Banks

The number one question I get from home owners is the never ending, "fixed vs. variable" rate debate. And although it depends on a number of factors (your personal preference along with the accuracy of your crystal ball to predict where interest rates are headed), real estate expert Don Campbell, and president of the Real Estate Investment Network has a unique twist on the old argument.

Campbell touts opting for a variable rate mortgage, but being disciplined enough to make the payment that a five year fixed would offer thus paying more on your principal and paying off your mortgage sooner and less interest over time.

Here's the numbers he crunched based on a $300,000 mortgage over a 35 year amortization:

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox

Rebuilding your life after bankruptcy – including your credit rating, finances and your emotional well-being – can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task.

But if you've recently filed for bankruptcy protection, it's important to realize that there is life after bankruptcy. And it doesn't have to be a life where you're treated like a financial outcast and banished to years of credit exile.

On the contrary, life after bankruptcy can be enormously rewarding – but only for those who strategize properly and commit themselves to not wasting the second chance that bankruptcy can offer. Ultimately, how well you rebound from a bankruptcy filing depends on the post-bankruptcy steps you take to safeguard yourself against future financial calamities.

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox

We all know that making late payments or having credit card accounts in collections can hurt your credit scores. But you might be shocked to learn that a lot of other seemingly innocent actions can also negatively impact your credit rating.

Here's a list of five surprising things that can lower your credit scores -- and keep you from having a stellar credit report.

Renting a Car With a Debit Card

I learned about this credit-busting issue the hard way: after I rented a car in 2009 from Avis using my debit card.

There are two main players on the market for your pre-paid gift giving pleasure (or for your own personal use). RBC's VISA Gift Card and somewhat newer on the market, BMO's prepaid MasterCard.

BMO's card is interesting and specifically targeted to traveling, replacing those pesky travelers cheques (do people still use those?) In any event, as a frequent road warrior myself, I do know the trepidation of having one's credit card shut down or suspended (by no fault of your own) just when checking in or out of a hotel, or when paying for a large party's tab. As the credit card companies have become ultra-sensitive to any unusual purchases on credit card holders accounts, they`re also quicker to shut down cards, issue news ones (leaving you without a credit card), or place a restrictive hold until you give them a call and tell them yes, it was you trying to make 'that' purchase. Because we're 100% protected from fraud with both VISA and MasterCard, they`re making using their own cards challenging at times.

We all know we need emergency savings for those inevitable rainy days, right? But if you're like most Canadians, you likely haven't socked enough (if any) away for life's urgent situations.

Not only do we know it's prudent to have 3-6 month's of our salary saved in a safe, liquid account, we also need to asses how much cash we should carry on our "person" and have in our home. Do you know?

Albert Einstein stated, "The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest." Being infinitely more brilliant than myself, Einstein knew that as simple of a concept compounding can be, applying it is extremely powerful.

Let me illustrate an example. Let's pretend I have an offer for you. The first, a million dollars from my left pocket. The second, a shiny penny from my right; however, that penny will double each day for thirty days. Which would you prefer to have at the end of the month? The one million dollars or the doubling-a-day penny?

Read Part One of this article here.

There IS an easier way than keeping financial secrets, and it starts with you saying "yes" to the following question. Could you have lived on 90 percent of your income for all of the years you have worked thus far? Would you have died or been kicked out on the street? Could you have made it? Of course you could have. After all, there are thousands of Canadians that have had to take pay-cuts over the years and many that have stayed at jobs that have cut their salary more than 10 percent. Although it is abundantly obvious that we could have made out alright if we just lived on 10 percent less income each year, as a financial professional, I can assure you that most Canadians do not. Somehow we always pay our bills but rarely ourselves. If the roof needs repairing, we always find the extra money. Or if Johnny needs new glasses, we manage to muster up the available cash, but no matter what level our income is at, our expenses always seem to catch up to our income or even exceed it.

Continue reading to find out about The Banking Game.

Should couples have financial secrets or should the commitment of marriage tear down the walls of covertness in a relationship? While independence is important in any relationship, is it more important than trust and open dialogue?

I have seen secrecy ravage the relationships of numerous couples. Some couples will hide and camouflage accounts from one another and often times the account goes undetected until their death; even the children and often their financial advisor are unaware of such accounts.

Every time you take out that rewards card the merchant behind the counter is probably smiling through gritted teeth.

This is because rewards carry processing fees of 3 to 3.5%, as opposed to the typical 2% on credit cards without all the bells and whistles. Thanks to the current interchange fees in this country, among the highest in the industrialized world, for every item a retailer sells 3 to 3.5% of the total take on that item must go to the credit card companies the moment a rewards card is used.

"As a consumer, if you have any type of points program, flight program, rewards program, cash back or gas program on your credit card that's great for you, -- it makes sense, I have lots of those cards in my wallet --but who do you think is paying for those flights and for those points and for that cash back?" asks Marcus Dagenais, VP of business development for Fee Fighters Canada, a web company hoping to even the playing field for the merchant when it comes to exorbitant credit card processing fees. After all, interchange fees are paid by the retailer and passed to the card issuing banks to pay for those rewards.

With these fees so high, merchants are forced to pass on the cost to the consumer through retail markups. With close to 50% of the credit card market made up of rewards cards, consumers are being hit more than ever before.

This item is for the timid amongst us: don't be afraid of banks and sundry financial institutions!

We all put our pants on one leg at a time, and so do bankers. We, meaning: ordinary Mary and Joe Q. Customers, have our rights. Of course, with rights come responsibilities.

First and foremost, you have an almost unalienable right to open and maintain a personal bank account. You don't have to be gainfully employed at the time of opening the account, in fact, you don't even have to deposit a single cent on the opening day, you could be going through bankruptcy proceedings, and still, no bank has the right to deny you the right to open an account.