RFD Credit Card, Chequing, & Investment Savings Account Articles

[Ryan]

The articles written by canrocks on No Fee Credit Card Reward Programs and Investment Savings Accounts can be found here:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/articles/credit1/

The No Fee Chequing Accounts Comparison can be found here:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/articles/chequing1/

And the High Interest Savings Account Comparison can be found here:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/articles/savings1/

[Alexo]

Do any of the Canadian no-fee credit cards offer single-use "virtual" numbers for internet purchases, etc. ?

My card got compromised and although there was no monetary loss (the CC company tool care of everything) it was still a bit of a hassle to switch everything to the new number.

[emz]

Thank you Ryan for stickying this. I was afraid I would need to perform a search for it and not necessarily find it. :)

[halflife150]

For the starwood cc i wasn't finding the high returns that were reported for the hotels. I was only getting 1.5%-2.5% and that's with hitting the increments. I even looked up the hotels provided in the examples. The hotel prices were much lower and they were in higher categories. That having said, it is still one of the best cc out there due to the 5000 bonus points awarded on airmile trades. It makes it one of the best airmiles cards as long as you hit the increments.

[Porcina]

In my last bill there was a notice that the National Bank Ultramar reward for the year is now capped at $250.

Disappointing as I received a $458 reward last year. So about June I will stop using the card as my reward will be maxed out.

Also the minimum monthly gas usage was increased to 100 liters from 80 liters to get the 2% refund.

I guess too many people from RFD have lowered their profits.

[Sandokan]

There's new Cash rebate Credit card:

NEW TD Canada Trust Rebate Rewards
Visa Card

Earn a 0.5% cash reward on the first $3,000 in net annual purchases charged to your Card
Earn a 1% cash reward on your net annual purchases over $3,000 (to a maximum annual purchase limit of $25,000)

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/tdvisa/rebate.jsp

[Jero]

There's new Cash rebate Credit card:

NEW TD Canada Trust Rebate Rewards
Visa Card

Earn a 0.5% cash reward on the first $3,000 in net annual purchases charged to your Card
Earn a 1% cash reward on your net annual purchases over $3,000 (to a maximum annual purchase limit of $25,000)

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/tdvisa/rebate.jsp


That's not too bad. CIBC Dividend has been doing it for years
(on the first $1,500 in net annual purchases your rebate is 0.25%; on your next $1,500 in net annual purchases your rebate would be 0.50%; on amounts greater than $3,000 in net annual purchases your rebate would be 1.0%.)

I think the PC has a better deal with a $25 signing bonus, 1.97% balance transfer and 1% starting at $2000 purchases.

[rl7greg]

I'd be curious to know what no fee chequing accounts are out there that are free with a higher minimum balance than $1000 or $2000. I personally have the Select Service account from TD that has a $5000 minimum balance, but with that it is truly no-fee. Yes, you lose out on getting higher interest on $5000 (~$200/year), but you get a lot more services free in addition to unlimited withdrawls, debits, payments, transfers, etc:
- free safe deposit box
- free cdn/us bank drafts
- no atm fees anywhere
- free 1% cash rebate visa w/roadside assistance & towing - better than a $150 BCAA Plus membership (TD Gold Elite)
- free cheques, and cheque images online or cheque return
- no holds on deposits (with good credit I guess)
- real bank branches that are open late ;-)

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/accounts/select.jsp

If I had a PCF free chequing account then I'd need a safe deposit box, a BCAA membership, and I'd probably be paying $5-7 for US bank drafts, which I need one per month. And there is never the right ATM nearby if you have to use certain ones only, so I don't think any of the free chequing account listed are better for me, or for lots of people out there...

Does anyone have or know of a good chequing account with similar/better free stuff?

[cipra]

On Page 6 of the RFD article on Credit Card, it states: http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/articles/credit6/

MBNA CAA Mastercard

Percentage Equivalent 1 everywhere. 2-4 at Sunoco, UPI, or FS

but on http://www.caasco.com/savings/caadollars/index.jsp, it states:

Effective December 31, 2007 Sunoco, UPI and FS will no longer be participants in the CAA Dollar program. Click here for details.

