Cash is no longer king in Canada. Canada is moving towards an increasingly cashless society. Global news recently wrote an article about how more Canadians favour their debit and credit cards over cash. What’s not to love about credit and debit cards? They offer many benefits: they’ve convenient, come with consumer protection and with reward points, to name a few. But that convenience can come at a cost.
We’re three week into 2016 – how are your financial goals shaping up for this year? Paying down debt is one of the top financial goals for Canadians. While setting the goal to pay down debt is a good first step, putting an action plan into place and sticking to it is a lot more difficult.
Can you believe it’s the New Year? It seems like 2015 went by in the blink of an eye. With the New Year upon us, we thought it would be the perfect time for New Year’s Resolutions. Next to hitting the gym more often and spending quality time with family and friends, getting out of debt is a popular resolution.
Setting a goal is only half the battle; reaching it is another story. You may feel motivated to get in shape on January 1st and sign up for a gym membership right away, but by the time February rolls around you’ve already thrown in the towel. It’s important to set achievable goals and make an action plan to accomplish them. Here are three credit card and debt goals to aim for in 2016.
Maclean’s Magazine recently wrote an eye-opening article about how much Canadians love their credit cards. Canadians like to take pride in the fact that we escaped the financial crisis in 2008 relatively unscathed compared to our neighbours to the south. While that may be true, the Canadian and U.S. economies appear to be heading in opposite directions.
With the low interest rate environment showing no signs of going away anytime soon, Canadians don’t seem to be in any hurry to repay their debt. The latest household debt figures reflect this. The Canadian household debt to income ratio reached a new high of 163.7 percent in the third quarter, according to StatsCan. That’s up from 162.7 percent in the second quarter, as household debt continues to rise faster than income. In layperson’s terms, that means for every dollar of disposable income, the average household has about $1.64 in debt.
Can you believe the holidays are here?! It seems like 2015 went by in the blink of an eye. While the holidays are a time of rest and relaxation, they shouldn’t be a time of overspending. It can be easy to get caught up in the holiday cheer and let your spending get out of control. Borrowing from our education centre post on managing credit responsibly, here are some tips to avoid an unpleasant surprise when your credit card statement arrives in January.
