With Mother’s Day less than two weeks away, it may be time to start thinking about a gift for her! While I know many of us, myself included, are tempted to go all-out for our mothers, we needn’t forget that there are a number of ways we can show her we care without breaking the bank. Here are just a few of those ways, none of which should cost more than $30:

• Live plant: flowers are a traditional mother’s day gift, but boquets are expensive and don’t last a long time. Why not buy your mother a beautiful plant which will last much longer with only little care required? Rhododendrons are usually a good bet, as well as tulips and orchids. Try to buy a perennial plant, which will survive through a number of years, rather an an annual or biannual plant which won’t last as long.

• Breakfast in bed. This is a traditional one, and why not continue it? It will cost you at most $20 to buy all of the ingredients at the grocery store to make her an amazing breakfast. One website I absolutely adore for finding great recipes is tastespotting.com. You’ll be bound to find something amazing to make her there.

• T-shirt and mug. This one works especially well if you have children, as you can put their photos on the items. There are a number of print shops that will take your photos and print them on t-shirts and mugs, so why not give your mother something sentimental like that? If you haven’t got children of your own, I would recommend you use one of your own childhood pictures because, well, lets face it, we were all much cuter when we weren’t full-grown! Wrap it up nicely and this sentimental gift shouldn’t cost more than about $25.

• A few high-quality chocolates. Giving your mom a little indulgence is a great way to make her feel special. Make sure you’re buying very good quality however: think Godiva as opposed to Purdy’s. You don’t need to buy many: at Godiva 8 chocolates costs around $16 after taxes, and the high quality means you don’t need to buy many. Most moms don’t treat themselves to such things, so it will be twice as special for her.

• A nice fruit basket. You can make these yourself for relatively cheap. You just need to do it pretty close to Mother’s Day. Find some fruit that’s just ripe one or two days before mother’s day. A pineapple is a must, as well as kiwis, magoes, cantelope and honeydew if you can find them. Small fruits, such as strawberries, go well in a little bowl as well. Wrap it up nicely, add a nice card and (if you’ve got one) frame a photo of yourself and your mom.

Just because it’s mother’s day doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune. Most mothers appreciate the sentimental stuff even more so than they do the material. Let your mom know you love her with one of these ideas and you won’t be breaking your budget either.

Popularity: 9% [?]

It is recommended that you check your credit report every year to ensure your information is up to date, that your information is correct, and most importantly to ensure you haven’t been the victim of identity fraud. However, most Canadians still haven’t checked their credit report, even once. Part of this problem stems from the fact that many simply don’t know how to do it. Americans have it easy: the information is everywhere. However, for those of us North of the border the information isn’t as widely known. Well, here’s what you have to do to get your credit report if you live in Canada. If you haven’t looked at yours in a year or longer, please use this post as your inspiration to get it done! It can save you an enormous hassle in the future.

The two parts of your credit report are the report itself, and the score. There are a number of ways to get your report, but the most common are by mail and online. If you live in Nova Scotia, due to provincial law the only way you can get your credit report is by mail. To get your report online, all you have to do is visit the website of one of the three credit reporting agencies and order your score online. In Canada, these are Equifax Canada, Transunion Canada and Northern Credit Bureaus Inc. In order to get your credit report online, the agencies will charge you a fee, but it is instant as opposed to sending it by mail. If you want your credit score, you must order this online as it is not available via post. The credit bureaus charge an extra fee as well for your credit score: Equifax charges $23.95 Canadian for your report and score online, TransUnion charges $22.90 Canadian and Northern Credit Bureaus, well, I couldn’t actually find their price. Some of the links on their website weren’t working either, and it looks like it was designed in 1997, so I would recommend that you stick with one of the other two bureaus.

If you live in Nova Scotia, unfortunately it’s impossible for you to get your credit score since you can’t order it online, which is the only avenue. You’ll just have to move to New Brunswick or PEI.

If all you’re looking for is your free credit report, keep in mind that you will have to provide copies of two pieces of government-issued ID, and remember that in a number of provinces, such as Ontario, a Health Card is not acceptable ID.

The best place to get the free credit report is from Equifax or Transunion. The link for the forms for equifax can be found here.

