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AltaRed
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Post by AltaRed »

Bylo Selhi wrote:Speaking of Aeroplan devaluations,
Part of that problem is the lack of competition (in addition to higher load factors). Canucks may dislike the American airlines, but competition forces them to keep their frequent flyer programs more 'competitive'.
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Post by sydney2 »

The TDVisa Gold Travel card - forgot to mention has no fees, it is part of the Select Service, but I think you have to maintain a $5000.00 balance in chequing account and since I am joint on Mom's account and she won't let it go below $10,000 because she thinks she is going to run out of money, which she never will...... I got the perks. :lol:
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Post by sileme »

Just got the new TD Platinum AA Advantage card. Previously had the RBC AA Advantage card, till it changed to Avion.

This card gives points that can be used on JAL and Cathay Pacific, as well as AA. We fly to Asia frequently, so it works for us. Last year I had a free flight, and this year the wife will get her turn. The $120. fee is worth it IMHO.
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

sileme wrote:TD Platinum AA Advantage card
Has gone AWOL from their website.
This card gives points that can be used on JAL and Cathay Pacific, as well as AA.
Because they're all members of One Alliance.

TD has also added a feature to their regular Gold Travel Visa that allows you to convert 1 TD Point to 0.75 AAdvantage Mile. Dunno if that's a reasonable exchange rate (the Platinum AA Advantage card was 1 Mile for every $1 charged) or if that explains what happed to the Platinum AA Advantage card.
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Post by martingale »

Anyone know which card has the least harmful forex fees and rates? That might be worth more to me than a 1% cash rebate.
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Post by sevimo »

martingale wrote:Anyone know which card has the least harmful forex fees and rates? That might be worth more to me than a 1% cash rebate.
For USD, that would be US Dollar cards ;) For non-USD/CAD currencies, it seems that exchange rates are pretty much the same (there was a post about it recently; US cards were less expensive, but it is not clear if this is still the case)
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Post by fundamental »

YogiBear wrote:
WishingWealth wrote:I recently switched to VISA CIBC Dividend ... 1% of purchases rebated.
FWIW, the 1% rebate only applies once net annual purchases total more than $3000:
CIBC VISA wrote:Here's how your Dividend Dollars® are calculated:
  • Tier one - 0.25% rebate for net annual purchases up to $1,500
  • Tier two - 0.50% rebate for net annual purchases from $1,500.01 to $3,000
  • Tier three - 1% rebate for net annual purchases over $3,000
Note: Your year-to-date net purchase amounts must be greater than the dollar range for a tier before you can start earning Dividend Dollars at the next tier rate.
Check out the new TD Rebate Rewards Card, it pays you cash and its tier schedule is superior than that of CIBC. :D
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Post by crystals »

CIBC Dividend Visa has purchase protection (adding up to a year to your warranty). The extra warranty could be useful in fighting against planned obsolescence.

TD Rebase Reward card doesn't mention purchase protection.
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Post by gouthro »

I think I am going to go for the cash, too. I just booked a trip from Montreal to Halifax for the last week in August. I was fortunate to get it, as there were only two seats left. Their equivalency price is about $800. I feel that I could get a much cheaper price than that myself. I still have to pay somewhere over $200 in taxes for two people. Unless I pay an $85 trip cancellation insurance with them, I will lose it all. My own trip cancellation with my work won't work. If I want to change the time of the flight I believe I have to pay not only the airline but also the airmiles people for that priveledge. And on and on it goes. I have a no fee master card with BMO. Surely this is far too complicated to be worth it. I'd have to be a lot more organised than I usually am to use this card very much.
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Post by galada »

This kind of ties in.

We have PC M/C and are about to finalize our loan agreement with a Hyundai dealership.

I am wondering if anyone has ever used their credit card for their car payments in order to collect air miles, free groceries, etc, etc. or is this not even an option.

I plan on asking the Finance gal tomorrow anyways, but I wanted to see if anyone has ever come across this.

Thanks
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Post by ukridge »

galada, there is usually a cap. When I remember the caps to be $10k and $5k in the last two purchases respectively.

I have a Citi Drivers Edge card. They actually allowed me to redeem the points I earned with the downpayment for the car as a part of the reward. (It was 2% of 5000 = $100, byt hey it felt good :-) )

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Post by Bylo Selhi »

ukridge wrote:galada, there is usually a cap. When I remember the caps to be $10k and $5k in the last two purchases respectively.
Yabbut he's asking about monthly loan payments, not down payments.

