MobileBanking posts

Think about it, when was the last time you wrote a cheque?

Now think back to the last time you went online to do your banking? Pretty recently, right?

Then it won't surprise you to hear that Canadians, some of the most wired people in the world, prefer to do their banking online. In fact, 76 per cent of Canadians use online banking with 65 per cent of Canadians preferring to pay bills online, leaving just a scant two per cent writing cheques.

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The Battle of Free Chequing Accounts

Frugal Trader over at Million Dollar Journey compares ING's new free chequing account with that of PC Financial, as ING ups the stakes by offering free email money transfers, too. WalletPop continues to hope other banks will join this battle.

Buying an Income Property

Not everybody has an intuitive understanding of what real estate properties are good investments, so if you're thinking of buying an income property, you may want to pop over to Landlord Rescue, where he warns that we may be in a real estate bubble. And you'll find useful links to Landlord Math – Cap Rate and Return on Investment and John T. Reed's views of various Real-estate-investment gurus.

No, I'm not talking about those plastic payment methods everyone is intimately familiar with. I'm focused on those ones dreamed up by inventors who set out to change the economic landscape, only to fade into relative obscurity.

Remember, Dexit? Don't worry, I won't blame you if you don't. It's a Toronto-based cash alternative designed to replace change for small purchases like coffee and snacks. It comes in the form of a small plastic tag that can be attached to a lanyard. After pre-loading it with money from their bank account (up to $100 per day) users can scan it against a docking station at participating merchants and the money is instantly spent with no cash exchanged. The only fee is $1.50 every time the user loads the card.

Dexit rolled out its tags at Ryerson University in 2004 with a host of participating retailers and plans for national expansion. (I bought one back then). However, this cash alternative never caught on in any widespread fashion. It can now only be used in seven locations in Toronto and at one retailer in Ottawa. Two cities is hardly a phenomenon and yet, Dexit may be an early precursor to a potentially global and more permanent cashless payment method.