[GNUH NAEJ]

Hi guys i have around 10k in RBC's esaving high interest account. I was reading the comparison btw which bank has the highest hi-interest account and it says with cash amound greater tahn 2k one shouldnt be investing in high interest accounts but accounts call "GICs" can som1 explain how GIC's work? and which is the best for my situation.

I have about 10k, do not need the money, able to invest in long term about 3-5 years. THANKS!

[cuto]

if possible... i'd like to see an updated version on the no fee credit cards out there. i've applied for the Enrich card thinking it has car rental collision waiver but it doesn't. d'oh! so maybe that should at least be changed in the comparison chart.

[Octavius]

if possible... i'd like to see an updated version on the no fee credit cards out there. i've applied for the Enrich card thinking it has car rental collision waiver but it doesn't. d'oh! so maybe that should at least be changed in the comparison chart.

Doesn't the platinum have it?

You need to ASK them for the platinum Enrich...otherwise you'll get the plain jane one that has less features.

[cuto]

Doesn't the platinum have it?

You need to ASK them for the platinum Enrich...otherwise you'll get the plain jane one that has less features.ohh!!! geez, i hope i don't have to re-apply for it. thanks for the heads up :)

[Octavius]

ohh!!! geez, i hope i don't have to re-apply for it. thanks for the heads up :)

NP - when you get your plain Enrich, call up Citibank and ask them to upgrade you to the platinum version. It's instantaneous and there's no hit on your record.

Confirm with them what it does and doesn't have. I honestly can't remember for the life of me what the Citi Enrich Platinum has aside from 1% cash back and price protection...but I'm fairly certain it offers rental car insurance (but don't take my word for it =P )

[cuto]

NP - when you get your plain Enrich, call up Citibank and ask them to upgrade you to the platinum version. It's instantaneous and there's no hit on your record.

Confirm with them what it does and doesn't have. I honestly can't remember for the life of me what the Citi Enrich Platinum has aside from 1% cash back and price protection...but I'm fairly certain it offers rental car insurance (but don't take my word for it =P )that's good that there won't be a hit on my record. when is there a chance that i would get hit with some record? i'm guessing it's a bad thing?!

[Octavius]

that's good that there won't be a hit on my record. when is there a chance that i would get hit with some record? i'm guessing it's a bad thing?!

When you apply for credit, there is almost always a hit against your CREDIT record.

So depending on your score, how much debt you have, how often you pay off your card in full, etc, applying for a credit card may drop your overall score 5-10 points temporarily for 6 months.

Anyway, that's what I was getting at - sorry I didn't clear that up earlier

[cuto]

When you apply for credit, there is almost always a hit against your CREDIT record.

So depending on your score, how much debt you have, how often you pay off your card in full, etc, applying for a credit card may drop your overall score 5-10 points temporarily for 6 months.

Anyway, that's what I was getting at - sorry I didn't clear that up earlierah d'oh! i just applied for the mbna spg card too! ugh...so stupid of me. sigh... i just got the enrich card too!

but if i have good credit, don't carry debt... it won't hurt that much eh?

[Octavius]

ah d'oh! i just applied for the mbna spg card too! ugh...so stupid of me. sigh... i just got the enrich card too!

but if i have good credit, don't carry debt... it won't hurt that much eh?

It'll be fine. Like I said, applying for a credit card usually drops your score for like 6-8 months. How much it drops depends on your overall file.

Not carrying debt is a good thing - frankly anyone that carries debt on a credit card at more then 5% interest is a fool.

Remember: Good credit is a privilege, it can help you out in many circumstances - don't go ruining it by applying for new credit cards that don't need/want/use.

Every hard hit on your credit score lasts 6-7 years on your record. Hellfire has a HUGE thread on this in the Personal Finance section. I highly recommend you read it.

[J-Wo]

The rates for investment savings accounts have changed since the thread was last updated. Did some searching and here are the latest rates I found:

Bank Interest Rate (as of February 15, 2008)
E*Trade 4.15%
ICICI 4.10%
Citizens Ultimate 4.00%
Canadian Tire 3.85% (5.50% for first 90 days)
Achieva 3.85%
Outlook 3.85%
President's Choice Interest Plus 3.85%
HSBC 3.70%
ING Direct 3.65%
Altamira 3.60%
Manulife 3.55%
Royal Bank 3.50%
Scotiabank 3.25%
President's Choice Interest First 2.80%
Citizens Investment 2.40%

[canrocks]

Hey, J-Wo, thanks man! I just came on RFD today to update the article, and what do I see, someone's already done all the legwork!

[vanhalen26]

Thanks for all the work. Is the CIBC Platinum Dividend Card worthwhile if we are spending alot a year on our cards? We have the Amex 2% and try to use that, but many places we shop do not accept it.

[J-Wo]

PC Financial Interest Plus™ Savings Account just dropped to %3.75 >:(

[cuto]

PC Financial Interest Plus™ Savings Account just dropped to %3.75 >:(d'oh!!! GRRR

[lisdoncca]

Bank Interest Rate (as of March 11, 2008)
ICICI 4.10%
Achieva 3.85%
Outlook 3.85%
Citizens Ultimate 3.75%
Canadian Tire 3.75% (5.00% for first 90 days, 20$ bonus, not in Quebec)
President's Choice Interest Plus 3.75% (for amonts over $1,000)
Manulife 3.60%
E*Trade 3.55% (for $CA, confirmed by phone (1-888-872-3388) since March 7)
HSBC 3.30% (4.75% till May 2, 2008)
ING Direct 3.30%
Altamira 3.20%
Royal Bank 3.00%
Scotiabank Money Master High Interest Savings Account 2.75%
President's Choice Interest First 2.50%
Citizens Investment 2.40%

Here is an update on rates.
I did this update because I am currently looking for a new account (ING Direct is way too low now...)

You will notice some rates dropped more than others, so the order of the list changed a little bit.

[J-Wo]

Thanks lisdoncca. I'm thinking of making a shared Google documents spreadsheet with the interest rates that users can update themselves to share with others. Are there people out there who would be interested in helping maintain it? Is this idea okay with the author of this original thread?

edit: I've completed the Google spreadsheet which can be found at the link below. I've also removed the President's Choice Interest First Savings Account, because there is virtually no difference between it and the Interest Plus Savings Account except for a lower rate!
(okay that's not entirely true, the Interest Plus requires a $1000 min deposit while Interest First has no minimum, but if you don't have that much to save then what are you doing with an investment savings account anyway?)

Please PM me if you'd like to be a contributor to the spreadsheet so you can make changes. You must have a google (gmail) account

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p0a-5_Mzy7WcYLYGy6g-cEA

[lisdoncca]

E*Trade 3.55% (for $CA, confirmed by phone (1-888-872-3388) since March 7)

Watch out for people that are at E*Trade or that are looking to open an account.

[jetz]

I'd love to see his analysis on charge cards. I use an Amex platinum. I do use the concierge quite often and the travel insurance and other coverages are very handy. But I am curious to see the value analysis on the membership rewards program.

[J-Wo]

Rates updated, and they are dropping like flies!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p0a-5_Mzy7WcYLYGy6g-cEA

[7jai]

So i heard that if you overspend on your set limit (say $1000), the card will continue to work, however, at month end they will calculate how much you spend over your $1000 limit, and charge you a penalty fee for doing so.

Is this true? I just heard these remarks from my friends, which is why they stay away from Citibank Enrich.

[lorenzolio]

E*Trade 3.55% (for $CA, confirmed by phone (1-888-872-3388) since March 7)

Watch out for people that are at E*Trade or that are looking to open an account.

Unfortunately the rates are dropping differently for different companies, so the original article is now a bit misleading. Here's my case: In the original article, ETrade used to be much higher on the list than ING Direct... so even though I've been with ING Direct for a few years I decide to try ETrade (hey a 0.5% difference is significant). After all the hassle of setting up the new account I find they've now slowly narrowed to 0.25% difference (April 1, ET is 3.55% and ING is 3.3%). For the amount of money I'm investing that is now only $30 difference a year. $30 is barely worth the effort of signing up! Plus their website is not as nice to look at as ING's. :)

Personally I think the high interest rate on ET was introductory and meant to garner lots of interest (and it worked!). However, they are now in the middle of the pack. Perhaps the article should be reviewed?

[lisdoncca]

Bank Interest Rate (as of May 3, 2008)

note: some banks changed their investment savings account rate in the last weeks, some did not.

ICICI 3,60% http://www.icicibank.ca/personal/personalaccounts/hiSave.htm
Citizens Ultimate (not in Quebec) 3,50% https://www.citizensbank.ca/Personal/Products/BankAccounts/UltimateSavingsAccount/
Altamira 3,20% http://www.altamira.com/highinterest/index.html
Achieva 3,05% http://www.achieva.mb.ca/products/index.asp
Outlook 3,05% http://www.outlookfinancial.com/products_and_rates/rates_chart.aspx?ts=3592
Canadian Tire (not in Quebec) 3,05% https://www.myctfs.com/Rates/
President's Choice Interest Plus (over $1000) 3,05% http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/rates/savingsPlusAccountRate.page
E*Trade 3,05% https://www.canada.etrade.com/pages/accounts/accttypes.shtml
HSBC 3,00% http://www.hsbcdirect.ca/1/2/3/en/learn-more/direct-savings-account
ING Direct 3,00% http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/accounts-rates/ourrates/index.html
Manulife 2,60% http://www.manulife.ca/canada/mBank.nsf/Public/isa
Royal Bank 2,50% http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/deposits/e-savings.html
Scotiabank Money Master High Interest 2,25% http://www.scotiabank.com/rates/savings.html#dailyinterest
President's Choice Interest First 2,00% http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/rates/interestFirstSavingsAccountRate.page
Citizens Investment (not in Quebec) 1,50% https://www.citizensbank.ca/Personal/Products/BankAccounts/InvestmentAccount/

[angel_wing0]

someone should change the interest rates in the savings accounts article weekly...i volunteer! :)

+3% savings accounts' rates as of today (01/06/08):

ICICI 3.40% (Promo: referral free $20)
Altamira 3.20%
Citizens Ultimate 3.15%
PC Financial Interest Plus 3.05%
CTFS 3.05% (Promo: +1.25% for first 90 days and $20)
E*Trade 3.05%
Achieva Savings 3.05%
Outlook 3.05%
HSBC 3.00%
INGDirect 3.00%
Manulife Bank 3.00%

[canrocks]

someone should change the interest rates in the savings accounts article weekly...i volunteer! :)

+3% savings accounts' rates as of today (01/06/08):

ICICI 3.40% (Promo: referral free $20)
Altamira 3.20%
Citizens Ultimate 3.15%
PC Financial Interest Plus 3.05%
CTFS 3.05% (Promo: +1.25% for first 90 days and $20)
E*Trade 3.05%
Achieva Savings 3.05%
Outlook 3.05%
HSBC 3.00%
INGDirect 3.00%
Manulife Bank 3.00%

Hey Angel Wing, one of the reasons that doesn't get updated daily is because the analysis also changes when I change the interest rates. That and I'm in university :D. But thanks for volunteering. Actually, there's one thing that I've been thinking about more and more. Rates are flailing about on much more of a regular basis now than when I wrote the articles, and it's becoming harder and harder to trust banks based on their current rate. It would be incredibly useful if someone were to check the rates everyday (or every week), and put a daily (or weekly) entry into a spreadsheet for each account. Then we could graph the data, and watch the trends to see which banks are regularly on top. That would be incredibly useful. Feel like taking this on?

[angel_wing0]

Hey Angel Wing...
Feel like taking this on?

u bet, pm me the details and we will go from there :)

[zajacik99]

Before opening an account people should also read this:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-700094.html

[danyo]

I checked some of the cards out in the CC link... seems a lot of them have annual fees now and/or no longer exist. =S

[ACC-Major]

Someone might need to update these articles.

[canrocks]

Agreed! I just got back from 6 months in Europe and am in the process of moving back to Toronto but as soon as things quieten down, they will get a thorough updating.

[Danzinger]

Just a quick note, I've made my own chequing accounts comparison which categorizes accounts based on different customer groups (student, adult, senior, etc).

Posted it on this forum, thread can be found here (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=792373).

Or if you are lazy and just want to see the comparisons, the charts for each are as follows:

Youth (http://scwpg.com/content/BANK-CHART_under18sm.pdf)
Students/Young Adults (http://scwpg.com/content/BANK-CHART_over18sm.pdf)
Adults (http://scwpg.com/content/BANK-CHART_Adultsm.pdf) (that need an unlimited chequing account)
Seniors (http://scwpg.com/content/BANK-CHART_SENIORS_sm.pdf)
Premium Accounts (http://scwpg.com/content/BANK-CHART_travelersm.pdf) (with enhanced services & travel bonuses)

[westcoastresident]

RFD should have another article about USD banking, including:

USD cheque account
USD Saving account
USD credit credit
How to open a US bank account for Canadians

I think those will be very helpful.

[FlyingJ]

About those PayPass and payWave credit cards from MasterCard and Visa, interested in people's thoughts on this:

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/31/f-rfid-credit-cards-security-concerns.html

New credit cards pose security problem
By Zach Dubinsky, CBC News

Most newly issued credit cards pose major fraud and privacy concerns because of how they're designed to be scanned through the air, some cyber-security experts warn.

"Contactless" MasterCards and Visa cards have been available in Canada for several years, but they've only recently reached the bulk of consumers as the country's biggest banks adopt them.

The credit cards have an embedded computer chip called a radio frequency identification, or RFID, tag. When waved near a payment terminal in a store, the chip supplies the card's number and expiry date through radio waves, avoiding the need to swipe or insert the card or have a cashier handle it.

And that's the first problem, U.S. cyber-security expert Pablos Holman says.

Anyone can buy an RFID credit card reader online, where second-hand units sometimes sell for under $10, and start scanning cards in public - without cardholders knowing.

"It's not encrypted, which is not what we were expecting," said Holman, who has gone on U.S. TV newscasts to demonstrate the security gap. "It's really easy to read. ... Now you can get a generic RFID reader and use open-source programs available on the web and read cards."

RFID credit cards surfaced in Canada since 2006, when MasterCard started aggressively pushing its PayPass cards. Today, about 90 per cent of MasterCards in the country are RFID-enabled and the company aims for 100 per cent by the end of the year, said Scott Lapstra, vice-president of market development for MasterCard Canada.

Visa has been slower to market such "proximity cards" under its own brand, payWave.

Royal Bank decided only this year to make all its Visas payWave-enabled and all newly issued TD Visa cards have the feature. But most Visa cards in Canada, including those from CIBC and Scotiabank, don't have RFID.

Both credit-card companies limit contactless purchases to $50 each and have pushed to have reader terminals installed mainly in high-volume, low-price businesses like big-chain coffee shops, fast-food outlets, gas stations and grocery stores.

The benefit for customers, the card companies say, is faster, more convenient shopping and less fumbling for cash. Merchants, on the other hand, can cut down on lineups and boost their average sale value.

"A person who uses PayPass spends about 25 per cent more on their card on a monthly basis," MasterCard's Lapstra said. "We launched this product to ... have our cards be used more."

Fraud risk

Lapstra and other financial executives insist the system is safe.

