It was thanks to a mistake that I opened a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) with Ally. I was under the mistaken impression that ING Direct levied a fee to transfer a TFSA account to another institution but when Ally customer agents assured me that they do not charge transfer fees, I withdrew the entire balance [...]
A little while back, I wrote about a neat little hack I learned on Canadian Money Forum on saving money on converting Canadian dollars to US dollars or vice-versa. The hack allows you to convert Canadian dollars into US dollars by buying a highly liquid inter-listed security on the TSX, journaling it over to the [...]
If you hold some cash in a self-directed registered account with a discount broker, you’ve probably resigned yourself to earning a pittance in interest. TD Waterhouse, for instance, pays nothing if your cash balance is less than $500,000. A slightly better choice for parking cash for investors who have accounts at a big-bank affiliated discount [...]
In response to a recent post on auto and home insurance premiums going up in Ontario, Cindy, who buys her insurance through the Co-Operators, commented that her auto insurance premiums went up by 9.6 percent and home insurance went up by 22 percent. When she called, there was little the insurance company could do about [...]
Typically, the biggest cost involved in buying stocks or ETFs listed in the US markets is the foreign exchange fees. Discount brokers typically charge 1.5% or more for converting Canadian dollars into US dollars or vice-versa. If you want to convert $10,000 Canadian into US Dollars, it will cost you at least $150 at your [...]
With the exit of Citizen’s Bank last year, President’s Choice Financial is now the only game in town in the free chequing account space. But perhaps not for much longer. There has long been speculation on whether ING Direct will start offering chequing accounts. A reader recently got in touch with ING Direct and asked [...]
If you are tired of paying a monthly fee to do your banking, you have the option of opening a no-fee chequing account with President’s Choice Financial and seeing a substantial reduction in bank fees. If you want to earn a higher interest rate on your savings, you are spoiled for choice with a long [...]
[NB: Thanks to reader Dave for today's tip. If you have any story ideas, comments or tips, feel free to contact me.] Prepaid Credit cards are not as big here as in the US but a few are available — Royal Bank, for instance, offers a prepaid Visa card. I don’t think these cards make [...]
Several new players are now offering high-interest savings accounts with significantly better rates than traditional leaders like ING Direct, President’s Choice Financial and Canadian Tire Financial. If you have a savings account with ING Direct you’ll earn 1.05%, just 0.75% with PC Financial and 1.20% with Canadian Tire. The new players are offering rates that [...]
A recent post on Citizen’s Bank of Canada (see Citizen’s Bank Shutting down Free Chequing Accounts) elicited the following interesting tip on using HSBC Direct Savings Account as a main bank account: HSBC’s Direct Savings account might be an option for some people. While you cannot write personal cheques on the account, you can do [...]
