good to go

Last month, I shared my woes with my savings and bank. And now I am writing a continuation. 

There are some things that I have found bothersome about the state of my banking affairs, such as:

1. INTEREST RATE. I had given much thought about the interest in my savings account. The interest does not and will not hold any interest to any person who can do basic mathematics. Point zero five percent is the interest. If you have a thousand bucks in the bank you will only earn 2 cents a month. Two fucking cents! I can give them a looney. 

2. BANK FEES. So I have noticed the past few months I get charged something between $13 - $20 per month for withdrawal fees. I had been wondering about this. I know I have a limit of 10 transactions per month in my chequing account but I wasn’t sure how much I was charged for extra. And if that $13-$20 is the penalty I find it too steep of a price to pay. Besides, the bank even charges if my account falls below the MBA.

I was getting pretty pissed with my bank so I went online to surf other banks. There are some banks who offer online savings which has an interest rate of 2% per month. I was drawn to it. But a part of me held back. I mean, don’t all relationships go through some sort of disagreement? Maybe my bank does not give me my wants and needs and sometimes he’s a bit selfish. But I realize communication is the key. I don’t have to jump ship and start looking for other fish in the sea. Maybe the other banks seem so hunky with their interest rates but the fact that TD is second among the “big five” banks in Canada should count for something right? So after much consideration, I decided to give it another try. No sense breaking up, yet. 

So I made an appointment with my bank and they gave me Gay Good as my financial advisor. Suddenly I felt warm and special already. Financial advisor... wow! I have my own financial advisor. I was making a list of what I wanted to know and what I wanted to achieve prior to our meeting. In that list I wrote that I want to cancel my savings account and open a Tax Free Savings Account and get to the bottom of the transaction fees of my Chequing Account.

After lunch Miss Good and I met and started tackling my accounts. I must say, without trying to sound arrogant, I think I made a good first impression bringing my Mac. She said it made transacting for her much easier. Anyway, our discussions involved...

1. BANK FEES. She explained that I as getting charged $0.65 per transaction over the 10 I was alloted per month. It so happened that when I transfer to my US Dollar account, or transfer to my savings account it’s still considered a transaction together with all the swiping I do and online payments. Ouch! We both agreed to change my Chequing Account to an Infinity Chequing Account... now I get an infinite amount of transaction per month for a flat fee of $12.50 per month. $12.50 is still pricey for me (I would rather pay $0.00, hahahaaa!) but it’s better this way than getting worried each month how much the bank will charge me. 

2. QUALIFYING FOR TFSA. What got me started with liking TFSA was all the commercials on TV. Hahahaaa! Seriously though, with a 1.75% interest per month it’s quite irresistable. But I wasn’t sure I qualified to get TFSA as it is for Canadian residents. If you go to CRA though, they have immigrants, residents, deemed residents, and non-residents. Go figure! Actually, I had Ms. Good figure if I qualified and she was nice enough to call the head office of TD and inquire and viola! I qualify. My SIN and tenure of stay made me eligible. The tricky part though is ensuring the TFSA account will only have $5,000 all the time because it wont really be tax-free after as the government will charge 1% tax when it exceeds $5,000. So the evil green me was wondering if I can open two or three TFSAs so that I have a place to put another set of $5,000 when one gets full. The answer is no. As the TFSA will be registered with CRA only one tax free savings account can be availed per person unless you're some hack who steals peoples' identities. