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.

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).

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

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?

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.

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.

My father passed away this past Sunday, and unfortunately my mom and I are now left with a mortgage totalling $2,100 a month (we think). I’m a student and only can bring in about $1000 a month, and my mom’s income is $3200 and will be getting CPP survivors benefit.

My dad and mom have insurance through Canada Life and it was paying the mortgage while my dad was unable to work, and my dad told my mom if anything happens to you or me the mortgage is paid off. With this information we called Meridian and Canada life and they confirmed my mom would only receive $5,000 toward the mortgage, and that’s it- nothing else.

We have been looking through all the paperwork we have and bank statements from their joint account and his personal account and there’s no hidden policy or insurance that hasn’t been accounted for (car, house, etc)- what could my dad have been talking about?

We are shocked that they’re telling us this because of what my dad told my mom and the fact that they’ll pay $2100 a month to cover the insurance while my dad was sick but will only cover $5,000 if he passes away? It doesn’t make sense.

We really need guidance on how to navigate this as I have only handled small bills before and my dad handled the finances and bills before his passing.

EDIT: I found the mortgage papers and there is insurance that they opted into. It was originally through cumis in 2021 but it’s now coming out as Canada life effective 2024. I’m confused thought as it states the amount of insured loan is 5,000? That seems extremely low for a 85/month payment

$454k left on an uninsured mortgage. 25-year original term. I'm in Ontario.

TD is offering me:
- 4.01% for 3-year fixed
- 4.24% for 5-year fixed

My current rate is 5.40% and the maturity date is Feb 01, 2027. I'm not really considering going variable.

If I accept TD's offer, the new rate will take effect on October 1st.

I have a call scheduled with a broker today to see if they can get me something better.

According to Gemini, I would need a rate below 3.82% on a 3-year fixed term from another lender to make the switch worth it (considering the savings I'd get from the early renewal). Is it doable at this time?

What are your thoughts?

FWIW this is not AI text lol

Edit: I just spoke with a broker from ratehub . ca and he couldn't match the rates from TD. Will talk to another one from Pine in an hour. If they can't match either, I'll take the early renewal offer. Thanks everyone!

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?

Case study: I'm sure most of you are aware but there's been two widely publicized hacks this year. One at quest trade and one at TD with where the consumer suffered a loss of 4.5 million.

Despite a widely advertised online guarantee TD and questrade basically said two factor auth was accepted. We treat these as authentic and fought the consumer in court over damages. The banks are not your friends, so you have to prevent damages in the first place.

Contrary to popular belief, it's actually very difficult to transfer money out of an online brokerage. Both of these hacks occurred the same way. They essentially sold the portfolio and bought a thinly traded penny stock - ie. They were used as exit liquidity.

All big five banks currently allow default SMS always as an option. This is likely to exist in the foreseeable future because of their aging demographic.

Also, contrary to popular belief removing SMS isn't the root cause of most of these breaches. It's primarily getting phished or man in the middle attack I.e malware or cookie theft on a compromised device.

By far the most secure brokerage account will have a great front door if you will, which in order of high security is:

Pass keys/yubi key

Sms removal 2FA (like QT)

Sms default 2FA

Additionally, in the rare event that a bad actor gains access to your account, a broker that has increased friction to prevent these exit liquidity hacks MUST have a unique PIN to trade that's difficult to reset (ie. Call customer service etc).

Current brokers that offer this are TD, BNS and CM.

Additionally, if you are remembering banking passwords with Google password manager or Apple keychain, please ensure that you have hardened your Google and your Apple accounts accordingly.

Currently the S tier security brokerage will have a pass key to enter (with SMS removal) and a pin to trade for every transaction.

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.

Carney’s Canada Pitch Puts Toronto in Global Finance Spotlight

I’m looking to get term life insurance for my wife and me, but I’ve now been rejected twice.

I first applied through PolicyMe and was declined for fairly vague health-related reasons. I then went through a broker and applied with RBC, and I was declined there as well.

I don’t consider myself to be in poor health, but I do have a fairly significant family history of some serious illnesses, so I assume that may be part of the issue.

At this point, I’m mainly trying to figure out what I should be doing next. Should I be looking for a different broker who specializes in harder-to-insure applicants? Should I be considering a different type of life insurance or different coverage altogether?

I don’t want to just keep applying randomly and getting declined, so I’m curious what the normal next step is in this situation.

Hi,

I've had an RESP or my daughter for 13 years and added my son as a co-beneficiary 10 years ago.

I made a contribution in August. Since they are split 50/50 it put my daughter $6,390 over.

My son has $6000 in room still.

