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Email this12:47 pm
October 21, 2013
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I am trying to help a friend get a more suitable credit card.
A cash-back option would be best. Travel rewards would be useless.
They currently have the Canadian Tire Options card, but aren't shopping there any more, so it is not useful.
Individual income is between $17,000 and $18,000, and family income right now is about $28,000. One of them may not live much longer, in which case the individual income will prevail, as stated..
The expenses which are put on the card would probably not exceed $6,000/yr.
Capital One Aspire Cash Platinum MC has no fee and gives 1% on all purchases but requires $30,000 family income.
(For Reference, the Canadian Tire Options card pays 1.3% on purchases made at CT, and 1% for all other purchases, and is a no-fee card. But you can only redeem by buying stuff at CT.)
2:04 pm
December 23, 2011
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Loonie said
I am trying to help a friend get a more suitable credit card.
A cash-back option would be best. Travel rewards would be useless.
They currently have the Canadian Tire Options card, but aren't shopping there any more, so it is not useful.
Individual income is between $17,000 and $18,000, and family income right now is about $28,000. One of them may not live much longer, in which case the individual income will prevail, as stated..
The expenses which are put on the card would probably not exceed $6,000/yr.Capital One Aspire Cash Platinum MC has no fee and gives 1% on all purchases but requires $30,000 family income.
(For Reference, the Canadian Tire Options card pays 1.3% on purchases made at CT, and 1% for all other purchases, and is a no-fee card. But you can only redeem by buying stuff at CT.)
Loonie. I am retired. I have a pension from where I worked. I have applied for credit cards and stated my income while I was working.....not what I am making now. Who verifies your income and how could it be done? And who is to say what is income...from work....from investments.....etc. If the minimum is 30000 then say 32000.
2:18 pm
October 21, 2013
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Hmmm.
I suppose that since the applicant is quite elderly, one could argue that all the money they have is "income". If they chose to spend it all in one year, they could. But I wouldn't want to get them in trouble if someone checked into it somehow. It's one thing to take the risk for oneself, but I don't want to give advice that could be a problem.
I called Scotia Momentum and the fellow I spoke to had an accent that I had trouble penetrating so I wansn't sure I understood him correctly. I thought he said the minimum income there was $12,000 individual income, which seems awfully low. However, the no-fee card, which is the one we would choose due to their spending habits and the lack of financial liability if they both decline and can't use it anyway, does not give as good a reward as Aspire.
2:30 pm
December 23, 2011
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If you are helping them out and doing a little bit of power of attorney stuff it is much easier to pay bills on the credit card and then someone pays the card online from their bank account. I did it for my Mom for years as I had to pay for monthly stuff for her. And yes income is not a lie just how you best interpret it. Since they are older....is there any insurance coverages....life...accident..or pay off the balance??
2:31 pm
June 24, 2014
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I checked ScotiaBank website. Yes, the min income is $12,000 per year. The cash back is 1% on gas and grocery/drug/recurring payments, others 0.5%. There is no fee. (Actually they offer another option: $39 annual fee, but cash back is doubled. 2% on gas/grocery/drug/recurring payments. others 1%.) http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/0,,33,00.html
Loonie said
Hmmm.
I suppose that since the applicant is quite elderly, one could argue that all the money they have is "income". If they chose to spend it all in one year, they could. But I wouldn't want to get them in trouble if someone checked into it somehow. It's one thing to take the risk for oneself, but I don't want to give advice that could be a problem.I called Scotia Momentum and the fellow I spoke to had an accent that I had trouble penetrating so I wansn't sure I understood him correctly. I thought he said the minimum income there was $12,000 individual income, which seems awfully low. However, the no-fee card, which is the one we would choose due to their spending habits and the lack of financial liability if they both decline and can't use it anyway, does not give as good a reward as Aspire.
2:44 pm
October 21, 2013
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Thanks for the confirmation, James. I can't for the life of me find that info on their website.
This couple is have little in the way of accessible assets. There is no insurance and they would not be able to get it. I expect that in due course I might be acting as power of attorney, and, yes, it is convenient to put everything possible on credit card and then just pay the one bill. I just want them to get some cash back that they can use, rather than Canadian Tire credits that they can't. As their lives are in flux, there is no point in getting a card which gives rewards that can only be redeemed in limited ways.