I don't have a definitive answer, only an observation. Credit cards charge the merchant 2% or 3% on the amount charged. On a $30k car that's as much $900. It could well be more than the dealer's profit on the car. The dealer may go for, say, $5k down, in order to cement the deal, but even that is up to $150 to the card company.

So if you, ahem, drive a hard enough bargain on the purchase price, there shouldn't be any room to allow you to charge some or all of the transaction. If the dealer lets you charge more than a few $1ks I'd be concerned that you've left too much money on the negotiating table.
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Post by galada »

Thank you for the observations.

I got a really good deal on the vehicle (1% over wholesale)+grad rebate (from wife)+GST free(again from wife) & 0% finance rate so I kinda suspect that they will not let me use my M/C for the monthly payments.

I'll find out tonight.

Thanks again.
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Post by gouthro »

No. That's why I went for the TD Elite VISA and the 1% cash rebate. As with AP, I'd hate to accumulate a large balance in points only to see it devalued by 1/3 or 1/2.

BTW the TD Elite VISA card currently offers a 2% rebate promotion. Also, as someone mentioned earlier, there's now a free TD Rebate Rewards Visa Card that pays 0.5% the the first $3k and 1% thereafter.
As often happens, I followed Bylo's lead in this and also went with the TD Elite. I just got tired of amassing airmile points only to have difficulty in cashing them in. Also, I needed the roadside assistance, so this seems to work out pretty well. After looking at all this more closely, though, I realised that you don't get all that much. With 1%
, for instance, you will only get $100 back on $10,000 spent. Better than a kick in the pants, but not a lot. I haven't even bothered to try to figure out what your value would be with airmiles. Anyhow, thanks again Bylo

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Post by bootsie »

We also switched to the TD Elite Visa. Last night I called to cancel our CIBC Aerogold card (fees are coming due soon) and was asked if I'd like to switch to one of their other cards. When I told them I wasn't interested, but thanks, the woman offered a credit of $75 if I kept the Aerogold card since I was a long time customer (2 whole years! ;)). I declined but told my friends that plan to keep their Aerogold card to call and give it a try...
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Post by kcowan »

gouthro wrote:... With 1%, for instance, you will only get $100 back on $10,000 spent. Better than a kick in the pants, but not a lot. I haven't even bothered to try to figure out what your value would be with airmiles. Anyhow, thanks again Bylo

Joe
With my Airmiles MC, I get 20:1 so $10,000 produces 500 miles so I could fly to Kelowna. The problem is that I prefer to drive so the $100 would go towards gas. To get to Toronto, I would have to rack up $50,000!
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

You'd need to spend $15k on AP Visa to get a "free" (not including taxes, etc.) flight to Kelowna and $25k to get to Tronno -- iff you can find a seat. I couldn't get free seats on our trip to Vancouver. I couldn't get free seats on a possible trip to Europe this spring and I can't seem to get free seats for a planned trip to Europe this September unless we fly absurd routes like YYZ to LHR, then to FRA, then to Innsbruck with several-hour layovers each time. Yet if we buy tickets we could fly YYZ to VIE and then INN with barely an hour at VIE to dash over to the Dash-8. So even though we have the miles, we can't use them :(

Now if you opt for something like a Future Shop gift card the exchange rate is probably no better than 1% (can't confirm because AP's website isn't working right now.)

I'd rather get 1% in cold hard cash rather than play games with RupertD and his dysfunctional website. Also, the TD Elite card offers emergency auto club services (as Gouthro mentioned) as well as warranty extension on most purchases, neither of which is available with AP Visa. (Admittedly, I've never used either feature (yet.))

As for the $75 AP Visa "discount" bear in mind that they pay new cardholders a signup bonus of 10,000 or 15,000 miles. At 1% that $75 is worth only 7,500 miles. If I was interested in keeping my AP Visa card I'd have held out for at least $100 or 10,000 miles.
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Post by George$ »

Question about the TD Gold Elite Visa Card.
It comes with a free Deluxe Auto Club. (Provided by Sykes Assistance Service ?)
Is this just as good or bad as any other auto club membership? Has anyone here used it?