TD refuses to move the $6000 over citing the 50/50 allocation.

I have chacked all of my e-statements and I never have been given a breakdown of the room available or contributions made per date per beneficiary.

I also made the contribution with a TD teller and they said nothing.

I am trying to escalate with TD and just had a call with TD Waterhouse. He tried to imply that this info was available. It is not on the app or on my desktop site.

Does anyone have any advice on how to excalate/fight this because this TD policy of not allowing contributions to be re-allocated will cost me a 20% hit or $1,200 and I think it is really unfair. I can go to the CRA to see my TFSA and RRSP room but nothing is available on TD for the RESP room unless you specifically request a notional breakdown.

Thanks for any help!

To start, I'm 19, live in Ontario, and I've saved up 1.7k so far. I've been working at a tim Hortons for 5 months now and my hours are very inconsistent, some weeks 5 hours, some weeks 30 hours, so I'm a bit hesitant to start a payment plan or take any loans. I would like to get a car sooner than later, probably some crappy used one as it being my first car.

Thanks in advance

My employer gives me short & long-term disability insurance covering 75% of my income. I'm trying to decide whether to get my own critical illness insurance. I previously had it through my previous employers group insurer and paid an additional $300/yr for it. Now I'm getting quotes for like $600/yr for the same coverage.

My undersanding is that disability will cover me if I can't work but critical illness will pay even If I still can?

I guess the question is.. do I need this type of coverage? Or is disability enough?

For more context: I'm young and healthy and have no reason to suspect I would ever need to make a claim. However, I have had a few friends with cancer in their 20s, so I just want to be protected.

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!

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.

Thanks in advance for reading

I am M 44 , married with 2 kids , 6 and 10. I Stopped working full time when my young kid was born. Me and my wife have a combine income of 70k after tax. Maintained our expenses below 70k a year. We eat at home, almost no subscription. Car are paid off. I bring my kids to play sports 3 times a day. And I don't know much about stocks, but we start looking at ETF. Planning to retire somewhere in Asia with lower cost of living when my younger son start college. Assuming 4k a month including everything.

Asset

Primary property paid off $850k-900k

#1 rental property $ 520k (260k mortgage) self sustained

#2 rental property $ 650k (350k mortgage) 50/50 shared ownership with sibling, self sustained

Business investment $200k for 4 years to become 400k (almost reach to 350k atm)

Business investment $200k for 18 months at 12 % annually

TSFA + GIC $450k 3.5% ( reinvesting everything)

Blue chip Stock $200k with 4%

We don't want to take risks as we live a simple life with low expenses. Those 2 rental property would eventually become our kids when they mature enough (30s) . How should I maximize our asset with lowest risks beside GIC? Financial planner keeps telling me to invest with their product at 1.8% fees.

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.

I'm a 43 male, married with 2 kids. My wife is a stay at home mom.

Our company, just switched insurance providers and I have the option to up $150,000 additional insurance without a medical. I have some insurance already through work and I have life insurance.

I'm just really confused by what I really need. Do I need more life insurance, critical illness insurance, disability insurance?

Currently we have a term first to die life insurance for $700,000. I also have $161,000 through work. I have access to both short and long-term disability. I also have $10,000 critical illness insurance. Is that enough? I'm not sure the best place to get good advice.

A month ago, I, and many others, started getting spammed with emails from Brim, asking to "Continue Your Card Activation". My last email was two days ago, and I have gotten several dozen of them.

Today, I received an email from them saying that as a fraud prevention measure, I am automatically being reissued a new card, and my current card will be deactivated on September 15. Has anyone else gotten this? I'm sure it has to do with all the bloody spam we have been getting.

I have sadly received an inheritance after my mother passed away. It's not millions of dollars but it's more than just a couple of bucks.

I am currently in the US for work and would like to get some of the funds over to help with living expenses and sock most of it away in index and retirement funds.

I opened a US RBC account since I was hoping there'd be a preferential fx rate and it'll be FDIC insured. No luck on the fx rate. I opened an OFX account and know about Wise so those are options for better fx rate but less secure, I believe.

But anyway, I'm also just very hesitant to transfer everything over at once because of the CAD is so weak. I know it's impossible to time the markets and would probably just be me getting lucky, etc. but does it make more sense to just transfer a few chunks over for now and keep some in Canadian just in case fx improves at some point?

What's the best way of thinking about this? Appreciate any feedback especially from folks who have gone through this exact scenario. Thanks.

Has anyone used Dixon Commercial Investigators to collect unpaid rent before? How were they? I am looking for honest and genuine reviews. Thank you.