4:56 pm
August 28, 2013
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Let them get Walmart Master Card. Minimum income is $15K but, trust me! they do not check nor they have a way to verify such claim. HOW? To call revenue Canada and ask to see your T4?
1% return on Everything and 1.25% on all purchases at Walmart. Those are 'Walmart dollars' meaning money you have to spend at Walmart.
11:06 pm
October 21, 2013
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Thanks for the suggestion, JustMe. I hadn't thought of Walmart, and it is a good deal for people who are likely to be shopping there. The person I am trying to help shops there very rarely and is even less likely to do so in the future, unfortunately, as it's inconvenient. Most of the charges on the credit card will come from grocery store and drug store purchases, I think.
I have a problem with the arbitrary income limits set by credit card issuers. I noticed that one of them, I think it was MBNA, said you had to have income of X or annual spending of Y. I think Y was $25,000. I thought that was a better way of looking at it.
I know people with relatively low incomes by the standards of some of these cards (some of them want $60,000 income or $100,000 for a couple) but have very significant assets in fixed income and savings which they are spending down by gradual withdrawals of principal and income. According to some of these criteria, these people wouldn't qualify but they would easily spend more than $25,000/yr on their credit cards (and pay it off every month). This is a shortsighted decision on the part of the banks. And I hope they are listening!
Another thought: a lot of people have highly variable incomes - people in sales and retired people who are invested in stocks and bond funds etc. So they, at best, can only guess what their income will be. If they had a bad year, they will want to assume that the current one will be significantly better.
It's really none of the banks' business what people's income is. All they need to be concerned about is whether applicants are creditworthy and perhaps whether their spending habits justify the card they are asking for, IMO.
2:14 am
October 21, 2013
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I think I'm probably down to either Scotia Momentum Visa or Aspire Platinum Cashback MC.
Perhaps both! - since they are free, and one is Visa whereas the other is MC.
I will probably suggest just doing one of them at a time though.
Any thoughts on which would be better in terms of customer service, credit limits, etc.?
Capital One has a grace period of 25 days, whereas Scotia has 21.
Capital One charges $20 if you go over your credit limit, regardless of whether you pay it in time, and there were complaints on a thread at redflagdeals that they thought Capital One deliberately gave creditworthy people low limits so that they could ding them for overspending. On the other hand, Scotia charges $29 for going over limit.
I think Scotia pays out annually automatically, whereas with Capital One you have to request it when you want it. (as described here http://www.thestar.com/busines.....pared.html) Automatic would be easier for old people who might forget to ask or find it a burden. Can anyone verify from their experience?
3:22 am
October 21, 2013
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I just found something I don't understand on the Scotia Momentum application.
https://apps.scotiabank.com/cgi-bin/voca/voca.cgi?source=898N&c=e&TID=ps_pg_cc_c018_a004_k001
On the Application Disclosure Statement, under "Minimum Payment", it reads
"Interest Charges + Fees + $10.00: Your minimum payment will include Interest Charges on your monthly statement, plus cash advance fee(s) plus any dishonoured payment fees, plus any dishonoured Scotia Credit Card cheque fees, plus $10.00."
Perhaps there is something wrong with the grammar, but it sounds like they plan to charge us $10./mo. for nothing in particular???
7:38 am
September 5, 2013
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I would like to recommend CIBC Classic Dividend Card. Even for new comers and students will be qualify. But the reward (1%) is not as great as the other credit card.
https://www.cibc.com/ca/visa/dividend-card.html
This is the only card I have been holding since I was out of gate of university. It's simple, no catch, and classic visa.
8:33 am
February 22, 2013
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Brimleychen said
I would like to recommend CIBC Classic Dividend Card. Even for new comers and students will be qualify. But the reward (1%) is not as great as the other credit card.
https://www.cibc.com/ca/visa/dividend-card.html
This is the only card I have been holding since I was out of gate of university. It's simple, no catch, and classic visa.
Be careful -- the CIBC Classic Dividend Card pays UP TO 1%. The first $1500 gets 1/4 of 1%, the second $1500 gets 1/2 of 1% and the balance gets 1%. so, someone with $6000 worth of spending in a year earns 0.6875%.
I do like CIBC's offerings due to their amazingly FREE credit monitoring services.
Greg
9:40 am
June 24, 2014
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Loonie, I cannot imagine a big bank like ScotiaBank puts this kind of misleading statements on their website. So, I suggest your friend do Capital One Aspire Cash Platinum MasterCard. Everything has 1% cash back, better than Scotia's only gas/grocery/drug 1%. And their minimal payment is clearly stated. I chatted online to one of their application specialists. This card does not require minimal income.
Loonie said
I just found something I don't understand on the Scotia Momentum application.
https://apps.scotiabank.com/cgi-bin/voca/voca.cgi?source=898N&c=e&TID=ps_pg_cc_c018_a004_k001
On the Application Disclosure Statement, under "Minimum Payment", it reads
"Interest Charges + Fees + $10.00: Your minimum payment will include Interest Charges on your monthly statement, plus cash advance fee(s) plus any dishonoured payment fees, plus any dishonoured Scotia Credit Card cheque fees, plus $10.00."
Perhaps there is something wrong with the grammar, but it sounds like they plan to charge us $10./mo. for nothing in particular???
9:47 am
June 24, 2014
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Though you have to request the cash back from Capital One, it never expires. Even you forget last year's, you may request all cash back this year, any time. The most convenient method is "statement credit" which means the money is put into your credit account.
10:29 am
October 21, 2013
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Thanks, everyone. I think I'll run the pros and cons past my friend and hopefully she can decide based on all this input.
9:08 pm
May 9, 2013
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Chase Amazon.ca VISA
-no forex fee
-no annual fee
-1% cb
-2% cb on Amazon.ca (not .com)
MBNA Smartcash
-no annual fee
-2% cb on gas/groceries merchant code stores
-1% cb for else
I got the Amazon.ca mostly for the no forex. I just stated I'm a student without income and somehow still got it. I'd expect the MBNA Smartcash to be similar.
9:57 pm
April 6, 2013
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Loonie said
I just found something I don't understand on the Scotia Momentum application.
https://apps.scotiabank.com/cgi-bin/voca/voca.cgi?source=898N&c=e&TID=ps_pg_cc_c018_a004_k001
On the Application Disclosure Statement, under "Minimum Payment", it reads
"Interest Charges + Fees + $10.00: Your minimum payment will include Interest Charges on your monthly statement, plus cash advance fee(s) plus any dishonoured payment fees, plus any dishonoured Scotia Credit Card cheque fees, plus $10.00."
Perhaps there is something wrong with the grammar, but it sounds like they plan to charge us $10./mo. for nothing in particular???
To me, the text means one has to make a make a monthly payment of least $10 more than the interest and fees each statement to reduce one's balance by least $10.
I don't know what happens if one has just $8 owing with no interest and no fees. Does one then have to pay $10 and have a $2 credit for next month?
I've seen other issuers say something like "3% of balance or $10, whichever is greater. A balance of $10 or less must be paid in full."
10:17 pm
October 21, 2013
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thanks, James.
MBNA Smart Cash wants $35,000 family income, plus there are limits on how much cash you can get back in the 2% categry.
Amazon would be good if she shopped there, but she doesn't. She also doesn't use US currency and doesn't travel any more.
10:22 pm
October 21, 2013
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Perhaps you're right, Norman.
If you don't owe interest, haven't taken a cash advance, haven't used their cheques and haven't given them an NSF payment, then I just couldn't figure out what the $10 would be for.
They should rewrite this section.
5:44 am
August 27, 2013
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GS said
Brimleychen said
I would like to recommend CIBC Classic Dividend Card. Even for new comers and students will be qualify. But the reward (1%) is not as great as the other credit card.
https://www.cibc.com/ca/visa/dividend-card.html
This is the only card I have been holding since I was out of gate of university. It's simple, no catch, and classic visa.
Be careful -- the CIBC Classic Dividend Card pays UP TO 1%. The first $1500 gets 1/4 of 1%, the second $1500 gets 1/2 of 1% and the balance gets 1%. so, someone with $6000 worth of spending in a year earns 0.6875%.
I do like CIBC's offerings due to their amazingly FREE credit monitoring services.
Greg
thanks greg, for this detailed computation. i've been using this cibc credit card for more than 4 years and i always don't get how they compute the dividend dollars. the highest dividend i got so far was back in 2012 when i was in school. that was about $130 (from the tuition payment, car insurance, etc) but after that it's like 20 dollars per year ever since. weak cash back credit card, imo.
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