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Kal Torak posted:I didn't know there was a Canadian Cellular thread. I will definitely avoid that one. Yeah - probably not a great place to visit if you're of the opinion our carriers are worthy of praise.
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Apr 17, 2014 21:28
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Kal Torak posted:Honestly, I don't get the hate for the Telcos in this country. It makes no sense to me.
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Apr 17, 2014 21:51
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Lexicon posted:Yeah - probably not a great place to visit if you're of the opinion our carriers are worthy of praise. Not worthy of praise. Just not worthy of attack ads using taxpayer money.
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Apr 17, 2014 21:54
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Lexicon posted:It's funny - being a bank is in some ways the most commodity business there is. They deal in a product with perfect fungibility. Old people tend to have considerably more money than those under 40 so it is to them that banks continue to cater until they die and give money to their kids. Some university kid paying his monthly cell bill and getting direct deposit of his $50 weekly pay check from Wendy's is completely irrelevant.
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Apr 18, 2014 00:12
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Kalenn Istarion posted:Old people tend to have considerably more money than those under 40 so it is to them that banks continue to cater until they die and give money to their kids. Some university kid paying his monthly cell bill and getting direct deposit of his $50 weekly pay check from Wendy's is completely irrelevant. This is, of course, a hell of a good point. But they could kick *some* money towards web services, Jesus! One less new branch a year perhaps? 
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Apr 18, 2014 00:22
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Lexicon posted:This is, of course, a hell of a good point. The problem, of course, relates to the regulation of the banking industry. In Canada, there are security and system redundancy expectations that make certain modernizations literally impossible. For example, new operating systems can't be introduced until they are very well into their development cycle, even though they might be structurally better from a security / efficiency / whatever point of view. I say this having been using windows XP and IE6 (w/ an IE8 compatibility plug-in!) on my work computer. I believe that my former employer continues to use XP, although there was apparently a trial in progress for a switch to Windows 7, maybe once another service pack comes out and fixes some of the security holes  Like, banks need to negotiate specific product support contracts with Microsoft to continue to support their obsolete OS because they're unable or unwilling to upgrade. Apply this kind of thinking to their IT systems as a whole. The only possible exception is the tech used in the institutional trading department, which is bleeding edge in many ways but also doesn't have the same client data exposure risks.
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Apr 18, 2014 00:41
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Lexicon posted:This is, of course, a hell of a good point. You haven't seen poor web banking until you've lived in the US. No EMTs, no online bill pay (they call it that but it is your bank literally mails a cheque for x dollars), weak alphanumeric only passwords, and sites visually reminiscent of something from geocities. On the other side of the scales, there are no banking fees for personal accounts, free cheques, atm surcharge refunds, and 1.25% interest in your chequing account so v ve: ^^^^ welp, at least I'm FDIC insured for the first quarter million! 
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Apr 18, 2014 00:44
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I got a Visa/Debit card from TD bank in the mail automatically and I don't want to use it (like 80% of the reason is I don't want to have to change my number in online banking). If I don't activate it my old card will still work forever, right? I'm only asking here because I imagine TD will tell me I have to use it, regardless of if that's true or not.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:15
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Guest2553 posted:You haven't seen poor web banking until you've lived in the US. No EMTs, no online bill pay (they call it that but it is your bank literally mails a cheque for x dollars), weak alphanumeric only passwords, and sites visually reminiscent of something from geocities. I actually did live in the US for a few years a while back, but I had no idea "bill pay" meant they were sending physical cheques! WTF!
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Apr 18, 2014 05:16
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Guest2553 posted:You haven't seen poor web banking until you've lived in the US. No EMTs, no online bill pay (they call it that but it is your bank literally mails a cheque for x dollars), weak alphanumeric only passwords, and sites visually reminiscent of something from geocities. Sounds like PC financial, so, that's good?
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Apr 18, 2014 05:21
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tuyop posted:Sounds like PC financial, so, that's good? PC financial has the good rates etc. but also good web banking. The US has some weird cultural habits about banking that I don't really get, although it seems to be somewhat similar in Europe as well from what I saw when I visited. Much more done in person there I think, and they're not even as connected with things like credit cards so who knows.
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Apr 18, 2014 08:36
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I just heard that BMO is going to be raising their fees. When I switched to ING/Tangerine, I downgraded my chequing account and just parked $1000 in there to avoid the fees. It's being raised to a $1500 minimum, so I'm going to head in to a branch on Monday to close my account.
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Apr 18, 2014 23:17
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Grouco posted:I just heard that BMO is going to be raising their fees. When I switched to ING/Tangerine, I downgraded my chequing account and just parked $1000 in there to avoid the fees. It's being raised to a $1500 minimum, so I'm going to head in to a branch on Monday to close my account. FYI: I operate fantastically with Tangerine as my main bank, but BMO with a savings account as a staging area and conduit over to Investorline. Easy to move money back and forth from Tangerine electronically. No need for a ripoff chequing account from them.
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Apr 18, 2014 23:38
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Scotiabank is raising their fees as well. I would love to switch to ING/Tangerine but they didn't have a bank in our area and my wife makes regular deposits as she is self-employed and deals mainly in cash. Now that you will be able to use Scotia ATM's, I am considering it again. I think the hold period on deposits would drive me crazy though.
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Apr 18, 2014 23:40
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Kal Torak posted:Scotiabank is raising their fees as well. I would love to switch to ING/Tangerine but they didn't have a bank in our area and my wife makes regular deposits as she is self-employed and deals mainly in cash. Now that you will be able to use Scotia ATM's, I am considering it again. I think the hold period on deposits would drive me crazy though. Just get on with PC Financial. They use CIBC ATMs and have the same poo poo as tangerine (that's a dumb name), but you get loving grocery store points for banking!
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Apr 19, 2014 00:29
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tuyop posted:Just get on with PC Financial. They use CIBC ATMs and have the same poo poo as tangerine (that's a dumb name), but you get loving grocery store points for banking! I don't shop at Superstore and it's the same problem with holds on deposits. Whether it's CIBC or Scotia ATMs - it's the same thing. I agree Tangerine is a ridiculously stupid name.
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Apr 19, 2014 01:35
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Kal Torak posted:I don't shop at Superstore and it's the same problem with holds on deposits. Whether it's CIBC or Scotia ATMs - it's the same thing. I'm not trying to nitpick but what's wrong with holds on deposits? I mean, if you're holding 1k+your CC balance in your bank account at all times, what's a few days to wait for an ATM deposit to clear? Especially when it's that or pay a bank several hundred a year for your business.
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Apr 19, 2014 01:41
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tuyop posted:I'm not trying to nitpick but what's wrong with holds on deposits? I mean, if you're holding 1k+your CC balance in your bank account at all times, what's a few days to wait for an ATM deposit to clear? Especially when it's that or pay a bank several hundred a year for your business. It's just a cash flow thing. We pay our mortgage weekly and we make weekly deposits from my wife's business. We aren't living pay cheque to pay cheque or anything, but I don't usually keep a large balance in our chequing account. Honestly, I'm making it a bigger deal than it would probably be...but to go from no holds on deposits to Tangerine holding everything above $100 for a week or whatever it is, it would be a very big annoyance for me.
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Apr 19, 2014 01:44
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Why aren't you just using a credit Union? Free access to all exchange network ATMs plus all HSBC ATMs. That's a bigger network than any one bank. If you live in BC you can even get free chequing with coast capital savings.
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Apr 19, 2014 02:15
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The simplest solution seems to be to remove some of the stress from your cash flow with a big 1-month expense buffer in your chequing. Just keep like 5k in there and never worry about it again.
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Apr 19, 2014 02:27
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Tax Efficiency Question (line 330): According to the CRA, you can claim eligible medical expenses paid in any 12-month period ending in 2013 and not claimed for 2012. Generally, you can claim all amounts paid, even if they were not paid in Canada. As I did not hit the minimum threshold in 2013 medical expenses to warrant a tax break, can I wait until next year and claim all my 2013 and 2014 medical expenses on my 2014 return, thus giving me 24 months to hit the minimum threshold? The way I interpret "any 12-month period ending in 2013" implies that anything from January 1, 2013 would be fair game on my 2014 return.
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Apr 19, 2014 06:33
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reflex posted:Tax Efficiency Question (line 330): According to the CRA, you can claim eligible medical expenses paid in any 12-month period ending in 2013 and not claimed for 2012. Generally, you can claim all amounts paid, even if they were not paid in Canada. No, it is a 12 month period ending in the tax year. You can choose any timeframe you like as long as the period ends in 2014 and only 1 year is claimed. So if your last expense is January 1, 2014, you could claim any expenses from January 2, 2013 to January 1, 2014. You cannot claim 2 years worth.
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Apr 19, 2014 06:49
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That makes a lot more sense. I felt like I was missing something and that was it. Still have to start documenting my medical expenses in a central place so I can pick out the best 12-month period for next year though. Thanks!
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Apr 19, 2014 06:52
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Just heard about "tangerine" just now. Who the hell thought that would be a good name for a bank?  Ever since I stopped living paycheck-paycheck, the whole deposit hold thing has been a moot issue but I certainly understand the concern if your cashflow is really tight. I will echo PCF being a decent bank. The only thing I ever missed with them is if I need a typical in branch service, IE: More than my daily limit for ATM withdrawals or something like a bank draft. All I did to get around that was just open an unsecured LOC at my local TD. No fees for the account and they give you a client card for access. So, for example, last week I needed $1500 in cash, so I just went to the teller, got my cash, walked over 25' the ATM and deposited a cheque from my PCF acct to clear off the LOC about 45 seconds later.
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Apr 19, 2014 21:05
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My theory: it's an intentionally bad name. An intended mark of shame for the cheapskates like me who use it. It won't work on me, but it just might on some.
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Apr 19, 2014 22:40
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tuyop posted:The simplest solution seems to be to remove some of the stress from your cash flow with a big 1-month expense buffer in your chequing. Just keep like 5k in there and never worry about it again. I carry many months of operating expenses in my day to day account and the lengthy holds the bank arbitrarily assigns to deposits annoys me too. On principal it is straight up bullshit. Time value of money and all that. slidebite posted:Just heard about "tangerine" just now. Who the hell thought that would be a good name for a bank? The boardroom is silent as the brain trust at Scotia Bank decides exactly how to continue the brand recognition ING has built in Canada while still differentiating itself from ING. Some overpaid VP mentions the colour (that tangerine orange) ING is associated with. The rest is history. By the way, buy Scotia Bank if you want to actually be richer than you think. Saltin fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Apr 19, 2014 |
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Apr 19, 2014 23:25
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I've never noticed more than a partial, short hold for my [admittedly infrequent] deposits at INGerine. Perhaps it's a function of account duration (I've had an account well over a decade)?
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Apr 20, 2014 00:11
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Also Tangerine sounds like a young, hip, web 2.0 kind of name. Like Twitter, and Tumblr.
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Apr 20, 2014 02:05
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Anyone else dealing with T1135 hell? I've just been informed that I need to fill this poo poo out going back to 2010.
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Apr 20, 2014 02:23
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HookShot posted:Also Tangerine sounds like a young, hip, web 2.0 kind of name. I just don't get who wants a ~web 2.0~ bank. The more old, stodgy, and unsexy* my bank, the better. I don't want Friendster in charge of my money! *But with a good web interface. It should just have something like "Royal" or "Imperial" or "Dominion" (Aye Saye!) in the name.
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Apr 20, 2014 02:24
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Cultural Imperial posted:Anyone else dealing with T1135 hell? Who informed you? If it wasn't CRA, you definitely want to file this using the Voluntary Disclosure program or they are going to kill you with penalties ($2,500 per year).
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Apr 20, 2014 03:34
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Lexicon posted:I've never noticed more than a partial, short hold for my [admittedly infrequent] deposits at INGerine. Perhaps it's a function of account duration (I've had an account well over a decade)? Yes, probably. But new(er) accounts will probably see everything above $100 per deposit held for up to 5 days.
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Apr 20, 2014 03:36
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Kal Torak posted:Who informed you? If it wasn't CRA, you definitely want to file this using the Voluntary Disclosure program or they are going to kill you with penalties ($2,500 per year). My accountant. And yeah, I'm going to use the disclosure. But holy poo poo, I now have to go research the highest price of every single holding and the year end value for the past 4 years.
