Two credit cards are better than one The other day a reader wrote in and asked “is it bad for my credit rating to have an inactive credit card?  I prefer to only use one and use the back up card only if I misplace the one I regularly use”. I replied “Good question. It’s...Read More

Consumers spend too much on housing In our zeal to qualify for a mortgage, we strive to meet the debt service ratios used by all major mortgage lenders. The rule of thumb the lenders use is your mortgage payments, property taxes and heating bills should be less than 32% of your gross monthly household income....Read More

We wrap up this first interview with Jordan Rumanek who is a licensed Trustee in Bankruptcy and Administrator of Proposals, whose firm Rumanek & Company Ltd. processes well over a thousand insolvency files each year in the GTA. Today we want to understand how bankruptcy affects people who have a failed business on their hands....Read More

Hi Ross, I have a Royal Bank Avion card which I have not used in several months. In fact, I rarely use my RBC bank accounts, and as a result, I have no reason to check them very often. I don’t recall doing this, but apparently I switched over to paperless statements for all these...Read More

Most of us know Gail from her famous television series entitled “Till Debt Do Us Part”. She speaks with passion and conviction, and is on a mission to better our lives and educate lenders about the wrongs in their lending processes. She has a Facebook Page, called “School Lenders” which is evolving nicely as a discussion group...Read More

Here are this week’s articles which deserve a broader audience. They cover topics such as how much do you need to retire, credit cards for small business owners, achieving financial bliss in a second marriage, the last minute RESP, investing in TFSA’s as a student, and finally a primer on bonds. Fabulously Broke points out that retirement...Read More

Pay off huge debts with home equity A lady called me a few weeks ago inquiring if she was a bankruptcy candidate. She and her husband were in serious arrears on their property taxes – over $25,000 – and their municipality was threatening foreclosure. Compounding the stress was around $100,000 in unsecured debts – credit cards...Read More

Credit cards are a necessary evil in today’s society. You need to have one or two for (a) the convenience when no other method of payment will do, and (b) to ensure you are building and maintaining a healthy credit score. Over the past year, my personal favourite has become the Infinite card from TD...Read More