Here is the contact information for the three credit bureaus:

Equifax Canada

National Consumer Relations
P.O. box 190, Station Jean-Talon,
Montreal, Quebec  H1S 2Z2
Tel. (toll-free): 1-800-465-7166
Fax: (514) 355-8502
E-mail: consumer.relations@equifax.com

TransUnion Canada

All provinces except Quebec:
Consumer Relations Centre
P.O. Box 338 LCD 1
Hamilton, Ontario  L8L 7W2
Tel: 1-866-525-0262
Fax: (905) 527-0401

For Quebec Residents:
TransUnion (Echo Group)
1 Place Laval
Suite 370
Laval, Quebec  H7N 1A1
Tel: 1-877-713-3393
Fax: (905) 527-0401

Northern Credit Bureaus Inc.

336 Rideau boulevard
Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec  J9X 1P2
Fax (toll-free): 1-800-646-5876

Popularity: 13% [?]

Last week I gave you a list of things that under FICO 08 can help increase your credit score. There’s also a number of things that can hurt your credit score significantly more, however. You need to make sure NOW that under FICO 08 your score won’t drop. Here are a few things that many of us do today which will result in a lower score under FICO 08. For the sake of your credit score, do your best to avoid the following:

• Making late payments. In the past, one late payment could lower your score 100 points. Now, one late payment won’t hurt you as much, but regularly missing payments will hurt your score more. Do your best to make as many payments as you possibly can on time, or you will see a drop in your score.
• Using most of your available credit. Using more of your available credit will do more harm to your credit under the new system. Now that under FICO 08 your score will be hurt less by applying for credit, a good way to avoid this is to try and get some new credit. This will increase your available credit and prevent your score from dropping because you’ve used too much of your available credit.
• Getting fined. This isn’t really related to FICO 08 directly, but having parking tickets and other fines show up on credit reports is becoming increasingly common. Pay your fines on time before you see them on your report!
• Closing your credit cards. Even if you cut them up, don’t close the accounts. Having open accounts will prevent your score from dropping as it shows you have available credit, and it increases the length of your credit history. Using old cards from time to time is important under FICO 08, but you definitely should not close them!
• Only use credit cards. You need to have both revolving and fixed credit (ie. a car loan) to be seen as being diversified under FICO 08. If all you have credit-wise is cards, your score will suffer.

By avoiding the above mistakes, you can be ahead of the curve of FICO 08 and keep your credit score from falling under the new system. Be proactive when it comes to your credit - take care now to make sure that when your score is based on FICO 08 your credit rating won’t drop a few levels.

Popularity: 20% [?]

As I plan my upcoming move across the world to be with my fiancee in Australia, I do have some things to research. One of those things is banking. As I’ve written in the past, I think not using a cash back credit card is a waste of money, so I decided I was going to see what Australia offered before I actually arrive in the country.

So, this morning, I looked at the website of one of Australia’s big 4 banks, St. George. I go to their credit card selector, where I’m given three options: reward cards, no annual fee and low interest rate cards. Naturally, I pick the first one.

However, this is the text I was faced with:

Choosing the right credit card

A card with rewards

Think Again!

Reward schemes generally offer the promise of future benefits for a higher up-front cost.

To earn a $100 gift voucher on an average rewards card it would cost you over $16,000 in purchases*.

For this reason, St.George Bank does not offer a rewards scheme, but prefers to provide a range of low rate credit cards.

See our range of Low Rate Credit Cards.

I was stunned! I could believe it if they told me “we don’t offer rewards cards at this time”, but to tell me to “think again” about my choice and that I should go with a low rate card?? I pay my balances off every month, I couldn’t care less what my interest rate is. Working for the bank I do now, I could have gotten a card at about 5% interest, but decided to get the cash back card at the full rate.

Whoever decided to basically call the people who want a rewards card financial idiots was absolutely beyond me. Whoever came up with that text, as well as everyone involved in the approval process should never be allowed to work in any sort of marketing job again, ever. (Alright, so I don’t mean that, I’m just absolutely shocked that they would actually write that on their website!)

