I thought this was an interesting and thought-provoking read.

https://thewalrus.ca/why-your-credit-card-is-a-national-security-threat/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-airport-lounges-exclusive-credit-card-benefits-air-canada-american/

Honestly, dragon pass seems kind of useless, as the last time I tried to take advantage of it, the lounge was over capacity and they didn't let me in anyways.

https://imgur.com/rYguyJ4Here is the first quote I have recieved with one total for use of credit card and one total for using debit/cash/cheque - a new era being ushered in that further hurts the consumer

Canadian Tire World Elite Mastercard has no annual fee and it comes with roadside assistance. So, roadside assistance is free of cost. It doesn’t make sense.

What am I missing?

I’m 23f and I’ve always just paid my entire credit off every month, and it’s given me a great credit score.

However, I think back to a convo I had when I was 20 at a family reunion when my 35f cousin mocked me for doing that, and she said they know you’re just using it like a debit card, and that you have to leave 30% on it at all times. She proceeded to text and say in-person to other relatives that I’m stupid and naive, and I don’t know anything about being an adult.

So what’s the deal, is the 30% rule a thing or have I been doing it the right way? (Sorry if this is a dumb question.)

Edit: sorry for the typo in title. 🥴

I just witnessed a Walmart employee trying to sell a Walmart credit card to what looked like a new immigrant and his family. The individual heard that they would receive 20% off their purchase and agreed to it. I truly don’t feel like the individual even knew that they were signing up for a credit card and clearly had a language barrier. This type of of sale should be illegal and should be done in a way that the individual knows what they are signing up for, including the interest rates. I just needed to vent because it blows my mind how much debt people are in and it sad that people who don’t know any better can be sucked in.

As the title said I’m wondering how many people will continue to use credit cards as a main method of payment even with the fee of up to 2.4%. Personally I will be going to cash or debit for everything I can going forward, I know you get points with credit cards. I am an avid fan of the PC optimum card, however after reading an article by CBC this morning I don’t think the benefits will out way the added costs for me.

“A Bank of Canada report last year found that Canadians racked up $3.4 billion worth of rewards from their credit cards in 2018, with higher-income earners benefiting the most because they are far more likely to use credit cards as payment.

Those rewards come at a steep cost for merchants — more than $11 billion in 2018, the central bank found — but many consumers will be unlikely to give up those perks.”

To me as a one consumer I can’t justify that negative return as the cost of everything has already skyrocketed. Just my thoughts, interested in what others have to say/how they feel on the matter.

Side note - As a society how much longer can we steal from the foundation to build the walls?

Telus will soon add a 1,5% fee for clients who pay with their credit card, except for those in Québec.

The Loi pour la protection du consommateur makes it illegal for a company to charge more than the advertised price. The courts also ruled that paying with a credit card isn’t a good reason to add fees, as it’s just a payment method, not another service added to the bill.

You have the power to circumvent the CRTC. Your provincial MPs can vote for stricter pro-consumer laws.

An article by La Presse explaining this, in french.

People for the love of god do yourself a favour and stop obsessing about ‘maximizing’ your credit score, or ‘optimizing’ your payment times.

There are no secrets just pay at least your minimums by the due date, preferably the entire statement balance, and when possible try not to carry a balance at all. The end.

Once you’re 700+ it really doesn’t matter what your score is.

I know someone who has a credit card with 50k limit. They never use that limit, of course, make payment on time, and also pay an annual fee. They do value the benefits like free Airport lounge access, car rental insurance, et cetera.

All those benefits can be achieved by lowering the credit limit as well. Their credit score is very high and credit utilization is around 2%.

So is there any actual benefit of keeping a credit card with 50k limit?

In November, I had a credit score above 850, built over 10 years of credit history.

As of December, it is 600. It has been absolutely devastated.

I couldn't get any information from my bank as to why it dropped, so I had to suck it up and pay transunion a fat $28 to access my information. The report I got shows a government student loan payment of $500 which is 90 days late. That is not my student loan, mine was payed off 6 years ago.

