Dan Matan

There are two major credit bureaus in Canada: TransUnion and Equifax

Both offer (I think by law) free credit reports.

And I've been looking to purchase a used car. Dealing with used car dealerships is hilarious.

In order to test drive any car, all they usually need is a photocopy of your driver's license ("G" only acceptable in Ontario). If they ask for your phone number, it's certainly for the purposes of trying to call you later.

My advice is that any used car should be purchasable with at least 15% off list price, and certainly no less than 10% off list price.

Did you buy something in US$ with your credit card, but your credit card only reports the total in Canadian Dollars, so you don't know what they charged you, or what their commission was?

Here is the daily US Dollar to Canadian Dollar Exchange Rates, noon-time rates. Data is from business days only. Generally, changes are minor on holidays and weekends (though it is true that the forex market is open 24/7 and rates are constantly fluctuating). 

Average Currency Exchange Rates for 2009

2008 Average Exchange Rates are available here. 

The Canadian Revenue Agency makes it a bit hard to find the average exchange rates for income tax purposes.

This information is necessary for those earning income in US Dollars, whether it be capital gains, interest income, dividends, employment income, consulting income, estates, etc. 

So here they all are on one page.

A postal money order is a lot like a bank money order, or bank draft, except it can be cashed through both a bank and any postal outlet/office.

Be careful of the exchange rates that Canada Post offers you if you're buying in a foreign currency. Unfortunately, they no longer accept US$ Cash when purchasing a US$ Money Order. 

Canada Post Postal Money Orders cost:

$5.50 for CAD$ Money orders and US$ International Money orders (for cashing in the USA only)

$6.00 for some others.

• Firstly, please read my article about acceptance of prepaid cards at places like hotels, flights and for car rentals.
• Secondly, I have a more

I am looking to purchase credit

• Dan Matan's blog
• Read more

The Visa Infinite website is created in a confusing way that is mostly inaccessible to Google and the blind (everything is an image, no text!).

Please feel free to comment on any of the benefits/features, as well as any other positive or negative elements about the Infinite cards.

aka: CIBC Dividend Infinite Visa vs Capital One Cash Back Plus Platinum

It looks like CIBC card is the successor card to the CIBC Dividend Platinum Visa card that I've written about before.

The tiers are the same, and there's still an annual fee, but as a nice plus, the card now includes:

I'll expand more on this article tomorrow, but Canadian Tire has launched their own CT Prepaid Mastercard.

TFSA Contribution Limits

The limit to contribute to a TFSA for the year 2009 is $5000. Most everyone already knows this.

But how much will the Tax Free Savings Account Contribution limit go up to for the year 2010?

The TFSA Contribution limit goes up by the CPI, or the amount of inflation in a given year, but in $500 increments only.

Looking to make a trip to the USA?

Travel (cheaper) internationally from the US? Flights there are usually a lot cheaper than in Canada. 

Buy a car in the US?

Going to University/College in the USA? Or need UK Pounds to g o to school in England?

Buy a vacation home in Florida? US Stocks?

For all of these things, you'll need US Dollars/American dollars to make the purchases.

Selling Gold Scrap and Silver Coins

Canadians need to be a bit careful as to where they sell off their scrap gold and silver, or gold/silver coins.

"Scrap Gold" and "Scrap Silver" are basically anything that isn't a gold/silver bar and isn't a coin minted by a national bank (like the Kruggerands, Canadian Maples, US Eagles, and pre-1968 Candadian quarters and dimes). In other words, silver and gold jewellery is considered "scrap. 

TD E-series Low-MER (Management Expense Ratio) Mutual Fund Fees

Are you unhapy with mutual funds that are charging Management Expense Ratios (MERs) of 1% or more, sometimes upwards of 2.5%?

There's no good evidence to prove that higher MERs result in greater returns.

TD has a relatively unadvertised line of mutual funds with exceptionally low MERs. Perhaps the lowest in Canada. 

Hi Again,

Here are the September 2009 exchange rates between the US Dollar and the Canadian Dollar as per the Bank of Canada. The Bank of Canada is Canada's Central Bank, like the US' Federal Reserve Bank. 

Exchange rates are only published on weekday business days. Generally, exchange rates don't fluctuate much on weekends, but you are free to take an average of the before and after trading day to get a rough estimate of what it would be.

It looks like Cogeco, the worst cable provider in Canada (I like to call them "Cage-co") is now actually charging overage fees on their internet service.

Apparently their internet service infrastructure is so bad that they had to resort to absurd usage caps. In reality, they're just doing it to steal more of your money, there's no shortage of bandwidth!

If Cogeco tries to charge you overage fees, here's what to do:

BMO American Dollar Credit Card Fees

I've been quite a fan of BMO Mosaik's No-Fee US$ Mastercard.

Bank of Montreal had the only fee-free US$ credit card in Canada without making you jump through any hoops.  TD Bank has a "free" one if you subscribe to their most expensive banking plan (or free with a minimum $5000 deposit, ya right!). 

Whistler Nightlife 

Remember that most clubs have promo tabs so get friendly with either the bartender or manager, or get to know some locals who often go to the same bars. They're sure to have built up some amount of rapport. 

I received an email from a reader (and got permission to repost it anonymously). I'm sure it is a situation familiar to many that end up on this website:

Blue is my writing, green is the reader's.

Canadian Banking Industry Information for Foreigners/Americans

First, I'll give a brief introduction to banking in Canada before providing the information on how to open a Canadian bank account as a foreigner. 

It looks like the Horizon Plus Prepaid Credit Mastercard Lives On.

HorizonPlus Prepaid Credit Card

Looks like this is still available, despite the lack of usability of Peoples Trust's Website. That's right, they don't put a possessive apostrophe on the Peoples. Grammar Fail. 

If you need to send money to a friend/relative via TD Canada Trust, there are two good ways of doing so: