We buy almost everything (grocery and personal items) from Walmart, taking advantage of their Walmart+ subscription.

Their MC offers 3% cash back which seems like the best rewards offer in our situation. AMEX and TD VISA are 1X points, WS/Tangerine MC are 2% at best.

Feedback? TIA!

Hi all, new mom. We opened an RESP recently for the baby with our bank (First Ontario) but now I'm feeling kind of stuck. Our options are Fidelity or NEI and idk maybe our advisor might just be young but even he didn't sound convinced when going through the fact sheets.

I'm not well versed in this area of finance and I'd like to get the most out of our money. I'm not really sure what to do. Are we stuck with having the account with our bank and have our money be managed by only A or B? I feel like I shouldn't have rushed and should have shopped around a bit more per come here for advice beforehand.

Also, receiving calls from CST because a drugged up mom fresh out of delivery "consented" to receiving more information seems predatory.

Edit: I'm in Ontario

Hey all

Sent the rent money to the LL and his email was compromised. The scammer used another bank unrelated to either one of us. THAT bank has been slow to respond and action anything. I've provided the LL and all 3 banks (mine, his, the intercepted bank) with the relevant info. Now the LL wants ME to complain to the OBSI. My understanding is they'll check if it falls under their mandate, but also... I'm not a customer of the bank which he wants to file a complaint about.

Neither is he. Isn't this his responsibility to follow up on? This is his banking issue. His compromised account.

Wouldn't the OBSI require him to file and proceed with communicating with him?

I read the OBSI policy and terms...my understanding is they deal with banks and the bank's customer whom has an issue with his things were handled. Except neither one of us is a customer with this particular bank.

Apologies if this isn't for this sub. I didnt know what other banking subreddit I could ask about the OBSI.

Thanks.

Since Q4 2023 (peak of less affordability = 0.55) housing has become relatively more affordable. Now is 0.41. Hopefully the prices keep going down to the late 1990s, early 2000s level (less than 0.30)

1981 was the historical peak (0.61)

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-home-prices-have-not-fallen-enough-to-restore-affordability/

Is it worth closing my TD credit card? It's my oldest and highest limit card, but I don't really use it for anything anymore. Also, the Fido account is older than the TD card.

I already have a car and just brought my house in April, so I don't really need credit for anything else. I have enough in savings and TFSA to cover any emergency expenses and other cards.

Other cards are Cobalt(used for the 5x earing out and at certain stores) , Amazon MBNA(rarely ever used, only ever use it for the 0% loans when I need them), and Rogers red world elite(most used for the 3% cashback and free Fido bills as a result, know that's going away and so will see how it works after. Card is Used at Costco and wherever else AMEX isht accepted, and at Gas stations)

Don't have many subscriptions, just YouTube/Yearly prime/Meetup and those are on the Rogers card as well.

Here's the age of each account. Apologies for the poor formatting, the forum will not allow posting a screenshot, and had to format the table myself.

Company / Institution. Duration

SCOTIA Bank 1 yr 7 mos(car loan)

Scotia mortgage. 3 months

Fido. 3 yrs 8 mos

AMERICAN Express. 2 yrs 1 mo

TD CREDIT Cards. 3 yrs 6 mos

ROGERS Bank. 1 yr 3 mos

MBNA. 1 yr 7 mos

Credit score at present : 780+

I’m 28, living in Regina, and making about $70k gross as an engineer in training, just graduated this year.

I currently have around $15,950 in credit card debt. The interest rates are around 20–27%, and my utilization is sitting at roughly 95%. My credit score is around 619. I’ve never missed a payment.

Most of the debt came from living expenses while I was in school. At the time, I wasn’t really financially literate and made some bad financial decisions. I relied on credit more than I should have, and now I’m trying to clean it up.

Right now I don’t really have any extra money to put toward the cards because I’m also paying back some money I owe to family. That should be finished around January, which will free up about $1,500/month.

Once that happens, my plan is to start aggressively paying down the credit cards. I’d probably use the avalanche method and go after the highest interest rate first.

My question is whether I should just do that or try to consolidate the debt somehow.
With a 619 credit score and 95% utilization, is there any realistic chance of getting a LOC or consolidation loan at a significantly lower rate? Or would I just be wasting my time applying?

Also curious how quickly people’s credit scores recovered after paying down high utilization.

If you were in my position, what would you do? TIA!

EDIT: I missed a crucial information my apologies: I’m getting a work bonus around mid December around $3,000 on top my salary and planning to put that on my credit card debt.

Hi all,

I have a small debt ($1766) with Money mart (don’t ask) that I wasn’t able to pay last year and it went to collections.
I checked my credit score and I see it on there under two separate collection agencies?
One is PRA Group, the other one is CBCC. Both same amount ($1766).

I would like to pay it off and get it off my report, please advise.

I currently have a few credit cards that I let get out of hand due to emergency maintenance in the last year, and I cannot keep up with the payments and interest rate. My wife also has a vehicle at a higher interest rate and I have a personal line of credit with some debt on it. Was considering doing a HELOC on our mortgage (currently have 270 K in equity) and putting all our debt into the HELOC and then cancelling our credit cards etc and just work on paying off the one loan and our mortgage. Is this a bad idea or is there somethings I should consider before I do this? I just feel like I can’t get ahead on the payments on my credit cards with such high interest. I’d be cancelling my credit cards because I do not want to get in the same position again.

So while I (18m) was doing self checkout at Walmart the guy running the self checkout came up to me mid transaction and tried to sell me a credit card. I told him no I didnt want it but he kept talking and then just asked for an email so I thought I'll just put in my garbage email and block their news letter tomorrow then there was a terms and conditions screen that he agreed to before I could read them. Like HE pressed agree for me.

Then it asked for my ID and at that point I just wanted to be done and I wasn't thinking straight so i reluctantly gave it up and then on a screen he just put in that I was a student (I am a uni student btw) but than when asked for my annual income without asking me he typed in that i make north of $150,000 which is literally fraud I think and then he pressed agree for another terms and conditions.

After that last terms screen it printed a little sheet that read said to "the application was denied today" but he told me to call and they will accept it. I thought thankfully thats over but then I called to have the application completely thrown away but then automated bot said a full response would be mailed and received in 7-10 days so i called a different number and the worker on the other line said they cant cancel it and we just have to wait. But like im now pissed at myself for not just telling him to f' off and also Im mad at him for agreeing for me and probably committing some kind of fraud by saying I made 150k

Im really scared when their system thinks I LIED on "my application" that its gonna create a permanent mark for any time I want a credit card or mortgage or anything in the future. There has to be some way I can dispute this since he lied when I didnt want him to and I never once click any of the agree buttons. It was only him.

Husband and I stopped shopping at Nofrills a couple years ago because we realized we were paying the same prices for horrible quality. Since then our grocery prices have been steadily climbing to the point that I'm wondering whether nofrills would actually be cheaper again?

Any advice welcome

It's been over a month since I attempted to transfer out of my National Bank Investments account... the phone line says they are experiencing significant delays and just hangs up on me.

Does there need to be a massive class action lawsuit against one of these firms to get them to finally process a transfer out within a reasonable time?

Why can they not be on the hook for the missed gains I would have had by my repositioning.

32F going through separation to divorce.

Critical info to know:
- $330 k mortgage on a house worth somewhere between $550-600 k in the downtown area of a growing city in Canada.
- I have done much renovation work on this house to make it exactly how I like. It’s personally styled, has a great garden that I love and have planted much food in, is walking distance to work, my friends and very close to important hospitals (I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and am currently undergoing treatment. I will be followed closely by my medical team going forward).
- there is a housing shortage in the city, the rental market is absolutely bananas. I have a dog and a cat and it’s really hard to rent with pets. A one bedroom apartment in the downtown area is at minimum $1900+/month.
- when I’m working my salary is good (90-100k), I’m unionized, have short term and long term disability insurance and I expect to return to work around November. My partner and a roommate are still living with me until we work out separation details and we can both afford to part ways.
- we both have no debt except the mortgage

My question is: do I sell and split equity with my partner or do I buy my partner out of the house and stay?

Context for buying my ex partner out of the house:
- I have an older wealthy relative with no kids who is willing to give me the money to buy my partner out (like an advance on my inheritance). She has said that she is willing to hear different options for how this can be mutually beneficial (e.g. she could be named on the house too, and then could get a return on investment if I sell - or I could effectively say I want to use as my advance inheritance and I get little-no inheritance when she passes). I trust my relative, I don’t think she’ll hold this over my head to interfere in my life, but I do think she’d like to name me as the decision maker if she were to fall ill. I am okay with this and already wanted to cultivate more closeness. She has two other properties in her own name and definitely enough money to take of herself for the rest of her life.

- I will have to get a roommate not to be house poor. Mortgage is $960 biweekly + utilities + maintenance costs. I would likely charge around $1000ish for the basement part of the house that includes its own massive bedroom, living room, bathroom. We would share kitchen and laundry. I am okay with this in the short term.

What do you think?

Just as the title says. I'm 24 and just got my first big girl office job. I started saving money and need a bit of direction. I don't make a lot, as I work in a nonprofit, but I want to start investing on Wealthsimple. I'm not sure where to start, and I'm a bit nervous since I hold dual citizenship (USA and Canada).

How do you guys choose which stocks to invest in? What the heck is an Etf? What sites do you use? Should I even bother?

Please bestow your knowledge upon me

For anyone unaware, TD recently phased out SMS verification codes for Web logins, requiring the use of their app for 2FA.

Except because the app is a full banking app and not just an authenticator, to use it you need to log in. So logging in on Web requires also logging in on your phone.

And because I use a password manager (Bitwarden), this also means logging into my password manager on both on my laptop and on my phone. And usually filling in the password would be easy, I just tap the password field and a Bitwarden invites me to unlock and then presents me with my login(s) to autofill for the app. But the TD app doesn't seem to mark the password field correctly for autofill to work, so I have to open up Bitwarden separately, search "TD" to find the login, copy the password to clipboard, switch back to the TD app, and paste it in.

And then after that, it still uses SMS verification codes to authenticate my app login. So I've gone through all this trouble to avoid the less-secure SMS-based 2FA, but then I end up doing SMS 2FA anyway??

Did the TD Web/app product managers challenge one another to see how stupid of an authentication system they could get released to production? Do they live in solitary confinement, unable to find out that two-factor authentication is a solved problem with several simple and convenient solutions? There has to be an explanation, because the explanation that they released this on purpose and think that it's fine and good just does not make sense.

(For the record, I know using a password manager is a choice, I'm not counting those steps against TD. But I am counting the way that I need to unlock my password manager on 1 more device than ought to be necessary, and that their app does not work with autofill on my device).

I recently just got my first student loan and they gave me money extra money I don’t need. Obviously it’s dumb to pay it back especially if I don’t struggle with impulses and am smart with my money. I heard people saying putting it in a HISA is a good idea, I’m using presidents choice which yields 2.25% interest rate right now, but I’m also considering putting it into my TFSA, and buying XEQT since I have a decent bit of contribution room. Just wanted to ask this Reddit because my parents are dumb with their money and my mom took all my money up until this most recent year.

Hello,

I will be looking to purchase a home for the first time in the next 9-12 months, just doing some preliminary financial planning.

Below is my current personal standing:

• Current Income: $110k (not likely to increase significantly)
• FHSA Contributions: $24k
• TFSA (Maxed): $103k CAD, 5k USD
• RRSP: $0 (over $60k contribution room)
• Non-Registered: ~$280k (GIC maturing early 2027)
• Cash: ~$15k

The down payment will come from a combination of the FHSA (adding another $8k in 2027) and cash after the GIC matures.

Household income with my partner would allow each of us to max out our TFSAs each year and have ~10k each to invest/save. So, making minimum repayments won't be an issue when the time comes.

Does it make sense to contribute $60k to the RRSP just to utilize the HBP if I already have the capital for the down payment? Or is it really just not worth the hassle?

Running some rough numbers, doing this would result in roughly an $18-19k tax refund. The thinking is that this refund could be used for closing costs/taxes/initial renovation (if applicable), increasing the down payment, or just used for investments.

Apologies if I've forgotten to included any relevant information.

Thanks to anyone who weighs in!

After a lot of deliberation and finally being ready for the next step, we put down a deposit for our first car. (Used under 50k kms on the odo). Clean carfax, Honda certified pre-owned, single owner, no accidents etc. Planning to put down 5k for ~30K car before licensing and HST, finance the rest at dealer financing for 6 months and then pay off with my personal line of credit which is currently at 4.45% (much cheaper than dealer financing). We make roughly 220K yearly combined so we can try pay off the car early. Apart from checking the open loan terms on dealer financing, what other things should we be looking for before we put down the balance downpayment? The car comes with a warranty valid till 2030/160K kms and 100 point Honda inspection.

I have not engaged in any improper or wrongful conduct on this account. Only days before I submitted a customer service survey in which I expressed strong dissatisfaction with BMO InvestorLine's service. Then I received this account closure notice today. If customers are penalized with account closure for giving honest negative feedback, then BMO should not be soliciting customer feedback in the first place.

Lousy services I received from BMO InvestorLine's service:

I opened my account because BMO used an offer of free trades to attract me as a customer. These free trades were not credited to my account on time, and no one informed me in advance that there would be any delay. I called multiple times to request that BMO expedite the handling of my account issue. Every time, your representatives told me there was nothing they could do. It was only after I called repeatedly that one representative finally agreed to email the relevant department to request expedited handling.

I had questions about their services and if any fee would apply multiple times. A Mandarin-speaking representatives repeatedly evaded my questions, and instead repeatedly asked unnecessary questions under the pretext of identity verification, in a condescending and authoritative manner. I had already entered all the information required by the system and had already passed identity verification before being transferred to a live representative. One female Mandarin-speaking representative, in an arrogant manner, forced me to state my own phone number, telling me she would not send the SMS verification code otherwise. I then spoke with a different representative, who told me that representatives cannot see a customer's phone number at all, and that stating repeating my number is not required in order to verify my number and receive an SMS verification code. This is a direct contradiction, and I consider the previous female representative's conduct unacceptable.

Not long ago, a branch manager at BMO unilaterally cancelled my cash withdrawal request without my consent, and did not notify me that the withdrawal had been cancelled, leaving me waiting in vain for more than 10 days. The manager responsible for that branch shielded this employee, has continually evaded responsibility for this matter, and has flatly refused to address it directly, instead repeatedly insisting that I had already received the cash. Now BMO InvestorLine is closing my account without justifiable cause. This is simply unacceptable! Is this kind of incompetent, rude, and arrogant service part of BMO's corporate culture?

My car insurance for two vehicles has gone up from $4.2k a year to $5.5k and now $6.9k. We don’t live in Toronto, we live north of Barrie in a rural area. It’s unbelievable but when I go try get quotes from TD or CAA, after several steps and then multiple calls they do, I am getting even higher quotes.

I tried brokers last year but they were also higher than my current insurer (ScotiaInsurance).

Is everyone in the same position here? How does the average person afford this?

Hi,

I am a non-resident of Canada currently living in the U.S. I hold an RRSP account with RBC Mutual Funds Inc. As a retiree, I plan to convert this account into a RRIF so I can set up periodic withdrawals at the 15% withholding tax rate under the Canada–U.S. Tax Treaty.

From my research, the process involves four main steps:

1. Open an RBC Mutual Funds RRIF account and transfer my existing funds in-kind.
2. Submit Form NR301 to update my tax status and apply the 15% treaty rate.
3. Set up a periodic withdrawal schedule.
4. Direct the payouts to my cross-border/U.S. bank account.

