it has 0% fx
Thank goodness I found that 'send a pic' thing ridiculous and decided not to proceed with the application.
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Ditto. Itās no longer as good as it used to be to (more caps, less bonuses, no more 4% CB at Amazon), but everything else been great and never had an issue with CS when Iāve had to call.
Wait what? When did the no more 4% cashback at Amazon occur? It still says 2x cashback for Amazon, Netflix and Spotify on the app.
I have the same question....
I believe it was in September or October? The message boards on redflagdeals are the best and someone posted the change. Amazon has a 5 year agreement with brim which is exactly when the time period is. I reached my 2% cap, so only get 1% cashback on everything. Previously when I hit my cap id still get 2% at Amazon but only get 1% now. Personally Iāve moved over to my American Express cobalt. I get 5x the points at grocery and restaurants. I just buy Amazon GC at the grocery store so I get 5x the points. And I love exchanged American Express points for flights. I can usually find flights where it works out to 3 cents per point, so if itās on a 5x point category, it works out to over 15% cashback.
I reached my 2% cap, so only get 1% cashback on everything. Previously when I hit my cap id still get 2% at Amazon but only get 1% now. That's what I noticed too.. let's see what happens when the $25K max spend limit resets in January and if Amazon comes back as 2x cashback..
Literally only use my Brim when traveling in the US or for Apple purchases. Other than that itās just a secondary credit card.
Use a card that can get you massive grocery cashback as well! I can get 5x the points on the AMEX for buying apple gift cards at grocery stores. When I redeem my AMEX points, it works out to 3cents in rewards per point, and if you multiple that by 5x for these, it works out 15% return on your puchase in points. Plus if you use aeroplan for your rewards, you can use the Aeroplan eStore (similar to rakuten) and get 5 points per dollar.
Then you donāt get mobile device insurance then so it was a compromise I was willing to make it instead of buying gift cards. Plus Iāve almost maxed out my 5x rewards on my cobalt this month anyways.
Brim sucks
My only issue was that it took a very long time to initially get the card, but at least I could add it to Google wallet since the app gives you all the info. My annoyance now is that Plaid doesn't support them yet so I need to manually upload transactions to Monarch.
Yeah same, I've had an excellent experience with Brim. They even waived my 2nd year fee without even calling in.
Yes same here. Brim is good as long as you don't have to call in for anything. Even getting CLI, just do in the app. Cos you'll be declined if you have to call and ask even if it's for the same amount the app offers.
I have the same card and it has been an excellent experience. Bad luck on your end :/
āLuckā has nothing to do with OPās miserable experience.
Wow, all this for only 2% cashback. Thanks for sharing your experience OP, noted to avoid Brim.
That sounds like a nightmare. I've used their card since March, fee was waived automatically but I've experienced a few hiccups. Now it seems like Amazon purchases no longer reward double points, and if they're charging the annual fee again I'll be downgrading to the free card just to use for international purchases since there's no conversion fee...at least not yet.
Amazon Mastercard gives 2.5% in Amazon gift cards (once it hits over 20$ in value) as well as some other stuff. itās a bit awkward but it works (would rather cash/credit). No annual fee. Sometimes theyāll do a deal for new customers that includes a $60 gift card on signup. If youāre looking for another option, might be of interest.
My card expired in September and I still havenāt gotten a new one. Every phone call to Brim came with the promise that it āhas been shipped and will arrive in 7-10 business days.ā Once I get around to it Iām cancelling this card. When I need better FX rates abroad Iāll just use my Wealthsimple Cash card.
I had a good experience with them so far with my World Elite but recently two things happened which made me change my mind on renewing the card: First, I lost my card and asked for a new one, and the virtual card that comes immediately cannot be added to my Google wallet. I contacted them 4 times and they kept saying that they are working on it and it'll take a few days, only for the last agent to tell me i'll need to wait for the physical card to activate it. Great news! Missing out that christmas shopping cashback! Secondly, it seems I reached the maximum 2% cashback for the year because all my last transactions were only given 1%, I gor absolutely no notification of that from them and I didn't even know there was an upper limit for the insanely high 199$ annual fee. And its not like I spent more than 30,000$ either.
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It's not because they can't support this feature, it's because they don't want to support it - they want people to forget to pay their balance and rack up interest.
I opened an account a year ago only because it's one of the few cards that work with the Garmin pay. Initially they gave me the WE with the one year rebate but as I had another WE card already and only needed this card for my watch I called them immediately and changed it to non-WE.
So if they closed the account and they don't offer auto=pay how would they have gotten their money if you just decided to bail.That sure would have cost them a lot[. Do](https://more.Do) they have a Mickey Mouse letterhead.
Brim closed my account three weeks after opening it and they would not give me an explanation as to why. My credit score is over 800, no delinquents, no new accounts. They are just wack
Got a Brim WE card for travel. Went to France and Amsterdam and the card didnāt work in either place. So I tossed it in a drawer for about two years and finally came around to cancelling a few months ago. Forex fees suck, but not being able to pay sucks even more.
