Best Credit Card

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adrian2
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by adrian2 »

iluvnascar wrote:Finally.....and this is really important to me......there is now no annual maximum on the points you can earn. There used to be amaximum with Citibank....$750 perhaps? or maybe it was $1,000? But I have exceeded it on more than one occasion and, accordingly, earned nothing on some purchases.
Your family's annual spending must be in a different league from my own, as the yearly maximum rebate was $1000, corresponding to $50,000 in annual card spending. I've never come even close to spending that much on a single credit card (come to think of it, not even on all my credit cards combined).
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by iluvnascar »

adrian2 wrote:
iluvnascar wrote:Finally.....and this is really important to me......there is now no annual maximum on the points you can earn. There used to be amaximum with Citibank....$750 perhaps? or maybe it was $1,000? But I have exceeded it on more than one occasion and, accordingly, earned nothing on some purchases.
Your family's annual spending must be in a different league from my own, as the yearly maximum rebate was $1000, corresponding to $50,000 in annual card spending. I've never come even close to spending that much on a single credit card (come to think of it, not even on all my credit cards combined).

Almost everything I spend is CC....charitable contributions ($10,000+ annually); Rogers bills for four families ($1200+/month); car insurance on several vehicles; groceries, gas, etc, etc.

It really adds up.......
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Bylo Selhi »

iluvnascar wrote:charitable contributions ($10,000+ annually)
Recognize that the charities have to pay a 2% to 3% vig to the card companies in order that you can earn rewards. So in the end your $10k is only $9,700 to the charities. If you want all of your money to help, send them a cheque.
It really adds up.......
Yup. Or it really subtracts down in the case of charities.

A modest proposal: CRA should allow charities to write receipts only for the amount of your donation that ends up doing good work. The percentage spent on fundraising, admin, CC vig, etc. shouldn't qualify. This is consistent with fundraising by way of dinners, lotteries, etc. where the "incentive" part of the funds raised isn't eligible for a tax receipt. I bet that would put a lot of marginal charities out of business as the suckers who fund them see how little of their donations actually does any good.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by zinfit »

My " Driver's Edge" has been transferred to CIBC and I have my new card. My credit line is the same, the insurance provisions[different carrier] are the same and I won't be paying the annual fee of $59.99 until August 2012. My past dealings with CIBC have been limited . I was a client when I was a young person. I applied for a loan to buy into a partnership. They told me the application would be sent to headquarters and I should know in six weeks. A few days later I had coffee with a person from RBC and told him about this application. When I got back to my office I received a phone call from this person telling me that they had approved a loan for me with interest at prime. I have been a loyal RBC customer ever since.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by ukridge »

Received my new CIBC drivers' edge card to replace the Citibank one. The credit card number is the same, but expiry date has changed.

iluvnascar, My recollection is that there was no annual maximum for the Canadian version of the card. As I remember it, I claimed over 1400 for the last car purchase. As far as I can tell, there are no difference in the drivers edge points part of the card agreement.

I have over $1000 worth of points on the card. I called to make sure that the points were indeed carried over. I had to wait a long time to reach an agent. They couldn't tell me when the points start expiring either. I never had to wait with Citibank - their service was always top notch. My inclination is to bail after cashing the points. I don't appreciate having to pay an annual fee for poorer service.

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Arby
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Arby »

There are a couple of features on the new CIBC Driver Edge card that are improvements over the old Citibank card:

- The new CIBC card has the Paypass feature, which lets me pay for purchases under $50 by just tapping the card on the Paypass terminal. No need to enter a PIN or sign a receipt. So far I've seen Paypass terminals in grocery stores. This is getting close to the cashless society.
- The new CIBC card provides the option to receive online paperless bills.

My Drivers Edge rebates have been carried over to the new CIBC card, and are shown on my latest CIBC statement.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Taggart »

Arby wrote:There are a couple of features on the new CIBC Driver Edge card that are improvements over the old Citibank card:

- The new CIBC card has the Paypass feature, which lets me pay for purchases under $50 by just tapping the card on the Paypass terminal. No need to enter a PIN or sign a receipt. So far I've seen Paypass terminals in grocery stores. This is getting close to the cashless society.
- The new CIBC card provides the option to receive online paperless bills.

My Drivers Edge rebates have been carried over to the new CIBC card, and are shown on my latest CIBC statement.
Referring to MBNA SmartCard. Yes, true if the merchant has paypass. Most of them don't, and the one's the do, a lot of the terminals don't work even if the purchase is under $50. It used to be, you just swiped, but now they want you to insert the newer chip card and press in your pin number. Most you insert from the bottom, but a few others it's from the top. One grocery store made me swipe and then insert the card. I said to the cashier, "you gotta be kidding?" It would help too if the screens were all the same format, but they aren't. Aggravating what I have to do for an extra fifty bucks every couple of months. :lol:
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Jaunty »

Taggart wrote:Referring to MBNA SmartCard. Yes, true if the merchant has paypass. Most of them don't, and the one's the do, a lot of the terminals don't work even if the purchase is under $50. It used to be, you just swiped, but now they want you to insert the newer chip card and press in your pin number. Most you insert from the bottom, but a few others it's from the top. One grocery store made me swipe and then insert the card. I said to the cashier, "you gotta be kidding?" It would help too if the screens were all the same format, but they aren't. Aggravating what I have to do for an extra fifty bucks every couple of months. :lol:
And at least one store - Pier One wants a signature too!
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Taggart »

Jaunty wrote:
Taggart wrote:Referring to MBNA SmartCard. Yes, true if the merchant has paypass. Most of them don't, and the one's the do, a lot of the terminals don't work even if the purchase is under $50. It used to be, you just swiped, but now they want you to insert the newer chip card and press in your pin number. Most you insert from the bottom, but a few others it's from the top. One grocery store made me swipe and then insert the card. I said to the cashier, "you gotta be kidding?" It would help too if the screens were all the same format, but they aren't. Aggravating what I have to do for an extra fifty bucks every couple of months. :lol:
And at least one store - Pier One wants a signature too!
I can't figure out what they want the signature for. I remember many years ago, after signing, the clerk would diligently compare your signed signature to the one at the back of the credit card. They don't bother doing that anymore. I could probably sign Mickey Mouse and they wouldn't notice. Ever try to use one of those computer pens, like at Loblaws? Always comes out as illegible chicken scrawl for me, and yet it's accepted.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by BRIAN5000 »

The Walmart in our area wants picture ID with any credit card and most of them actually look at it. :thumbsup:

I'll sign my name, show my ID stand on my head if it helps stop anyone from using my card fraudulently.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Shakespeare »

Well, CIBC just e-mailed me pre-approval to upgrade my CIBC Aero Classic to Aerogold. I guess they're happy I pay it off in full each month. :wink:

But I'm not sure I want the upgrade at $120/year. :roll:
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Re: Best Credit Card

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Shakespeare wrote:But I'm not sure I want the upgrade at $120/year. :roll:
What else are they offering? Sometimes they'll throw in 15k to 25k AP miles into the mix. The former is a "free" (plus taxes and fees) short haul flight while the latter extends to (at least continental) NA. That might be worth $120. As usual, YAPMMV.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Shakespeare »

Well, I would get 15K more miles, putting me up to 30K. Charges are around $15K per year, so the net advantage over my current card is around 7.5K miles. I have little need for the insurance features, however.
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Re: Best Credit Card

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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Shine »

Coincidentally, today I received a new chip HBC MC earlier than my old card expiry date. I enrolled for this card a few years ago on a day I was making a large purchase at the Bay and doing so provided me with an additional 10% reduction. I have only used this card at the Bay or Zellers.

However I was reviewing instructions and conditions and noted that the published interest rate in 29.900%...with some applicable small print. This got me wondering about who sets/regulates interest rates on credit cards? Is it the OSFI?
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Re: Best Credit Card

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Shine wrote:the published interest rate in 29.900%...with some applicable small print. This got me wondering about who sets/regulates interest rates on credit cards? Is it the OSFI?
It's a federal statute. In any case, would it surprise you to learn that the threshold for violating it is 30.0% APR?

Added: My cynicism has betrayed me. It seems HBC et al are acting responsibly by limiting credit card interest rates to 29.9% since §347 of the Criminal Code sets a much higher threshold:
Criminal rate means an effective annual rate of interest calculated in accordance with generally accepted actuarial practices and principles that exceeds 60 per cent on the credit advanced under an agreement or arrangement
.

:thumbsup: for the credit card industry — NOT!
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by twa2w »

credit card companies set their own rates. As long as they don't exceed the usury rate set by the government - 60% as Bylo says.

Note that on some loans, the rate for usury purposes includes fees. IOW any loan fees have to be added on to interest paid to calculate the rate.

This does not apply to credit cards because the fee provides other services.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Chuck »

Got my new CIBC Dividend One card (a consequence of the CIBC buyout of Citibank Canada Mastercard).

The transition so far is not impressive. Athough I called in advance of the cutover and they assured me my pre-auth payment information/setup would transfer over automatically from Citi, of course, it didn't. So I had the pleasure of paying credit card interest for the first time in years (only $18 but still).

What's worse is I asked: "Well how do I set up pre-auth payment now that you botched the transfer? I can't find it on your website." That's because it's not on the website they say, but they can snail mail the necessary paperwork. Please allow 2 weeks for said paperwork to arrive, and 60 days to complete the set up once they get it back from me. Sheesh. Please check the calendar CIBC, it's 2011. The original pre-auth setup some 5 years ago on Citi's online site took 30 seconds.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by Shakespeare »

Shakespeare wrote:Well, CIBC just e-mailed me pre-approval to upgrade my CIBC Aero Classic to Aerogold. I guess they're happy I pay it off in full each month. :wink:

But I'm not sure I want the upgrade at $120/year. :roll:
Decided that the 15K mile bonus made the upgrade worthwhile. After that, it's pretty well a wash with my current card.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by zinfit »

I received the CIBC Driver's Edge. I can't see any changes from the Citi version. Will be paying an annual fee of 69.00 come August 2012. Since 2002 I have collected $8400 in redemptions. Even with the fee it is still a good value. Not sure they are taking new applications.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by iluvnascar »

There are two significant changes with CIBC taking over Citibank's Driver's Edge M/C. The points only accumulate for five years......with Citibank, it was seven years. The other major change is that there is no yearly maximum on the amount you can earn.....with Citibank, I believe it was $700 annually?
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Re: Best Credit Card

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iluvnascar wrote:The points only accumulate for five years......with Citibank, it was seven years. The other major change is that there is no yearly maximum on the amount you can earn.....with Citibank, I believe it was $700 annually?
Incorrect on both counts.

The accumulation period was "always" 5 years (actually, 5 years since the account anniversary, plus whatever left of the calendar year until the last statement of the year, so in my case it was more like 5.8 years).

The maximum points used to be $1k annually ($50k spending on this single card), which I was never close to (I do have more than one credit card on which I collect "points").
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by iluvnascar »

adrian2 wrote:
iluvnascar wrote:The points only accumulate for five years......with Citibank, it was seven years. The other major change is that there is no yearly maximum on the amount you can earn.....with Citibank, I believe it was $700 annually?
Incorrect on both counts.

The accumulation period was "always" 5 years (actually, 5 years since the account anniversary, plus whatever left of the calendar year until the last statement of the year, so in my case it was more like 5.8 years).

The maximum points used to be $1k annually ($50k spending on this single card), which I was never close to (I do have more than one credit card on which I collect "points").
Thanks for correcting me. But are you sure that the limits you mention applied to the different levels of Drivers' Edge cards? As I recall - and I can't verify because I have tossed all my Citibank paperwork - Citibank offered a Gold Drivers Edge and a Platinum Drivers Edge........and I'm wondering if I mixed up the limitations on the two cards?
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Re: Best Credit Card

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iluvnascar wrote:But are you sure that the limits you mention applied to the different levels of Drivers' Edge cards? As I recall - and I can't verify because I have tossed all my Citibank paperwork - Citibank offered a Gold Drivers Edge and a Platinum Drivers Edge........and I'm wondering if I mixed up the limitations on the two cards?
I had the no fee Platinum version, and the limitations I've quoted apply to it. IIRC, you were spending much more than me (annual total), so I doubt you had the lesser version.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by ig17 »

I called CIBC to complain about Driver's Edge annual fee. The rep recommended that I call back next summer, after I receive their reminder letter about the fee. He didn't say it outright, but I definitely got an impression they will be willing to waive the fee if you complain loud enough.
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