I call CIBC Visa yesterday to find out about their financial fees I got. To my surprise, I learn that I had been paying 29$ per year since I got this credit card because the card I got is a reward one with Aeroplan. I probably never notice the fee until now.
This mean that since 2005 or around, I had been paying 29$ per year for 5 years or so, for a total of 145$ - without ever noticing anything. I really need to be more careful with the fees I am paying for financial services. I really don’t want to pay any fees for any of my credit cards.
I request to change of credit card for one with no annual fees. I was told I could get the CIBC Dividend Visa, which pay 1% of all purchases on December of each year. I basically pay everything with my credit card. I might be able to get 40$ or 50$ per year from the credit card, which is fun.
At least this problem had been resolved and I shouldn’t get any fees in the future. At least. I always got a good customer service from CIBC, regarding this and also regarding my investment. Earlier this year, I had non-RRSP mutual funds with CIBC that I wanted to transform into RRSP. At CIBC, the transformation had been performed very quickly and efficiency in a one shouts over the phone. But it was not the case with RBC who insisted for me to get a loan to invest in my RBC – can you imagine the horror? I really had to insist and call over their customer service to get the job done after insisted and insisted. And not to talk about Desjardins who never wanted to perform the transformation for me.
From my experience, CIBC is way much better than RBC, TD Canada Trust and even Desjardins in many ways. I am still doing my banking with Desjardins, but it might be just a matter of time before I switch to another bank. And it might be CIBC.
At CIBC, they have understand that it’s their customers who are the boss lol and its look like CIBC staff is willing to do everything they can to please their customers. Like wow! I am a pretty easy going customer as long as everyone obey me lol.
About my debt management
My budget is quite sharp the month of July!
I wake up early this morning to calculate my budget. I am able to pay off completely my RBC Visa, American Express and CIBC Visa… So many credit cards! I am paying 800$ on my TD Visa… and 150$ on my TD credit line. After all my bills being paid, rent and student loan included, I have around 52$ left in my banking account lol. Knowing how much I have money aside allow me to maximize the payment on my credit cards and debts. Now, the ultimate challenge consists in searching for a day-time job. And it’s very difficult for me. I only have to begin by the beginning right, send some resumes
Debts can be so annoying. I do not have any problems with my student loan debts or even with my TD line of credit debt. But having more debts that those 2 really cause me a problem and I find it difficult to live with too many debts. I am really getting annoying by my TD Visa debt and I want to clear it off as soon as possible, even if I have a special interest rate on it until the end of September 2009.
One solution to pay off my TD Visa debts could be the following: sell my Creststreet Alternative Energy Fund (which should provide me 1 050$ in cash) and also sell my Desjardins Fidelity True North Fund. Right now, my investment worth 996.05$. This is quite painful for me because Desjardins Fidelity True North Fund was my very first investment. I am way too emotional when it comes to my investments. I am not willing to sell anything out. I won’t sell for sure when I am loosing from my initial investment anyway, even if I am loosing only 4$. There’s always solution.
Why it’s important to pay off some debts
Even if my TD Visa is at a low interest for the 3 000$ debt I have, I am paying in interest (for the month of June). But want to see something even more frightening? I had been charged 29.34$ in insurance fees for my TD Visa. I am going to cancel this insurance right on today! I am just not paying attention to what’s going on with my credit card and I am paying the price. But better later than never…
I am also looking into increasing my TD credit line after all… Too much stuff is going on :)