Here is what they have planned for their suckers, er, customers:

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Currently, no interest is charged on new purchases appearing on your statement for the first time if you the full balance due under that statement by the payment due date. After April 1, 2005, for an interest-free period to apply to your new purchases you must pay the full balance due under your current statement by the due date and you must have paid your previous month's balance in full by its due date (so you are not carrying a balance from the previous month).

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Further down it clarifies further:

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If you don't pay in full in any month, you will lost your interest-free period on new purchases until you have your total balance in full for two consecutive months

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When I was working in the IT industry, I was paying a whopping $60 a month in Interac fees, plus maintaining a balance on my credit card. Furthermore, I was often in overdraft and paying interest on THAT.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Yup. Cut up the credit cards and live on cash. My life has been so much less stressful since I gave my credit cards the heave-ho. I will never, ever own one again. Ever.

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I haven't had to make hotel reservations since getting rid of my cards, but I suppose if I did, I could probably send them a cheque in advance if I were planning a trip. If you want to rent a car without a card, you give them $500 cash, returnable when you get back. If you can't afford the $500 cash, then you can't afford to rent a car, because if you get into an accident, then you will have to pay the $500 deductible.

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Originally posted by Anchoress:
...I maintain a >$1,000 balance and my bank fees are now a whopping $2.50 a month (and that's what I pay to have them send me my cancelled cheques back in the mail).

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hey anchoress. something to watch out for. i have a cibc account that used to have the >$1000 limit/no service charges plan. in january, i noticed $18.00 service charges for the month. went into the branch and inquired. it seems they arbitrarily raised the greater than amount to >$1500.

"oh - didn't you get a letter? let me check. i see here that one wasn't mailed to you. ok, we'll reverse those charges."

they actually had it on record in the computer system that i hadn't been sent a letter. what a croc of deceit. so what they do is not only raise the limit, thereby changing the conditions of the contract, but also automatically bill everyone, and re-imburse only those who complain.

keep an eye those service charges. i estimated it costs my partner and i $120.00/year to maintain bank accounts. so we're now playing their game, and the net result is "they get nothing" for the privelege of storing our money. (besides the mortgage interest and student loans).

i too read the cibc visa changes. my synopsis is this: no matter what your history, if you fail to pay your complete balance issued on the monthly statement, you have to pay interest charges on every purchase for a two-month period (also by due dates) to get back to the privelege of no interest.

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Originally posted by quagmire:
...I'm thinking ING might be a better way to go to get some interest though...

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but you have to have a bank account in order to transfer money to an ING account. so you still end up paying service charges to maintain an account. ING just lets you gain a bit more interest.

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Originally posted by Igor the Miserable:
If you aren't able to live without a credit card (and kudos to those who can!), you could at least move your business to somewhere like www.citizensbank.ca. They offer an Amnesty International VISA and an Oxfam VISA.

I've been a Citizens customer for about five years now and have nothing but good things to say about them (they're a subsidiary of Van City).

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Hmm. Worth looking into.

The other option is to get a credit card that isn't really a credit card, like the Global Payment MasterCard. It's actually a debit card- the money is withdrawn directly from your account. It's like paying by Interac, except that you can use it online. The thing to watch out for, though, as DrConway pointed out in another thread, is leaving it at home when you go on vacation- if it's stolen, the money's gone. The obvious solution, of course, is to take it with you. I don't suppose it will help you build credit though.

I've never actually used this kind of card; does anyone have any direct experience with them? If so, have I missed anything?

[ 09 March 2005: Message edited by: Mike Keenan ]

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Originally posted by unmaladroit:

hey anchoress. something to watch out for. i have a cibc account that used to have the >$1000 limit/no service charges plan. in january, i noticed $18.00 service charges for the month. went into the branch and inquired. it seems they arbitrarily raised the greater than amount to >$1500.

"oh - didn't you get a letter? let me check. i see here that one wasn't mailed to you. ok, we'll reverse those charges."

they actually had it on record in the computer system that i hadn't been sent a letter. what a croc of deceit. so what they do is not only raise the limit, thereby changing the conditions of the contract, but also automatically bill everyone, and re-imburse only those who complain.

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I used to work for CIBC and I can safely say that the comment about the computer system knowing that you didn't get a letter was a little white lie. Basically, if the dispute is under $50 and you are good customer with no or few previous disputes, the bank caves-in. This time the person you're talking to attempted good customer relations by simply saying "you're right" whether they knew you were or not.

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keep an eye those service charges. i estimated it costs my partner and i $120.00/year to maintain bank accounts. so we're now playing their game, and the net result is "they get nothing" for the privelege of storing our money. (besides the mortgage interest and student loans).

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Actually, they are getting something for holding your money. If you invested $1500 yourself in a half-decent mutual fund, you could make at least $50 if not $100 a year. My mutual fund has been growing at 2% or 3% a month for past few months.

But the bank gets to invest your $1500 instead.

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i too read the cibc visa changes. my synopsis is this: no matter what your history, if you fail to pay your complete balance issued on the monthly statement, you have to pay interest charges on every purchase for a two-month period (also by due dates) to get back to the privelege of no interest.

it sounds reasonable, no such thing as a free lunch, as my mom used to say. but the way they did it, in the fine print, will garner them millions before people catch on or it's changed.

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I'm not sure what you mean by "free lunch", unless you mean the one John Hunkin eats at a fine restaurant at your expense.

But you're right, the CIBC and VISA will make a mint off people who didn't see it coming. And as I have discovered, VISA is much less willing to give back money than CIBC. They sure don't mind pissing off a lot of customers. I'm glad I quit, so I won't be hearing about it.

[ 09 March 2005: Message edited by: Privateer ]

[ 09 March 2005: Message edited by: Privateer ]

Banks have more volumn and longer periods with which to invest our money.

From: THE SENATE OPENS FIRE ON U.S. CONSUMERS
(today's column by Arianna Huffington)

- snip -

In a normal world, those elected to represent the interests of the people would have fought for bankruptcy legislation that would, well, represent the interests of the people. But not in Beltway Bizarroland. Instead of cracking down on predatory lending practices, closing loopholes that favor the wealthy, and strengthening the safety net for working people, single mothers and elderly Americans struggling to recover from a financial setback, the Senate put together a nasty little bill that reads like a credit industry wish list. Rubbing salt in the wound, Sen. Charles Grassley, the bill's chief sponsor, labeled it the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005--even though it does nothing to prevent bankruptcy abuse or protect consumers.

So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of value in homes and asset protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize, while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to reign in lending abuses that frequently turn manageable debt into unmanageable crises. Even in failure, ordinary Americans do not get a level playing field.

Credit card companies have been feverishly lobbying for this legislation for nearly a decade--and it looks like the $34 million the finance and credit industries have contributed to political campaigns since 1996 is finally about to pay off. On Tuesday, the cloture vote on the bill was 69 to 31. The House passed similar legislation last year and GOP leaders are hoping to bypass the conference committee deadlocks that have derailed similar measures in the past and have the bill on President Bush's desk in short order. The president, well aware that credit card giant MBNA is one of the Republican Party's largest donors, has promised to sign the bill as soon as someone hands him a pen.

- snip -

From: Arianna Huffington at: [email protected]

Comment: Okay, everyone start cutting up their MBNA cards.

[ 09 March 2005: Message edited by: Boom Boom ]

When I closed my account at CIBC they asked me why. I told them because of the fees. "Oh, we have a no-fee account." "Do you?" I ask quizzingly. "Yes, it costs $18 a month." *look of stupefaction on my part*

I recently got a letter from my bank here in the UK, to the following effect: "To increase customer service and satisfaction we are increasing the minimum balance on accounts from 1000 to 1500. To qualify for charge-free transactions you must now maintain a balance of over 1500." - Great, I'm more satisfied than ever.

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Originally posted by Seiltänzer:
I recently got a letter from my bank here in the UK, to the following effect: "To increase customer service and satisfaction we are increasing the minimum balance on accounts from 1000 to 1500. To qualify for charge-free transactions you must now maintain a balance of over 1500." - Great, I'm more satisfied than ever.

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Ha! I think I would have written them a short letter with exactly that response in it.

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Originally posted by Seiltänzer:
...I recently got a letter from my bank here in the UK, to the following effect: "To increase customer service and satisfaction we are increasing the minimum balance on accounts from 1000 to 1500. To qualify for charge-free transactions you must now maintain a balance of over 1500." - Great, I'm more satisfied than ever...

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hey privateer...you still have to maintain a bank account and its charges in order to buy a mutual fund, don't you?
hey seiltanzer...you got my letter! they must have one copy that gets circulated.
hey boom boom...you're getting ripped off!
hey no yards...i know exactly what you mean!

i was once "shushed" in a bank by a teller. it was when td bank posted signs on their walls stating that:
service within 5 minutes or we put $5 in your account.
(there is always an instant teller available for use)

i was in line to cash a cheque. my instateller put 7-day holds on deposits. so i couldn't use a machine that day. i had been waiting 15 minutes and wondered aloud if the bank would be depositing $15 dollars into my account. disapproving glares and "shush". could you imagine waiting 15 minutes in a lineup for a drink, only to have the bartender have to get a manager to deal with your comments about the time it took? (i got $5 bucks, and it seemed to piss off the other people standing in line...i don't understand...)

but that's not what i agree with, it's the whole "we've got you trained to do your own banking and are charging you for it in the amount of billions of dollars a year" attitude that we've accepted. it used to be that cash machines took a load off the tellers. i turned towards them for off-hours banking, very convenient. but since then they have progressed from free use for depositing/withdrawing/paying bills to a service charge nightmare.