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My Credit Cards and How / Where I use them. How about yours?
January 13, 2019
5:32 pm
Top It Up
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I still use my personal CU cheques to transfer money to my Big 5 account via eDeposit on my smartphone. Should the day come when CUs no longer charge for Interac e-Transfers, then hand-written cheques will likely be history in our house.

January 13, 2019
5:51 pm
Retep
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It is a worth while effort to turn on ALERTS on your Credit Cards and Bank/Credit Union Accounts.

January 13, 2019
5:59 pm
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All the Big banks offer free Interac e-Transfer (likely because they own Interac) - it's the credit unions that are charging for the service.

January 13, 2019
6:03 pm
Brimleychen
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It seems that this topic is a very good subject promoting a lot of interests.

I have a question, is there any free (no fee) MasterCard can get more rebate for Costco purchase? Although Costco have a capital one master card in Canada, I don’t have a Costco membership in Canada, but I use my Costco card from US, but in US, it is Citibank visa for Costco member. Currently I use BMO cashback only 1% from Costco purchase.

January 13, 2019
6:19 pm
Brimleychen
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Alexandre said
I use three credit cards.

TD Cashback Visa Infinite card - 3% on groceries, gas, recurring charges such as Rogers bill, car insurance, etc.
This is my only card with annual fee, but it offers roadside assistance, so I save on CAA.

You can ask TD to waive your fee if you have an all inclusive cheque account. If you maintain 5K in the account, the all inclusive cheuquing is free. The beauty of the account also comes with a free small safety deposit box.

January 13, 2019
7:04 pm
Retep
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Brimleychen said
It seems that this topic is a very good subject promoting a lot of interests.

I have a question, is there any free (no fee) MasterCard can get more rebate for Costco purchase? Although Costco have a capital one master card in Canada, I don’t have a Costco membership in Canada, but I use my Costco card from US, but in US, it is Citibank visa for Costco member. Currently I use BMO cashback only 1% from Costco purchase.  

See here further down.

https://creditcardgenius.ca/blog/costco-credit-card-canada/#costco-credit-card-canada

It is a worth while effort to turn on ALERTS on your Credit Cards and Bank/Credit Union Accounts.

January 13, 2019
8:54 pm
Oscar
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Retep said
I agree.

For your info......BMO is free.
https://newsroom.bmo.com/2017-03-01-BMO-Introduces-Free-Unlimited-Interac-e-Transfer-Transactions-for-All-Everyday-Bank-Plans  

There's always a catch with the big banks. Free for all Everyday Bank Plans. I don't have a plan ( pay a monthly fee). My account is grandfathered, BMO has honor in this respect. However if I change anything , change my home branch or sign up for a plan , I lose my grandfather status for this account.
As for e-transfers , it seems that you have to keep up with both sides fee schedules and I don't have the need to go there yet. I don't even like debit transactions as you're opening yourself up to the possibility of some type of a fraudulent transaction that you'll have to spend time redressing , and you have to check your statements afterwards to be sure everything rang in properly. Easier to balance my wallet during the purchasesf-cool.

January 13, 2019
8:58 pm
Loonie
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re: Sobey's. To avoid disappointment, remember that Sobey's operates almost like different companies in different parts of the country. When reading about any offer, you need to check that it is relevant in your province.
Anything I say pertains to Ontario.

The cents-off gas coupons are given out during most periods of the year; their value depends on the size of your grocery bill. They do have an expiry date, which is generous enough if you remember to use them. In my experience, they will not override the expiry date. We don't shop there very often but receive coupons from a family member who doesn't drive - and we certainly use them and don't find it difficult to remember.

Leave the gas coupons where you'll use them - in the car! I never bring them into the house. I tear them off in the store or in the car and keep them in an envelope there.
Some people are comfortable leaving their money on the table, kitchen or otherwise,but I'm not one of them, unless the effort:reward ratio is unacceptable - a personal decision.

January 13, 2019
9:09 pm
Loonie
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Brimleychen said

I have a question, is there any free (no fee) MasterCard can get more rebate for Costco purchase? Although Costco have a capital one master card in Canada, I don’t have a Costco membership in Canada, but I use my Costco card from US, but in US, it is Citibank visa for Costco member. Currently I use BMO cashback only 1% from Costco purchase.  

Check out the Rogers cards. 1.25% or 1.75%, depending on which card you get.
https://www.rogersbank.com/en

January 13, 2019
9:23 pm
Oscar
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Retep said
No doubt everyone has developed their own “best for them” program. Here is ours.

All other cards are no fee and cash back. I will never get a card from Home Depot, Costco or the like.

BMO Mastercard cash back. All day to day purchases.

Never use a debit card ever.....only at the ATM. And never use cash.
Rarely use cheques. NO Airmiles either!!!

No mortgage and no debt.  

About the same mindset here except for cash but the practice of using Mastercard for daily oppposed to debit is the better option of the two

January 13, 2019
9:24 pm
Loonie
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Oscar said
I use a CIBC visa for anything I buy online. I've never had an account with CIBC as far as I can remember but I make payments at any CIBC ATM .
I carry a BMO casback Mastercard and use it mainly to buy gas at Costco(yea I wait in line) and as a backup.I have an old BMO chequing account that doesn't charge me any fees as long as I maintain a $1500 balance and I pay at the ATM , along with my bills. And I still use those ancient cheques from time to time and have never had an issue but have gotten an odd comment once .
I have a TD Visa that collects dust now that they removed the auto club coverage and a Royal Gold Visa I stopped using also.
I mainly use cash and find that I get through the cashier much faster than everyone in front on me as I am the only dinsaur usually.
Does anyone have any opinions about the Collabria branded credit cards offered by the credit unions ?  

Oscar, there were some comments about the Collabria cards in earlier threads. As I recall, people were not too happy with them, but you should check. Depends on what you want it for, I suppose. i know that the DUCA one's Extended Warranty is SECONDARY insurance - meaning that it may be effectively useless if you have any other insurance that would cover it. Look for PRIMARY.

There are several free credit cards where you can get 2% back on gas purchases, if you want to pursue them.

January 13, 2019
9:39 pm
Loonie
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Save2Retire@55 said

I have used the MBNA once for a coffee maker on the 2nd year (The coffee maker had only 1 year warranty).  

WOW again! That makes two people who have made good on their CC Extended Warranties! I'm impressed.

Our Breville toaster oven just died. It's about 3 or 4 years old, beyond any type of warranty. The old one lasted 25 years. Go figure!
Needs a new fuse, difficult to install and impossible to buy retail as far as we could see. Repair guy says $50, so we'll get him to do it. Worth it, I hope.
New Frigidaire fridge in August, took 3 weeks to arrive, and died in November. Repaired under mfr warranty. Total time without fridge was about six weeks - so far. Fortunately we have a second smaller one - about 40 years old, bought cheap used and dented 1989, runs great and has paid for itself several times over in emergency use.
I guess we're just lucky with new purchases.sf-cry
The only time I ever used an extended warranty was also the only time I ever paid money for one, at The Source. Land line phone. It turned out to be worth it.

My conclusion is that, these days, you pay X dollars to buy something, but X + Y (where Y is insurance) if you want it to actually work for any period of time. Hence the new trend towards rentals. This is apparently the new marketing ploy. You will no longer own your stuff. Everything will be rented. It will cost more, of course, and you will pay forever. The quality will likely improve because they don't want to have to replace them, do house calls or deal with returns. Remember those old black Bell phones? They lasted literally forever. When you started buying them, the quality went down.

January 13, 2019
9:43 pm
Oscar
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Loonie said

Oscar, there were some comments about the Collabria cards in earlier threads. As I recall, people were not too happy with them, but you should check. Depends on what you want it for, I suppose. i know that the DUCA one's Extended Warranty is SECONDARY insurance - meaning that it may be effectively useless if you have any other insurance that would cover it. Look for PRIMARY.

There are several free credit cards where you can get 2% back on gas purchases, if you want to pursue them.  

Thanks Loonie for that tip about extended warranty , I am going to have a look at that in general.
I had a negative experience with them .Signed up for a no fee card when opening account at credit union at the behest of the credit union rep as I figured it would look good for her as an upsell. . Recieved statement with annual fee. Called company to wave fee and cancel card. Following year received statement with annual fee. Another phone call . Couldn't find account on file but assured me no problem. Couple of months later got another statement with zero balance, small notice saying "account is currently closed". I am expecting a statement for this year's annual fee any time nowsf-wink. Wouldn't want to have to deal with them if I had a real issue

January 13, 2019
10:08 pm
Loonie
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Sounds like Collabria has bugs, Oscar. You are probably better off without them for now. As a general rule, I think the major banks are better for credit cards. I'm happy so far with Rogers though, especially since they finally got their pre-authorized debit working.

The primary/secondary thing with CC insurance also applies to some of their other policies, such as car rental. Worth checking policies in detail and asking questions if you plan to rely on them. Be suspicious of answers that aren't clear.

January 14, 2019
4:42 am
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@ 4¢ / litre saving hard to get too down on ourselves over the $2.00 we missed out on when topping up the tank.

January 14, 2019
4:47 am
Alexandre
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Loonie said

wow! That's the first time I've ever heard of anyone getting satisfaction from an extended warranty on a credit card. Congratulations!
Was it difficult?  

The difficult part was to figure that nobody wants to deal with that specific smartphone after its original 1 year warranty.

AmEx extended warranty rep I contacted told me to get a repair estimate. I went to Staples where I bought smartphone, to find if they can refer me to authorized repair services for that smartphone. I left Staples with manufacturer's 1-800 number, that's all they can do for me manager at Staples said.

I emailed smartphone manufacturer support to ask for local authorized repair center I can contact. They told me to contact retailer I bought smartphone from.

So, that was dead end. I emailed AmEx warranty representative and explained situation: I can't provide repair estimate and here is why.

I have not received reply on my email to AmEx. I did not expect anything, but after one month of silence from AmEx I suddenly found an envelope in my mailbox with the check in it for the full price of smartphone.

January 14, 2019
4:56 am
Yatti420
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Tangerine Mastercard - 2% On My 3 Categories. 0.5% On Everything Else. Cut out the tangerine logos and put them on your card as reminder.

Amex SimplyCash (No Fee) - 1.25% Base Rate | Promo rates for new clients.

Capital One Aspire Travel Vs Aspire Cashback - Cash Options / Redemption for Cash (Cheque/Credit) This "One-time bonus of 10,000 miles – equal to $100 in travel" may be false.. Only works if they don't ding you for travel redemptions. All cash redemptions off the travel card are about 0.75%.. 1000 Points = $7.50. So if you want cash switch to the Aspire cashback.

TD Cashback (No Fee) - 1% Eligible Grocery / Gas / Bill Payments. 0.5% on all else. TD Rewards gives you 2 points for every 1$ spent on same categories..

Only use the top 2.

January 14, 2019
5:04 am
Alexandre
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Brimleychen said

Alexandre said
I use three credit cards.

TD Cashback Visa Infinite card - 3% on groceries, gas, recurring charges such as Rogers bill, car insurance, etc.
This is my only card with annual fee, but it offers roadside assistance, so I save on CAA.

You can ask TD to waive your fee if you have an all inclusive cheque account. If you maintain 5K in the account, the all inclusive cheuquing is free.

I did that, of course. sf-smile

Yet, with rising interest rates, $5000 balance I have to maintain can fetch $150 annually at 3% interest somewhere else.

TD Cashback Visa Infinite annual fee is $120. For me, 150 vs. 120 is not a big difference, but if rates for 1 year GIC go up to, say, 4%-5% - I might consider closing TD chequing account, park 5K at 1 year GIC, pay TD Visa annual fee and pocket the $100 difference.

January 14, 2019
7:22 am
Canadianbull
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Loonie said

Check out the Rogers cards. 1.25% or 1.75%, depending on which card you get.
https://www.rogersbank.com/en  

I am for sure going to apply for Roger's 1.75% card today. Based on my personal/family income I should get approved for this card. Thanks for the information. I obviously didn't know about this no fee cash back card.

January 14, 2019
8:27 am
Alexandre
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One more thing, may be of interest for those who shop at Wal-Mart.

I noticed that Wal-Mart Supercentre (with grocery aisle) I shop at is categorized as "grocery" on my CC bill. Even if I buy just socks and shirts, still billed as "grocery."

Which means, a credit card with 3% or 2% cashback specifically on groceries could get you same cashback on all purchases at Wal-Mart Supercentre.
There is more than one credit card, some without annual fee, offering grocery shoppers 2%-3% cashback.

For someone who is shopping just for non-food items at Wal-Mart, that is nice perk.

I don't know if it is limited by Wal-Mart I shop at, or those at specific region, or it is Canada-wide - I suggest you check yourself how yours is categorized if you are interested.

Also, some cashback credit cards (CT, I am looking at you) specifically exclude Wal-Mart from "grocery" cashbacks. Perhaps, they figured something. sf-smile
Check your CC cashback rules for that.

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