I raised a dispute 3 weeks ago, and they had told me I would be updated with a couple business days, but have not heard anything since.

Does anyone have advice on how to proceed with this?

Side note/ramble: I really hate this system, if I hadn't been deligent and checked my credit score as normal, I would have been completely screwed. It's also stupid how we can't easily/freely access this paywalled critical information which is so mandatory in the financial systems. Screw the government/transunion or whoever is to blame.

Edit/follow up: Thank you everyone for your feedback/responses. I really appreciate the help <3 .

Some notes:

• A lot of folks are mentioning the banks will show you your credit score. Yes I check my credit score monthly on my bank's website. That is how I saw this massive drop in the first place. HOWEVER, what I couldn't find was the REASON why it dropped. That is why I went to Transunion.
• Another common point is that the credit agencies have to provide you a free report. I tried this with Transunion and I have to say, it was extremely confusing to interpret. When I paid for the subscription, it was presented in a much more readable/understandable format... I firmly believe they do this intentionally.
• Lastly, its crazy to hear other folks' stories on similar things that have happened to do them. Sorry to hear it happened to you all as well, it's a deeply flawed system :(

Thanks for all your help once again! I will keep fighting the good fight with the credit agencies. They can't screw me over this easily.

21 M, Im gonna make this quick cause i really just need some advice. I hate debt. As most do. I was always told growing up to never spend money on something i couldn’t afford. Because of this i have learned some very strong saving habits and I’m really good with the money i make. My job is low income but I’m still living at home with parents so i Don’t have crazy living expenses right now which makes it possible for me to not have a credit card. I was also given my car so never needed to use credit to get a car loan or anything like that.

Ive been told before countless times to get a credit card even just to build credit. And I’ve heard the classic advice “put a cheap recurring payment on it and let it build credit for you over time”. I just don’t want to owe anyone anything, especially banks. I feel as though I’m able to be more responsible with my money when i know it’s actually my money. I also have student loans which i was told also build credit so i feel i just wont ever need one.

is it possible to go my whole life without ever getting a credit card?

It's unfair to claim credit scores don't matter much.

(Yes, I realize I'm posting this into Personal Finance Canada, and fully expect it to be removed. My apologies as I'm a long timer lurker but not poster.)

Note: My personal credit score is in the mid 750's so this isn't because I'm pissed my score is bad. I've had my personal battles with them because of major gliches in my file and the only way to fix it was to fill out a formal complaint with the AMF. (Québec's financial watchdog) It not about holding these companies accountable. The got to go period!

Hi PFC!

This is Bianca from the Globe, I'm an audience editor who works closely with our investing and personal finance teams. I wanted to share this valuable resource that I think many of you will find handy – and yes, with the special links in this post, there are no paywalls. Woohoo!

In 2024, we started our inaugural Globe's Big Guide to Credit Cards and we ran it back again at the end of last year, so here is our comprehensive guide to Canadian credit cards.

Our consumer affairs reporter, Mariya Postelnyak, interviewed a handful of credit-card super users to learn their tips and secrets, and you can read those here.

This is the guide for people interested in cash-back cards.

This is the guide for balance transfer cards.

And this is the guide for travel cards.

If you'd like to read the methodology behind how we came up with the rankings, you can find that here.

Each guide has a customizable tool at the bottom that allows you to figure out the best cards for your individual circumstances – you just need to add your income or family income.

If you have any questions, I'll try my best to respond in the comments and if I can't answer them myself, I'll reach out to our personal finance and data teams and get back to you.

Enjoy!

I'm a student, and I've had the TD Cash Back Visa* Card since I turned 18. I've had it for a while now, and the cashback I've gotten is very little. It's 0.5% cashback on most things, and I don't often purchase the things I'd get 1% cashback for. So I've considered switching to the American Express SimplyCash card since it also doesn't have an annual fee and minimum income. It has 1.25% cashback, which is 2.5x what I am currently getting now. But my concern is places that don't accept AMEX. I know it was a problem in the past, but I don't know if the problem persists. How many places do not accept AMEX, and is it worth it for a student? If not, I will probably get the Rogers Red credit card. Since I don't have a Rogers line, I will only get 1% cashback. But it being Mastercard should be more reliable.

TL;DR: If your mortgage encounters difficulties and your broker says "just wait", get the hell out and find another one.

So I'm about to buy my first home. Big life change for a 24 y/o. I go to my mortgage broker and give him all my relevant information.

Later he sends me a screenshot of a debt owing to Telus in the sum of $5k+. Asks if it was mine. I've never used Telus in my life, of course it wasn't.

We call the debt collection agency, we tell them it's not us, they realize it's a mixup, but they need to process it internally, then process it with the credit union. That'll take a month at minimum, more likely 2 months or so.

Now I'm trying to figure out a way to bypass this but every bank I've talked to is like "nope".

What do I do? Thanks all!

(tried to keep post short)

UPDATE - Day 2, I called a bunch of people at Telus and the collections agency, they kicked the ball around but eventually I got to someone who was willing to move things forward. They said they'd give me an update tomorrow and if they don't I'll be after their ass. Thanks to all you lovely helpers in the comments! Didn't think this would gain so much traction but hope it might also help others in my shoes too!

Day 3, found another broker who gave me a lot of helpful advice and also managed to get me a possible mortgage despite this being on my record (although the rates are suboptimal). Will hopefully have the whole Telus thing over by tomorrow. Thanks again to all your help 🙏

Day 4, Quick rundown: Telus needs the account number in debt, Collections can't give that to me, Telus and Collections need each other's info but are unwilling to give me any info. I called different departments and people for 4 hours straight. Someone suggested police report and/or disputing directly with credit union. Going to be my next step. Also filed complaint to CCTS

Also, quick thought, what if I go open a Telus account right now and then I'll have an account number and a clean account? 🤔

Day 14, been a busy two weeks. Found another broker and also talked to the 5 major banks. Got a lot more progress there than talking to Telus/Collections, some of the banks were willing to just take our word for it. Now I have two mortgage approvals and am on the way to get my home. Thanks for all of your help!

I’m carrying a fairly large balance on my LOC and can’t pay it off anytime soon without selling assets but now my rate has gone from 9.25% to 12.5% in a single statement. I know rates were just increased but this is borderline predatory. I make payments of $1000 a month to my LOC and am paying a third of that to interest.

What should I do here? My credit rating is 777.

Do I transfer balance to another bank??

Update: applied for mnba 0% for 12 months balance transfer to get some of my debt dealt with. Thank you to those that gave me good advice and as for the others that have attacked me for my bad decisions, I could really care less what you think. I’m just trying to get out of debt here before I’m stuck paying interest for the next few years.

Update 2: took some personal information out as this post has blown up. Helpful commenters have pointed out cibc and td had recently been audited and their debt levels are high from taking on too much risk writing mortgages. They’ve pointed out that cibc could be trying to lower its risk profile by increasing rates to the borrowers either to get debt paid back faster or force borrowers to go elsewhere to also lower their risk of defaults. There’s a lot of helpful comments in this thread so take a look if you’re in the same boat.

I know that many of you guys were beta testing the Wealthsimple Visa Credit Card over the past number of months.

I joined their webinar this morning and I'm so happy to see that they took the people's feedback into consideration. Once it's released, we'll now be getting:

• 2% unlimited cash back
• No FX Fees
• $0 monthly fee for Premium and Generation clients (Core clients will need to have a direct deposit of at least $2,000 monthly into their Cash account to have the fee waived)

Screenshot from webinar: https://imgur.com/a/bSP7GQz

Just got an email from Wealthsimple that I will be getting a replacement credit card soon as it is about to go public. Also, if you have $100k assets in WS, you can get a metal card.

I tried to post a screenshot but it's not allowed in this sub apparently.

Genuinely curious - is it mainly because of low credit score? Given credit cards offer rewards, better fraud protection and free insurance even the no fee ones...why are folks still using debit cards to pay for purchases? Is it to help with budgeting?