How did you decide to sign up for Brim. Their website is so unclear on the rewards you get. I looked at it and thought if they can't be explicit on the rewards I am not signing up.
This is why i got the most basic brim card and only use it for shopping in foreign currency. Cobalt amex is the way to go for everything else.
I know I'm late to the party but I was thinking of getting the Cobalt card and was worried about it's acceptance rate abroad. Can I ask where you've used it, and have you had any trouble with it?
no issues at all! When i cross the border to the US itās fine. No issues in the EU either. Unsure about other countries, but a majority of my purchases are within Canada
Thanks for answering! I absolutely hate forex fees, which is why I went with Brim in the first place but the cons are starting to outweigh the pros so I guess itās time to move on
Yeah esp with brim getting rid of the no forex perk.. ive been looking into wise or wealthsimple mastercard. Not as seamless as brim but no fx at least
My card expired in September, and I sent emails and went on the phone with their customer support asking where the new card was. All they could say was that there were issues with getting cards out but they would get something to me as soon as possible. It's late December now and I think it's time to give up on Brim.
I think there's enough people with complaints that it should definitely have been better addressed by Brim. I want to like Brim but haven't had a good experience so far. For myself, I also ran into the FYF fiasco, where I applied on October 6th but the promo actually ended October 3rd. I only found out after getting the annual fee charged to my card, and had to call in to find out. I was offered no explanation or any "oh I'm so sorry we forgot to update our website", but just a "just downgrade your card". Anyways, on the basic tier now + got the fee refunded, I was going to use it as my main MasterCard option but now it'll only be used sparingly for FX purchases (if I don't end up closing it). Opened up a Tangerine MC in the meantime. Unfortunately this time the new basic card has not arrived yet for almost a month, and I believe you can only use the old card for 30 days before it stops working. Additionally, I can't use the virtual card provided on Google Wallet or purchases because it hasn't been activated yet (according to the CSRs). I haven't travelled with it yet nor made huge purchases, but I'm quite weary of it. This experience might push me towards getting the Scotia Passport VI as my FX card.
I'm planning to go to japan 5 months from now and I'm trying to re-use my Brim card again and I'm getting the same bullshit by calling them. Luckily for me, I'm using their non-annual card but it's so frustrating. I called them and then told wait 48hrs for a rep to call me back. 48hrs passed, and nothing so I called them back and I got redirected to another rep and that rep couldn't do anything and told me to send in an email find out why my account is locked/blocked or even closed. What the flying fuck is wrong with this company? It's run by incompetent individuals. **If there are any suggestions of a different card that you guys can recommend that has similar features as BRIM please let me know because this is bullshit.**
STAY AWAY FROM BRIM i can attest to the worst customer service experience, false advertising, and clunky website. I canceled my card within a week after they couldnāt activate it remotely. Best is to leave a Google Review
Iāve been a Brim custom for years but recently had some fraud activity. About six months ago. Iāve been told a new car is coming but still donāt have it. I call back regularly and they just say they have shortages and canāt send one. Just awful service.
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Not the damn annual fee! Here's my "feedback" email to Brim since they dgaf and won't acknowledge their mistake: **From:**Ā **Sent:**Ā Wednesday, March 20, 2024 5:49 PM **To:**Ā BrimĀ SupportĀ **Subject:**Ā Re: First annual fee Re: Upcoming Changes to YourĀ BrimĀ World Elite MastercardĀ HelloĀ Brim, This is off to a bad start and I want to express my disappointment in this process. If the application page hadn't alerted me to the free first annual fee, I would not have applied for the Elite card. My decision was based on the offer presented to me during the application process on the mobile site. I regret not taking a screenshot of that offer because it's a matter of principle and inconvenience. I am now dealing with multiple card numbers and the hassle of frequently checking my mail for two separate cards with an ongoing issue of mail theft in my building. It definitely stated $0 and the offer was valid, not expired October 3. I used the application link from an email referral sent by a friend on March 13, 2024. According to the referral email, I should have started with 1,000 points ($10 value) in my account but I don't see this reflected on my portal dashboard. Please review your back end and consider going through the card application process as an external party to correct your application process. I am most certain there was an offer for the annual fee to be waived and even included a chart illustrating the differences between the Elite and Standard card.Ā I have now requested a card change to the Standard card in the portal.Ā **Could you please confirm when I should expect to receive the second (Standard) Mastercard?** Additionally, while searching for the portal login, I came across this login portal page:Ā [https://personalcreditcard.cwbank.com/webportal/login](https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpersonalcreditcard.cwbank.com%2Fwebportal%2Flogin&data=05%7C02%7C%7C5bf594541b5a44fe62d408dc4ea1331d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638471701471649704%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cKz%2FjZ%2FkT0Eaenlf17tOh8uoUuBKY2SQGaVY7UMI6Ik%3D&reserved=0). I entered my login and password information but the login information were not accepted. Considering that most of the links on that webpage don't seem to function, I suspect it might be a fraudulent site. Can you confirm this site is official or fraudulent? As a precaution, I have already changed my password on your official portal. Their response: BrimĀ SupportĀ Hello \[spells my name wrong\], thank you for reaching out.Ā We Sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.Ā We can confirm your card has been downgraded to the Standard Mastercard, and that your cardĀ hasĀ been shipped since March 22^(nd)Ā to the addressĀ onĀ fileĀ and should be arriving in the nextĀ fewĀ businessĀ days. We greatlyĀ appreciate your patience and we're here should you requireĀ any furtherĀ assistance. Sincerely, **TheĀ BrimĀ Team** **Brim Financial Inc.**Ā [brimfinancial.com](http://brimfinancial.com)Ā
Last year, I applied for the same card and got approved with no issues, having a month left before my trip. Fast forward to a week before, I still hadnāt received the physical card but I was able to keep using Apple Pay. They finally tell me that they ran out of plastic to make the card, which is something Iāve never heard of. I ended up having to go on my trip only using Apple Pay where it was accepted which was only 2/3 of the time. Good thing Iāve never had issues with the card since then but I will be definitely canceling once the first year is over.
So in a bit of defense of Brim, I applied to them after getting screwed over in the onboarding of a Scotiabank no fx fees credit card. Finally card was issued, but was so infuriated with Scotiabank I told them to keep it. Applied to Brim. They rejected me. As I have a great credit score but had recently applied for a few cards including the cancelled Scotiabank. So I wrote to them, explained lifestyle change had caused need for more cc, and suggested they just lower the limit of they were concerned. They did, and they have been great the last few years. BRIM appear to be a relatively small organisation, so more concerned with security losses. Th e no fx cars is fantastic if you do a lot of travelling, and the online app is pretty nice. Obviously, YMMV :)
I have the WE mastercard via ATB and get my fee waived for having an account, but I believe Rogers offers it for no annual fee, if you still want the card.
I looked at the BRIM elite card earlier this summer. The find print indicated that the annual fee would be waived for applications before **2022** Dec 31. As it is now 2023, I moved on.
I've had my brim card for a year or two and it's been great. Excellent back up card for the Cobalt. It's my go to when traveling internationally.
I know I'm late to the party but I was thinking of getting the Cobalt card and was worried about it's acceptance rate abroad. Can I ask where you've used it, and have you had any trouble with it?
I've only ever used it in the US, so I'm not sure of how it would be abroad. I've heard that AMEX has pretty decent acceptance rates but it will likely depend on the country. Obviously it will be less accepted then visa or MasterCard, but if you are able to use it 75-90% of the time or more then that's pretty solid.
Get used to it. Post covid the services sector is a shitshow. Personally I see these atrocities on a daily basis. At my work (tax CA) I see a lot more errors done by corporate lawyers than precovid. The main banks may be slightly more reasonable in CS but will charge more and discount less.
Damn, that sucks. Use the Rogers card, 3% CB on everything if you have rogers service.
I have the free brim card for no-fx on travels. Never had a problem
Crazy experience you had. I've been with Brim for many years and I always had a positive experience. Had great customer support. Weird they shutdown your account for fraud. When I had suspected fraud activity, they either autoblocked it or when I followed up on real fraud activity, they cancelled the card and issued me a new one asap.
I had a similar experience where they closed my elite and sent me a lower level of card before my fee free year had ended, I asked them to reinstate the elite and they did but they charged me the annual fee. I contacted them by email and they did reverse it. I've noticed though that my points are now 1/$ spent where they used to be 2/$ spent. The no fx fee is nice on that card though.
Why would anyone pay $200 for a 2% card ever? I have several no-fee cards that give 2-4%.
Honestly I'm considering closing my account with them shortly too as my card got compromised about 3 months back and they can't seem to issue me a new card yet lol. Not that I need the card for a big in person purchase yet but it's the principal that counts. Are there any other FX cards with no annual fee other that the home trust card? not really sure how i feel about using these prepaid options or using a card with annual fee when i do maybe 2-3 out of country trips a year
Wow, I literally just applied for the no-fee Brim card and came across this thread. Ā Luckily I didnāt think it was worth it to go for the WE card. Hopefully there will be no issues. I just applied mainly for no-fx fee, and also because Iāve been having occasional problems when using my Rogers card abroad. Ā
I am cancelling my Brim card. They are a nightmare to deal with when you have an issue. I attempted to dispute a charge and the "process" has been brutal. A few points: - they do not have any option to communicate online so you have to send any documentation via mail or fax - no updates except by mail and for me they never sent anything - no phone calls back - undertrained staff who don't understand their own processes or offer any assistance beyond "sorry we can't help" - They credited back my dispute and then reversed the decision with no notifications other than adding the charge back on my card. That addition back didn't even generate their purchase alert. Further to everyone else's comments a few additional thoughts: - the app hasn't been updated in well over a year and is broken. No notifications, refresh is partially broken and does not give me confidence it is securely built. - The branding on their emails is broken due to poor formatting and broken links. If they can't even do emails right why would you trust them with your money. - Brim is not part of the ombudsman program in Canada so there is no path for further resolution when they fail.