The PayPass website vaunts the card's "secure encryption technology" and says the card "never leaves your hand to make a payment," making it difficult for someone to copy it clandestinely. Visa's site boasts it's "one of the most secure payment solutions available today," while TD Canada Trust promises "payment details are securely transmitted."

"It's encrypted information that is specific to that one transaction. It is not your card number, it is not your PIN and it certainly is not going out into the open," said Anne Koski, head of payment innovations at Royal Bank's cards division. "It's encrypted information."

Not so, says 3ric Johanson, an IT security expert from Seattle who gave CBC News an in-person demonstration of how to hack a MasterCard from President's Choice Financial. (Johanson had his first name legally changed from Eric.)

Using his laptop, a PayPass reader and some software, Johanson, sitting in the lobby of a downtown Toronto hotel, extracted a credit card's number and expiry date, using his own reader at close range. Earlier in his trip, he had pulled off a similar feat in front of a stunned audience at a security conference, using a random audience member's RFID credit card.

"When you go to read a card, you just take a reader and say, 'Give me your card number,' and it will do that," Johanson said.

"It's still very much transmitted over the air by the RFID interface. There's no message for the card to authenticate the reader it's about to talk to - it will talk to anyone."

Shirley Matthews, head of chip platforms at Visa Canada, acknowledged that payWave credit cards do not disguise the card number and expiry date when they send that data over the air to a card reader.

"We don't typically encrypt that," Matthews said.

The MasterCards in Johanson's demonstrations were of a later model and didn't cough up their cardholders' names. But most first-generation RFID credit cards, like the ones that Holman demonstrated on TV, will do so, and many are still in circulation, raising serious privacy concerns - in addition to fraud risks.

Credit-card company and bank executives played down these concerns, saying the cards can only be scanned from close range, even requiring physical contact with a reader sometimes.

"Typically, my experience has been you actually have to touch the card to the reader," Koski said.

Lapstra added: "The cards are actually powered from the reader and they have to be within four centimetres of that reader."

But that only means you need to boost the power of the reader to scan the cards from a greater distance, according to the security experts who spoke to CBC News.

Johanson said it's possible to use an RFID "gate antenna" - two electronic readers spanning a doorway, similar to the anti-theft gates in retail stores - to scan the credit cards of people passing through.

With enough high-powered gates installed at key doorways in a city or across the country, someone could collect comprehensive information on people's movements, buying habits and social patterns.

"These days you can buy a $500 antenna to mount in doorways that can read every card that goes through it," Johanson said.

Several hacks possible

The newest generation of RFID credit cards transmit an encrypted, one-time security code alongside the card number and expiry date to authenticate each transaction, as Koski alluded to.

But Johanson said it's possible to circumvent that system by deploying what's called a replay attack: A fraudster scans the RFID card dozens of times in a public place in a matter of seconds, without the cardholder knowing, and captures the security codes that the card transmits. A cloned card is then programmed to "replay" those codes at a store's payment terminal.

The credit-card company would only catch on to the fraud when the real cardholder tried to make a subsequent payWave or PayPass purchase with a security code that had already been used by the scammer.

Several other kinds of information hacks are possible, Johanson said:

-With a first-generation RFID credit card, a fraudster can secretly scan the card's number (including a security code called CVV1) and expiry date, then program a traditional magnetic-stripe Visa or MasterCard with that information. Even without the cardholder's name, the fraudulent, cloned card could be used in many retail locations.
-Someone could scan RFID credit cards in the mail while they're being sent to cardholders. Issuing banks have typically disregarded privacy and security concerns and refused to use magnetically shielded envelopes for mailing payWave- and PayPass-enabled cards. The advantage of this hack is that a scammer would get the person's mailing address as well, a crucial piece of info for most online purchases.
-A company could use the workplace's card-access doorways to scan employees' credit cards and compile information on their finances and lifestyle. For example, any credit card number beginning with "5192" is a U.S.-dollar MasterCard from Bank of Montreal - and an employee who started coming to work with one in his pocket one day, then went on a three-week "sick leave" the next, might raise a red flag.