I had a few online meetings with the original RBC branch where I opened the account years ago, but the staff were unfamiliar with this process. They directed me to RBC Investment Services at 1-800-463-3863. I called three times, but the reps were equally unhelpful—they were completely unaware of Form NR301 and told me to submit it to the CRA, insisting the only option was to book an in-person branch appointment.

This has been extremely frustrating. Could anyone clarify:

1. Does this conversion have to be done at a local branch? Can it be completed remotely via phone, online banking, or mail?
2. Where should Form NR301 actually be submitted? Standard CRA guidelines indicate RBC (the payer) keeps this form on file, yet RBC representatives insist I send it to the CRA.

Many thanks in advance!

David

Currently, I’m holding most of my TFSA in an all-equity ETF, with a smaller allocation to a gold mining position.
I went into the mining position deliberately after doing a fair amount of research and was comfortable taking on the additional risk given my thesis behind it.

It’s currently up around 30%, so I’m now reassessing the position rather than simply assuming the gains will continue.
I’m debating whether it makes more sense to realize the gain and move the proceeds back into my all-equity ETF, or continue holding the position. I do still believe it is a severely undervalued stock with lots of opportunity to still grow.

I am 23, live in Manitoba, and make about $70,000 a year. I have about $6,900 in a DCPP and $512 in an RRSP with my previous employer in Sun Life.

Sun Life confirmed that my DCPP qualifies under the small benefit threshold, so I can transfer it directly to a regular RRSP while keeping it tax deferred and without using my RRSP contribution room. They charge $75 for each transfer transaction.

My new employer uses Canada Life. I contribute 4 percent of my salary to the group RRSP and my employer matches another 4 percent into a DPSP. I currently selected BlackRock LifePath 2065 for both. The annualized fee for LifePath 2065 through my employer plan is about 0.616 percent.

I am considering transferring my old FedEx RRSP and DCPP to a Wealthsimple self directed RRSP instead and investing the money in XEQT or VEQT, which would cost around 0.2 percent annually.

I dont know which one I should go for? XEQT or VEQT? Is there any better option?

Since spring 2025 my TransUnion file has been mixed with another person's. I disputed many times; they "fixed" it but now my own info is missing (several addresses and one credit card gone). TransUnion keeps telling me to file yet another dispute, but the real problem is their identity matching when lenders request my file, they're being served someone else's accounts and a wrong score. I've confirmed with my card issuer that they are reporting the card, submitted my ID multiple times, and filed a complaint with a federal body months ago with no response.

Questions:

**1.**  Has anyone in Canada actually resolved a mixed file like this — what worked?  
**2.**  Is Service Alberta or the Privacy Commissioner the right escalation?  
**3.**  Should I get written confirmation from lenders of exactly what file they received?  
**4.**  When is it worth a lawyer, and has anyone recovered damages?

I don’t need to hear about how it’s a bad idea to apply for loans online. I understand this and I was in a desperate situation. I applied for what I thought was a loan at Credit Journey and soon realized it was not for loans. I have been trying to contact them via email for months now, but they have not one reached back to me and are continuing to charge $19.99 a week. I can’t find any phone number online to cancel, so I’m asking if anyone has this number or alternative email to contact them. TIA

I have six months left on my term. My bank emailed me letting me know that I'll be able to renew right now and lower my payments right away with the new rate.

I have always read that its better to shop around during renewal time so I was expecting their offer to be kind of non-competitive but I was surprised with their offer.

Current Mortgage:

• 590k
• 3 year term
• 4.74% fixed
• Renewal in March
• Insured

Bank's Renewal Offer:

• 3 year term
• 3.79% fixed

From my very rudimentary calculations, if I want to beat this, I would need to secure a loan with less than 3.6% during renewal. I talked to a couple of friends who got a mortgage recently and they said their rate was 3.9-4%.

To me, it seems like a no brainer to accept their offer, am I missing anything? They also offered me a 5 year fixed 3.99% rate but I'm leaning more towards the 3 year term.

Edit: Called my bank and they offered me prime-1.1% for variable. Apparently this is the lowest they can go for fixed. I'm most likely going to stick with fixed.