I'm probably going to apply for the Elite Card because the 1% rebate (no limit) should cover the annual fee of $99 plus $39 for the second card. Thus I get the Auto Club for "free".

In the past, out of habit and inertia, we have used a BOM Master Card and TD Green Visa card.
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

George$ wrote:Question about the TD Gold Elite Visa Card.
It comes with a free Deluxe Auto Club. (Provided by Sykes Assistance Service ?)
Is this just as good or bad as any other auto club membership? Has anyone here used it?
I've never had to use it. As far as I can tell it provides only emergency assistance, i.e. no free maps, travel discounts, etc. (none of which we need.)
I'm probably going to apply for the Elite Card because the 1% rebate (no limit) should cover the annual fee of $99 plus $39 for the second card. Thus I get the Auto Club for "free".
If you can afford to park $5k in a TD Select chequing account, i.e. forgo the interest, then all that plus a lot more is "free." See my analysis here. You might also want to ask TD if they're going to do another iPod or similar promotion this year because, if so, that should start any time now.
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Post by George$ »

Thanks Bylo:
Bylo Selhi wrote:I've never had to use it. As far as I can tell it provides only emergency assistance, i.e. no free maps, travel discounts, etc. (none of which we need.)
On page 2 of this flyer it suggests you can call in for "personalized trip planning". (But I don't see using it.)
https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/tdvisa/pd ... o_club.pdf
If you can afford to park $5k in a TD Select chequing account, i.e. forgo the interest, then all that plus a lot more is "free." See my analysis here. You might also want to ask TD if they're going to do another iPod or similar promotion this year because, if so, that should start any time now.
But $5,000 at 4% interest in my PCF account earns $200. It's close but not less than paying the Elite fee. :roll:

:oops: Oh my. Suda known. In looking at your analysis (after I posted above), I see you went further. :oops:
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

George$ wrote:On page 2 of this flyer it suggests you can call in for "personalized trip planning". (But I don't see using it.)
https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/tdvisa/pd ... o_club.pdf
Yabbut I doubt they could help you plan a canoe trip ;)
But $5,000 at 4% interest in my PCF account earns $200. It's close but not less than paying the Elite fee. :roll:

:oops: Oh my. Suda known. In looking at your analysis (after I posted above), I see you went further. :oops:
For years I felt the same way. Then I realized that I was already parking around $5k interest free at TD. (US$3k for a US chequing account and credit card plus $1k in a CA$ chequing account to get "free" banking) plus the safe deposit box, premium credit card, etc. so it was an easy decision to switch. Now most of that US$3k sits in an E*Trade Cash Optimizer account where it earns ~4.75% which alone offsets most of the forgone interest at TD.
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Best Credit Card

Post by par4 »

I've held a Gold Td Visa Card for probably 10 years. The offers that come with it have all proven to be 1st Class. I have used the Auto emerg. many times and they respond much quicker than AAA ever did. The extra warranty has also proven to be a good deal . As for lost luggage by Air Canada. Visa reimbursed me for all purchases lost within a week with no hassle. I don;t even want to think about how difficult AC was to deal with.
By the way, I keep 5M in my account so I guess when my fee comes up this year I should switch to the n/c card.
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Re: Best Credit Card

Post by kcowan »

par4 wrote:I've held a Gold Td Visa Card for probably 10 years. The offers that come with it have all proven to be 1st Class. I have used the Auto emerg. many times and they respond much quicker than AAA ever did...
We used it once for a dead battery. They came right away. I asked the truck driver how they compare to CAA and he said they can usually respond faster because they just dispatch the nearest available truck instead of waiting for an available CAA truck. Of course there is no magazine or comparable travel tours.

(As an aside, my MIL wanted to keep her BCAA membership even after she had stopped driving. She liked their monthly magazine! We convinced her that buying a travel magazine subscription would make more sense.)
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Post by foz »

Guys, you should have a look at this article:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main. ... es/credit1
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

A couple of days ago Bylo Selhi wrote:You might also want to ask TD if they're going to do another iPod or similar promotion this year because, if so, that should start any time now.
I wish I was this prescient when it comes to stock picking. The TD branch I went to this afternoon to get some cash has posters and flyers announcing the start of this year's iPod campaign. On offer is a 1GB Shuffle, 2GB Nano or 30GB iPod. Offer ends August 3rd. Details here.
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