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Apr 20, 2014 03:53
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I'll add in I've been perfectly happy with PCF. I don't think I've ever really noticed the holds. I think they used to at first, but I'll deposit a few hundred cash and my available funds immediately increases by the deposited amount. Then again I've apparently been with them for 12 years so now, so that might be why. It seems my financial plans have changed yet again this year. I was going to save up 17k to start a self directed basic RRSP with TD Waterhouse, and with employer matching be at 24k. But after talking with my manager, it seems I send head office a receipt of my RRSP contributions for the year, and they send me back a check. Albeit addressed to my bank. This made me think what would the penalties be for putting in 24k of my money, and then another 11k from the company match (~45%), and withdrawing 10k to not be over limit? Everything I read, or have heard, is don't take money out from your RRSP unless it is through the home buyer plan, or the education plan. I've read that there is a with holding tax of between 10-30% depending on how much withdrawn, and which province you live in. This is often worded as a penalty. So I assumed it was on top of the income tax you would also pay due to the effective increase of income. But it seems all they are doing, is having you pay the income tax on it upfront, much like on your paycheck. This would likely be higher than if done in retirement, but I'd take ~25% tax for a 45% gain any day. Of course there is the thought that money will not be growing over the years for your retirement. But that depends what you do with the withdrawn money (such as placing it into a TFSA). Again not a concern to me. The only real issue I see, is losing the 10k of contribution limit. And even then I'm not sure about that. Assuming you have a 20k contribution limit for 2014, contribute 30k, then withdraw 10k, would that 10k be subtracted from 2015s contribution limit? I know that unlike a TFSA, you don't get back contribution room for any withdrawals the next year. But the 10k wasn't contribution room anyways, and is penalized with the 1% monthly. The CRA website doesn't talk about this case, though it does mention possibly having a negative contribution limit due to other situations. Of course maxing RRSP contributions each year is step 3, which I don't really plan to do fully anyways. In summary, I'd get an instant 45% growth on 7k, pay tax on it at my yearly income rate + 7k + 1% penalty, and lose 10k contribution room from next year (Maybe, also the excess can't be deducted from your income). Or just break the intention of the matching check and put it straight into my TFSA, rather then bending it sharply with the above move. Any thing else I'm missing other than my employer possibly getting mad?
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Apr 20, 2014 04:16
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Golluk posted:I'll add in I've been perfectly happy with PCF. I don't think I've ever really noticed the holds. I think they used to at first, but I'll deposit a few hundred cash and my available funds immediately increases by the deposited amount. Then again I've apparently been with them for 12 years so now, so that might be why. Yes, the withholding is basically just a tax prepayment. It would all be reconciled when you file your T1 for next year. This is a really interesting scenario that I can't totally find fault with other than the headache to file the T1-OVP and deal with any overcontribution issues. From CRA's perspective, I don't really see a problem as you would be paying all the taxes and penalties. The only thing I am thinking is that this has to be against your employment code of ethics or their RRSP matching policy...or something.
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Apr 20, 2014 06:04
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So I have a sort of generic question about soft credit inquiries (as opposed to hard ones). When I pulled my report I saw these: quote:The following "soft" inquiries were also generated. These soft inquiries do not appear when lenders look at your file; they are only displayed to you. Why would they run "soft checks" on me? What is the purpose/gain from it? Presumably all they need is my address to run one because they would have had nothing else from the transaction.
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Apr 21, 2014 05:38
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^ My guess: FS/BB sell highly liquid items and are therefore more susceptible to fraudulent transactions than your average merchant. It's probably worth it to them to try and further 'validate' each transaction above a particular threshold, and I'm guessing they are using Beanstream as a provider of this service. It definitely makes me feel a bit uncomfortable though.
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Apr 21, 2014 05:49
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Wow, holy crap, yeah. Since I live in the middle of nowhere I tend to order everything online, so I have a bunch of Futureshop transactions in the last year, I hope they weren't all soft pulls.
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Apr 21, 2014 16:43
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I thought soft inquires won't affect anything? Does anyone know what will affect credit scores for sure? I pay for the dumb equifax score every year and I dropped 10 points from last year despite making all my payments on time and keeping all my limits the same. The only thing that changed was I closed my Telus account of 8 years and switched to Rogers, but that wouldn't affect it that much would it?
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Apr 21, 2014 17:15
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Can anyone recommend a Canadian Amex that's worth getting and ideally has no annual fee? (I likely won't use it much, but I've heard they are useful in international-relocation scenarios and that might be in my future)
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Apr 21, 2014 23:10
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