Lodavo vs PC Financial: Points for Spending or Prizes for Saving?

PC Financial pays you for spending. Lodavo pays you for saving. That’s the cleanest way to hold Lodavo vs PC Financial in your head, and it’s why most people asking the question don’t really have to choose between them. The PC Money Account is a no-fee everyday account that hands you PC Optimum points on groceries, gas and bill payments, and pays 2.2% on money you move into its savings balance. Lodavo is a free savings app that works with the bank you already use, where what you keep saved earns you free tickets in a weekly draw for up to $10,000.

What is the difference between Lodavo and PC Financial?

PC Financial is a bank account. It holds your money, pays 2.2% on the savings balance, and rewards your spending with PC Optimum points. Lodavo rewards the opposite behaviour: the more you keep saved, the more free tickets you get in a weekly cash draw. One pays you to spend, the other to save.

PC Financial is custody plus a loyalty program. Your money sits with President’s Choice Bank, a CDIC member, and the account earns its keep two ways: interest on the savings balance, and points on nearly everything you buy. If you shop at Loblaw banner stores, those points come off a real grocery bill.

Lodavo doesn’t ask you to move anything. As Canada’s first prize-linked savings app, it connects to the bank you already have and rewards what you save with free tickets in a weekly cash draw. A better week of saving means more tickets in the next one. Your PC Money Account carries on exactly as before, points and all.

How the PC Money Account works

The PC Money Account is a no-fee everyday account from President’s Choice Bank with an optional savings feature bolted on. There’s no monthly fee, transactions are unlimited, Interac e-Transfers are free, the savings balance pays 2.2%, and your spending earns PC Optimum points at the same time.

The rate is worth reading closely, because the account splits in two. As of July 2026, PC Financial’s own savings interest rates page (opens in a new tab) lists 2.2% on the savings balance and 0% on the spending balance. Savings is an optional feature you add yourself, and money doesn’t earn a cent until you actually move it across. Plenty of people open the account, spend from it happily, and never turn the second half on.

What makes that 2.2% unusual is what isn’t attached to it. It’s an everyday rate rather than a five-month welcome offer, with no minimum balance and no monthly fee in the way. That’s a genuine advantage over the promo-driven pattern at Tangerine and Simplii, and over EQ Bank, whose headline rate needs a qualifying direct deposit routed in. PC has run its own time-limited direct-deposit bonus on top of the 2.2%, but the base rate stands without one. For context, the Bank of Canada (opens in a new tab) has held its overnight rate at 2.25% through July 2026, so an unconditional 2.2% sits close to the going rate instead of below it.

The points are the other half, and they’re why people stay. Paying with the PC Money Account earns 10 PC Optimum points per dollar at Loblaw banner stores, Joe Fresh and Esso and Mobil stations, and at least 5 points per dollar everywhere else the card works. At Shoppers Drug Mart it stacks with the 15 points every PC Optimum member already earns, for 25 per dollar. Payroll or pension direct deposits earn up to 5,000 points a month, and bill payments of $50 or more earn 1,000 points each, up to five a month. At the usual 10,000 points for $10 in rewards, a year of ordinary spending turns into real groceries.

On safety, President’s Choice Bank is a CDIC (opens in a new tab) member, so eligible deposits are insured to $100,000 per category. One change is worth knowing about: on July 1, 2026, EQB completed its acquisition of President’s Choice Bank (opens in a new tab), so the company behind EQ Bank now owns PC Financial. EQB says there are no immediate changes for customers, and that it will plan a conversion onto the EQ Bank platform in the months ahead. Your points stay with Loblaw regardless.

How Lodavo works

Lodavo gives you free draw tickets for the money you keep saved, with a top prize of $10,000. It connects to the Canadian account you already have through Plaid (opens in a new tab), a read-only link that reaches over 99% of deposit accounts in Canada (opens in a new tab). Your tickets follow the balance you keep, week to week, and at least $100 goes to a user every single week.

None of the draw happens behind a curtain. The provably fair page explains how each one is run and verified, and the odds and eligibility sit in the contest rules.

Can you use Lodavo and PC Financial together?

Yes, and with these two it’s an unusually clean fit. They reward opposite halves of your money, so neither has to give anything up. Keep the PC Money Account, keep collecting points on the spending you were going to do anyway, keep the 2.2% on the savings balance, and connect that same account to Lodavo so the money you set aside also earns free tickets in the weekly draw.

There’s a small bonus in how the two treat the spending side. PC pays 0% on it, while Lodavo reads the deposit balances you connect, chequing included, so money sitting there still counts toward your tickets. That isn’t a reason to leave savings in the wrong place. It just means the pairing has no dead spots.

When PC Financial is the better choice

PC Financial is the right tool on its own if any of these is your main goal:

• You want a real, CDIC-insured everyday account: no monthly fee, unlimited transactions, free Interac e-Transfers.
• You shop at Loblaw banner stores, Shoppers Drug Mart or Esso, where the points are worth the most.
• You want a savings rate with no strings attached: no promo clock, no minimum balance, no direct deposit to reroute.
• You buy in other currencies and want no foreign exchange markup on the conversion.
• You’d rather keep your everyday banking and your rewards under one login.

If a guaranteed return is the entire point, a bank account does something Lodavo never will: it pays you a rate. PC Financial alternatives in Canada lines up the accounts that pay more, and the best savings apps in Canada roundup widens the field.

When Lodavo is the better fit

Go with Lodavo if:

• You want a chance to win cash every week for saving, not just points for spending.
• You’d rather not open, fund or switch anything to get into a draw.
• You want it free, with no subscription and no plan tiers.
• You like the account you already have and just want a reason to add to it.
• You want a $10,000 top prize in reach without moving a dollar.

If you’re weighing a chance against a guaranteed rate, you aren’t trading one for the other. Your savings stay in the PC Money Account earning their 2.2%, and the tickets come free on top. That’s the part worth sitting with: the money is already there, already earning, and the tickets cost it nothing.

Your spending already earns points. Let your saving earn you a chance at $10,000 this week. Download Lodavo free from the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or the Google Play Store (opens in a new tab).

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.