Visa, MasterCard and their issuing banks stress that credit-card security is a multi-layered apparatus, relying on much more than just the integrity of card information. One factor is the effort required to pull off a swindle.

"Particularly when it comes to contactless, these are small-ticket transactions," Koski said. "I mean, what are you gonna do, take $50 worth of free coffee?"

"Where we see fraud in the credit-card industry in general is areas where it's a stolen card and highly fence-able goods, so electronics and things they can turn into cash," Lapstra added.

"PayPass is focused on lower-dollar value, high throughput: fast foods and coffees and those kinds of things. ... We are not aware of or have any evidence that PayPass cards are able to be compromised."

Johanson said it's only a matter of time, though, before sophisticated criminals who have proven adept at wide-scale debit-card fraud turn their attention to RFID credit cards.

"As with most things, what's probably going to happen is they're going to wait for a high degree of market adoption before it gets interesting to attackers."

He pointed to the example of the chip and PIN system, which Visa, MasterCard and their competitors began implementing in the early 2000s. Each credit card has a microchip in it, which works with a corresponding personal identification number, or PIN, entered by the cardholder to authenticate each purchase.

As chip-and-PIN cards become the norm, researchers at Cambridge University in Britain reported in a paper last month that the system is "broken." In a demonstration on BBC News, computer scientists fooled journalists' credit cards into making purchases without the valid PIN.

[continues...]

[Aske001]

It would be nice to be able to choose the credit card type (Visa, Mastercard, Amex etc.) as well as the other parameters. If you already have one, you may be looking for an alternative card of another type.

[angel_wing0]

Bank Interest Rate (as of May 3, 2008)

note: some banks changed their investment savings account rate in the last weeks, some did not.

ICICI 3,60% http://www.icicibank.ca/personal/personalaccounts/hiSave.htm
Citizens Ultimate (not in Quebec) 3,50% https://www.citizensbank.ca/Personal/Products/BankAccounts/UltimateSavingsAccount/
Altamira 3,20% http://www.altamira.com/highinterest/index.html
Achieva 3,05% http://www.achieva.mb.ca/products/index.asp
Outlook 3,05% http://www.outlookfinancial.com/products_and_rates/rates_chart.aspx?ts=3592
Canadian Tire (not in Quebec) 3,05% https://www.myctfs.com/Rates/
President's Choice Interest Plus (over $1000) 3,05% http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/rates/savingsPlusAccountRate.page
E*Trade 3,05% https://www.canada.etrade.com/pages/accounts/accttypes.shtml
HSBC 3,00% http://www.hsbcdirect.ca/1/2/3/en/learn-more/direct-savings-account
ING Direct 3,00% http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/accounts-rates/ourrates/index.html
Manulife 2,60% http://www.manulife.ca/canada/mBank.nsf/Public/isa
Royal Bank 2,50% http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/deposits/e-savings.html
Scotiabank Money Master High Interest 2,25% http://www.scotiabank.com/rates/savings.html#dailyinterest
President's Choice Interest First 2,00% http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/rates/interestFirstSavingsAccountRate.page
Citizens Investment (not in Quebec) 1,50% https://www.citizensbank.ca/Personal/Products/BankAccounts/InvestmentAccount/

good times.

[mavericknm]

Any updates on the accounts and credit cards. It was a really useful article at the time but is it still up to date? Many thanks.

[canrocks]

Haha, no that thing is . . . a little . . . out of date ;). It'll be exciting to add the ING account to the chequing article.

[nuclear_rikku]

This was an awesome thread. Just wondering if anyone knows about a great account to park some money and do a little online investing?

Thanks:)

[dealstime]

This was an awesome thread. Just wondering if anyone knows about a great account to park some money and do a little online investing?

Thanks:)

They have some nice comparison there..

http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/financial/rates/