The USD savings account required to waive the $39 annual fee costs $59.40 USD/year in fees ($4.95 USD/month) plus you're tying up $3000 USD with a 0.01% interest rate.

If you happen to have a TD All-Inclusive chequing account ($30/month; free if minimum $5000 CAD balance (0% interest) is maintained in that account), it'll drop the annual fee down to $23.40 USD/year ($1.95 USD/month). But then that'd be ~$9k CAD tied up with virtually no interest.

anyone use the Alaska Air MC for the $99 companion flight once a year? any problems/headaches?

me and GF thinking about both getting one just so we can get 2 cheap flights a year, flying to Maui etc. it makes it worth it pretty quick if it works as well as some say it does

Probably not the first credit card / co- company that comes to people's mind...but wow. Not bad!

https://www.rogersbank.com/en/card_d...ido_mastercard

The 4% cash back on foreign currency purchases excludes the 2.5% transaction fee, so effectively 1.5%, still pretty good.

It seems like the cash back can only be applied to your Fido account though? So I'm guessing it only makes sense for existing Fido customers?

If you want to compare it to cards like Amazon's VISA, etc yes it's effectively 1.5% But i think majority of the people out there don't carry a separate foreign-fee card. Some do...but probably not most.

I'm curious about this "cash back REWARDS" too. Couldn't find much details about it.
Fido ended their FidoDollars program. So it won't be that. I'm not sure if it's gonna be
[strike]a) $$$ / cheque / apply towards your credit card statement, as with MBNA's SmartCash or similar?[/strike]
or only
b) cash back $ that can be only applied towards Fido bills.

Nvm, it's b)

Rogers' version is 4% (starting Aug 17) and 1.75% for CDN transactions.
Slightly higher local earn rate, but a $29 annual fee after your first year.

https://rogersbank.com/en/card_detai...num_mastercard


^ that card USED to have no foreign exchange fee. But I guess they are eliminating that in flavour of 4%?
https://businessforum.rogers.com/sma...tercard-191291

thinking of signing up for a PC mastercard since mbna cashback is changing to visa :failed:

is there a better place to sign up with a reward than the people chasing you inside the superstore? i don't need a free bag of chocolate chip cookies :lol

Sign up here: https://www.ratesupermarket.ca/deals
You'll get a $100 gift card plus 20,000 PC points (worth $20).

I'm currently using the PC World Elite for groceries and gas (3%) and the Tangerine MC for everything else (2% on 2 selected categories, 1% everything else).

You know that if you have a Tangerine savings account, and setup your Tangerine CC to deposit your cash back dollars back into the Tangerine savings account, you get a 3rd category for the 2% rebate, right?

I use Tangerine myself, and for the moment, it is honestly my fav CC. I don't know why nobody else has done this yet, but because both my savings and credit card account are on Tangerine, they include an option to pay the entire amount of my CC bill on the due date, withdrawing funds from my savings account. I don't even have to look at how much I'm supposed to pay. So convenient.

And between now until Jan 31, both you and the referrer get a $50 referral bonus if you sign up using someone's Tangerine Orange Key.

*Edit: no shameless plugging.

^ I know about it, but most of my stuff are tied to TD. So somewhat reluctant to switch.

Out of curiosity, how easy is it to transfer money from Tangerine to another bank, and vice versa? Their rates are pretty good for parking cash, so will consider opening an account if it's easily done online.

I usually see a 1 day delay when moving money between my Tangerine account and my other external bank account. Occasionally (but quite rarely), it takes 2 days. Additionally, if the amount being transferred exceeds a certain limit (maybe $1k or somewhat higher?), then the money get held up and is not immediately available for use for a few days.

I just move my money by going onto their website on the PC. Supposedly, they have an Android app for it as well, but I am never a fan of doing that kind of thing on the phone.

^ Won't work for me then. Thanks for the info though. :thumbs:

thank you kind sir, you are a scholar and a gentleman
http://static2.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/...87107ae179.jpg

Yes, I love my PC World Elite Mastercard. I've earned thousands of dollars in rewards.

I buy gift cards using my World Elite. I get 3% if I buy them at Superstore. More cash back than if I used the credit card at those places. I buy 300 bucks of Home Depot gift cards and keep that amount handy. Also, Best Buy, McDonald's, Bay (can use at Home Outfitters), etc.

I've heard Tangerine was good, but I have too many cards as it is. I use Amazon.ca Visa for no USD transaction fee, plus Costco US only takes Visa. Now that Costco on both sides of the border doesn't accept American Express, I might cancel that one.

Careful though. If you use a Home Depot GC to buy an item, there's no purchase protection / warranty, compared to charging it on a (/most) credit card(s).

That's scary- I rock the same 2 cards for the same reasons and am mulling over keeping my Amex as well lol

The only reason I'm keeping it atm is for Front Of The Line.

Is that true? So if I buy with a HD gift card the initial warranty is void? Or do you mean the extended ones some credit cards apply when you make a purchase on them.

Does anybody have any USD credit cards they recommend?

I think spending $70 or whatever dollars on an annual fee seem like a decent trade-off for not having to worry about losing straight cash on vacation.

Are there any ones out there with a decent rewards program or anything of the sort?

I would recommend the Amazon.ca credit card as there are no yearly fees and there is No Foreign Currency Transaction Fees, so its just the straight exchange rate.

Better than a US credit card IMO as you have to pay in US dollars. With the amazon you just pay Canadian.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...d_i=3230544011

According to Jeedee, and other things I've read on the internet, they take forever to mail a physical card.

Do you remember how long it took for you to receive yours?

^^ I got mine fairly quickly after I applied. At the time, they also offered a $10 or $20 Amazon.ca credit as the sign up bonus too.

Ya i got it fairly quickly as well but dont expect too much with this time of year.

Also I forgot to mention I have used this card in South Korea, Las Vegas, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan. Its way more versatile and the no foreign exchange fee is a plus.

Perhaps I should call and get an ETA to see if I can get it within the next 10 days.

Are there any others out there?

Does anyone know if applying/canceling credit card affects one's credit score? There seems to be a lot of credit score myths out there and I'm trying to find some reliable information.

Yes but the overall hit on your score is minimal at best

Applying for a card means you need to borrow. Cancelling a card means you are closing a credit account, regardless of reasons. Both will affect your score but only temporary. They fell off your profile after a period.

For closing a credit account though, you need to make absolutely sure there are no balance including incoming payment on it. All banks should do this for you but make sure you tell them to. A credit balance that you don't know about is bad for your score.

Generally I would suggest having 2-3 cards max, one primary and the other ones as backup. Nobody should needs more than that. Apply for one card at a time, when you get a new one, close the old one. Applying for a bunch of cards at once can make it look like you're desperate to borrow.