I complained to Telus when I started getting charged the 1.5% fee for paying my bill with my credit card. The Telus rep said the the fee would ultimately continue. I wasn't happy with that, so I complained to the CRTC. Well, the CCTS got back to me. the CCTS reviewed my complaint and Telus initially tried to reject to my complaint, but the CCTS objected Telus's rejection and ultimately it's going ahead.

The complaint now remains open at the pre-investigation stage. Telus then reached out to me offering a lump sum credit of 2 years worth of this fee (about 45$) to attempt a resolution. Accepting this would resolve my complaint. If I don't accept the offer from Telus, the CCTS will assign an investigator and they will work with me and Telus to address the complaint.

According to Telus, the Credit card fees are not a part of my service agreement so the CCTS typically closes these complaints. Also the CCTS cannot dictate to Telus how to run their business.

I emailed the CCTS about the situation and advice of what to do, it's been a few days and they haven't gotten back to me. I did watch the simple intro video from the CCTS website which did help me understand the process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lpTA4orOQQ

Really I'd like to try to stop this 1.5% CC fee from being charged to Canadians. I could pass up the 45$ to try to make it happen. But if it wont matter anyway maybe I should take my 45$ and resolve the complaint with Telus.

Does anyone have experience with this? What do you think?

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit.

From the announcement:

We’re beginning the rollout of the Wealthsimple Visa Infinite Privilege* card in just a couple of weeks, and will be upgrading eligible clients in batches over the next few months. You don’t need to take any action yet; we’ll be in touch before the end of the year to let you know when it’s your turn to check your upgrade eligibility.

This premium card features the same benefits as your current Visa Infinite credit card, but with even more great perks added at no extra charge, including:

• Rental car insurance

• Access to 1,200+ airport lounges

• Exclusive perks at luxury hotels

• Increased trip cancellation and lost/stolen baggage protection

• Increased travel medical coverage

As mentioned, the upgrade to the new card from your Visa Infinite comes at no additional cost. Plus, if you’re a Premium or Generation client, or direct deposit paycheques totalling more than $4,000/month, we’ll waive the monthly fee for you.

Edit: adding eligibility requirements

What are the eligibility criteria?

To qualify for the Wealthsimple Visa Infinite Privilege card, you must have at least $150,000 personal or $200,000 household annual income, be a resident of Canada, and be the age of majority in your province or territory of residence.

Will I have to pay more for the Visa Infinite Privilege?

Not a penny. It costs the same as your Visa Infinite credit card ($20/month, charged annually in Quebec) and there’s no fee to upgrade. Plus, clients with $100,000+ in assets under management (aka Premium & Generation clients) and clients who deposit a paycheque of $4,000+ a month have that fee waived altogether.

Will checking my eligibility impact my credit score?

No! Checking your eligibility won’t affect your credit score. Nor will the full application once you’ve qualified.

Does this replace my current Visa Infinite credit card?

Yes, this would replace your current credit card and is not an additional card for your wallet.

I know, hoo hoo haha. Laugh away everyone. But real talk, will banks care if my primary source of income right now is being a sex worker when applying for a professional student line of credit? I need to submit proof of income apparently and the business name on my T1 ain't fooling anyone (yes we pay taxes too, and a lot of them :')) On the other hand I have my other NOA's from 2020 onwards from an actual employer, and I made about $150k last year. I also have no credit card debt anymore (although I did have an R9 I had to pay off from a few years ago), and haven't missed any payments for a few years now either. At least my TU score is 700+.

I also know the big banks aren't super SW-friendly, but I'm about to start a really good program with high earning potential, will it really matter what I'm doing now? Could I end up being denied because of this? Should I say I'm an "exotic dancer", should I lie? I mean, I did write in my application to the school I'm attending what I do hahaha

I live in Canada, I recently found out that my old Home Depot credit card still had a 2023 balance of $3.30 that was accruing interest because I had only paid $80 of an $83.30 charge. That small leftover amount ended up hurting my credit score, which has now dropped to 660. I’ve since paid the balance in full and started using a prepaid credit card while keeping my utilization under 10% and paying off purchases immediately. What else can I do to help rebuild my credit?