Just because of that I can guarantee that I will never be a customer of St. George bank when I move to Australia. I know it’s stupid and I know it’s petty, but the fact that they told me to “think again” because I want a rewards card just does not stick well with me at all. That’s not the type of bank I want to deal with.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Thanks to the virtual meltdown of the financial sector in the United States, credit issuance is likely to become a much stricter industry, especially in the United States. Many people have found themselves with a low credit score, and considering the changes in the formula for determining FICO scores, some of the things you do can hurt or improve your score. Here are some of the actions you can take which may alter your FICO score compared to how it was calculated in the past:

• Applying for new credit may hurt your score less
• Using the accounts you have on a regular basis may increase your score
•  Carrying a high balance on your cards may hurt your score more

Some of the major changes include authorized users on cards no longer being able to “piggyback” the credit rating of someone with good credit. Single infractions are now going to have less of an impact on a credit score reduction as well. If you paid a bill late even once your score used to drop by as much as 100 points. Now, the focus is more on whether or not you make regular payments on time, and single infractions no longer have the devastating effect they used to on your credit.

With this new information, I’ve compiled a list of 5 things you can do this year to improve your credit score, taking advantage of these new rules:

1. Watch your limits. Try not to use more than 30% of your available credit and if you can use less than 10% that is even better. The higher your balance, the more your FICO score will be negatively impacted. The credit bureaus don’t distinguish between the balances which you pay off each month and those you carry. If you carry high balances but pay them off every month, consider asking for a credit limit increase to reduce the amount of available credit which you are using.
2. Don’t close your accounts. It’s well known that having open yet inactive accounts is better than closed ones. With these new rules, having open accounts in good standing will help increase your score even more than in the past, while too many closed accounts will hurt it.
3. Keep your accounts active. The FICO score is now recognizing when you leave your cards at a zero balance, so it’s best to make a couple of small purchases on your cards every month and then paying them off when you receive your statement. Cards which have carried a zero balance for a long period of time are going to start having a reduced impact on your score, so you want to keep them at least somewhat active.
4. Mix things up a little bit: FICO scores are now taking into account your mix of revolving credit, which allows you to take money out and pay back at will, such as credit cards and lines of credit, as well as installment loans where you can only pay back the amount (such as mortgages and car loans). Your mix of credit types will become much more important in 2008, and if you’re trying to increase your score a good way to do this is by ensuring you have a mix of these two types of loans. However, be sure not to get extra credit if you cannot afford it: it’s better to have your credit score be average because you didn’t get that extra loan than poor because you got the loan and couldn’t afford to repay it.
5. Pay your bills on time. While a single late payment won’t have the impact it used to on your credit, a bad track record for payments will have a much larger impact on your credit score. Make one mistake and you’ll be fine, but make many and you’ll be worse off than you were before!

If you’re looking to increase your credit score, using these techniques to take advantage of the new system is one of your best options. Keeping up to date with FICO formula changes helps ensure that you know what’s important when it comes to your credit.

Popularity: 100% [?]

I received a question via e-mail by a reader, Michelle, yesterday. Michelle recently turned 19, and hasn’t got any credit. She wanted to begin establishing credit and so applied for a card at her local bank, which was declined due to a lack of credit history. Michelle wants to know what she can do to establish initial credit.

Credit cards are without a doubt the easiest way to establish credit. Try applying for a card at another bank: my first credit card came from an institution other than the one where I had banked for 6 years because they were able to offer me a card, whereas my current bank wasn’t. If you’re asked for a specific limit, ask for $500. This is generally the lowest available limit on basic cards and increases your chances of being accepted.

If this still fails, you will have to go with one of the following options: a secured card, or having a co-signer. A secured card is where the bank puts a hold on a sum of money and gives you a credit card with a limit equivalent to the hold on your account. You need to be relatively stable financially in order to do this safely, as generally those funds must be on hold for 18 months before the credit card company will look at your credit to see if they feel safe enough to release the hold. Your only other option would be to close the card, which will have negative implications on your credit.

If  you have a parent or close relative willing to co-sign for you, there is a good chance you will be able to get a credit card without securing it as well. However, you need to be sure they are co-signing for you, and not simply adding you as an authorized user on a card in their name. If they simply add you as an authorized user, your credit is not affected.

Credit cards are the easiest way to establish credit, and it is good you want to get on it so early. A large determinant of your credit score is the length of credit history, so getting a card now and using it responsibly will have a large positive impact on your credit over time.

Popularity: 11% [?]