More Readable Canadian Passports&Criminal Records Article!

I believe that Via rail has seriously upgraded its on-train wifi service.

NSF Fees

These fees are very annoying, hitting you at your worst. Typically, a bank would charge the person trying to cash a cheque on an account that didn't have enough funds for the payment. Since the bank would charge the company trying to claim payment, the company would often forward the fee to the cheque-writing customer.

Logitech MK710 Review

Confusingly, the keyboard in the MK710 package is the MK700, and the mouse is the MK705. However, there is also an older keyboard+mouse package called the MK700, which has the old big USB-stick receiver. Avoid the MK700 keyboard+mouse package. Get the MK710.

Price

WestJet Dollars Credit Card

Banks love to issue special "rewards" credit cards with points or miles as their rewards. Even MBNA's Smart Cash "cash back" Mastercard gives out MBNA Reward Dollars or something.

Bell Rolling out Network Charge to More Customers

To understand all of this, we need to have an educational talk about the two kinds of Bell phone service. There are two types of "local phone" service in Bell territories:

3VCash is a new product on the Canadian Market.

How 3VCash Works

3vCash Vouchers are a bit more directed to the needs of the prepaid Visa/Mastercard market: Those that only need a card to buy online, but can't because they don't have a credit card.

Although I have a clean driving record (no accidents, no claims and no moving violations), 7 years of experience (and I drive a lot) and drive a crappy car with little value and probably even less impact force in the event of an accident, my car insurance rates suck.

My First Ontario Corporation!

ScotiaBank Problem Background

I have a Scotia "PowerChequing" Account that I don't really use as a part of my Scotia line of credit account package. It was supposed to be free during school, and for one year after I graduate.

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.