Found 20 posts tagged as "Banking"
Creepy story of the week: a billionaire tycoon has adopted his girlfriend as his daughter. Yes, you read that correctly. And, no, this is not one of those crazy TLC shows. Rather, it’s a move prompted by finances (but still really creepy).
Not long ago, I was questioning whether or not I would marry someone who’s in debt. To get a good idea of how people felt, I asked friends, family members and my Twitter followers for their opinion on the subject.
One gentleman was floored by the fact that debt was even a decision-making factor. He called my question both crass and offensive. “If you love someone,” he said, “debt shouldn’t even be a consideration.” Spoken like a true romantic – or someone who’s never been stung by an ex. Well, here I am again, considering a very similar problem – the dreaded and controversial prenuptial agreement.
by Roop Gill
Charles Shepard, a Brandon, Manitoba resident withdrew 12 of the new plastic $100 bills from a local bank. When he received the bills, he noticed two of them already had cracks in them and started tearing even more when he handled them.
This was surprising given that these new polymer bills have been billed as nearly indestructible. According to the Bank of Canada, the new bills are supposed to last two-and-a-half times longer than the old paper ones.
When Shepard got home, he decided to put the new bills to the test.
Thinking of switching from paper bills to e-bills? Better be careful, paying your e-bills the wrong way just might cost you.
E-bills, which are electronic copies of paper bills emailed to the billee's inbox or or to a consolidated bill payment website, have grown in popularity in Canada over the last few years. The vast majority of Canadians I asked on my blog's Facebook page cheered in support of this greener bill payment method.
Leigh writes: "I enjoy e-bills not only for their environmental support, but I always misplaced the paper ones. I also like not having to keep my copies."
Many Facebook commenters switched to electronic billing during last summer's Canada Post strike to ensure bills would be received and paid on time. Frequent flyers and travel enthusiasts also prefer e-bills since they can be paid from anywhere in the world.
But despite this roaring support, there are a few glitches electronic bill payers should be aware of, as these mistakes could cost you some serious cash.
Here are three ways e-bills can cost you:
Typically, when you read about groups of criminals, they are involved in terrorism or drugs or sex trafficking. You don’t often read stories about gangs of men and women arrested for cheque fraud. But that’s exactly the story you’re going to get, so hang onto your hats.
Business Insider is reporting that a whopping 94 people have been arrested in relation to a cheque cashing fraud ring. While the charges were laid by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the story does have a Canadian link – the bank in question is none other than TD Bank.
On Friday, I was charged $2.50 to withdraw money at an ATM at a bar. It was the first time I’ve used another bank’s machine in months, as I’m one of those people who hates throwing money away on unnecessary fees. But after cover and coat check and a couple of drinks ate up the limited cash I had on my person, I had no choice but to take out more. I am still berating myself for not heading to my own bank before the bar.
As I sit and think about my lost $2.50, an American entrepreneur by the name of Clinton Townsend is getting to work on a way to circumvent ATM fees for good. He believes that the solution to fees can be found in paid advertising. His idea was recently reported on by Good Morning America and has gotten much press online since then.
On Friday, I headed into my bank to talk about the possibility of investing some of my savings. I don’t have much to invest, but I thought it might be a good idea to see if I could make what I do have grow just a little bit faster. When I met with the financial advisor, she slid a folder across the table. “What’s this?” I asked. “It’s your portfolio,” she said. “It’s your net worth.”
I opened the folder and stared at the number at the bottom of the page. No one had ever told me what I was worth before, and apparently it isn’t a lot. I was visibly disappointed and she looked at me with pity, as if I should have known better. She advised me to come back when I had more to invest. I left without even discussing my options.
Why is knowing your net worth important?
Recently I was reading about the financial woes of our neighbours to the south. It seems their banks have increased fees for services that were once free. The New York Times says that Bank of America now charges $5 to replace a lost debit card – or $20, if you want it rush delivered. In Canada, most financial institutions offer this service for free. If American customers want to deposit money using a mobile app, they have to pay $0.50 per cheque. In Canada, we can perform this task for free as well – or at least I can. But when American banks tried to impose in-your-face fees, customers complained. So they’ve been charging fees that “fly under the radar” instead.
This isn’t the only article I’ve seen in American newspapers complaining about financial institutions. In fact, over the weekend I read a total of six very similar articles. In a recent survey, 53% of polled Americans said they’d rather walk to find their bank’s ATM, rather than pay a fee by using another. 84% said they didn’t think it was acceptable to charge a fee for depositing cheques. 79% said they didn’t think it was right to charge a monthly maintenance fee. And 77% said that they didn’t think it was fair to charge an ATM fee.
It got me wondering, how do our banks stack up? Are we really that much more satisfied, or just more complacent? Here’s what I found:
Imagine that you could pay for a service online without accruing a mountain of fees. Imagine being a retailer and having the ability to take your customer’s money – and keep all of it. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Well, now it’s not. Introducing Dwolla.
At only 28 years of age, Ben Milne’s company, Dwolla, has been called one of the top 20 most innovative startups in tech. When Milne was just 18 he started up a speaker manufacturing company. His business was successful, but he found that he was losing some $55,000 in credit card fees each year. Every time a customer paid with their credit card, a percentage of the sale would be given up to the credit card company. “I felt like they were stealing from me – I was getting paid and somebody was taking money out of my pocket,” says Milne. With that, he set out to design a system that would allow the exchange of money, without the hefty fees.
"Your currency is strongest at home" and "buying currency outside a country is always more costly than buying it inside said country." You've heard them both. But which outweighs which?
With the exception of a lengthy remote backpacking trip, I would recommend exchanging enough cash before you take off to pay for the predictable arrival activities like cabs, buses and any airport duties at your destination.
Other than that, I have found that buying local can often lead to more in your pocket than exchanging money here at home in advance. But you should do research on exchange rates as part of your trip planning activities.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Contact your destination hotel and ask what their rates are, if there are any service fees for exchange, and compare their answers to what your bank or local currency exchange office has to offer today.
- Then do the same thing with a currency exchanger near your local hotel, and compare.
- Now call your credit card and see what rates they're using.
You will often find that using your credit cards offers the cheapest and quickest exchange rate of all. Even with a 2.5% conversion fee on top of the exchange rate, American express (for example) still has an overall better rate than some banks (for amounts under $1,000) with the added bonuses of no line ups at the currency exchange, no identification to haul around, it’s automatic, secure and your purchases are likely insured. It's yet another case for the fantastic tools credit cards are in the arsenal of an effective household CFO.
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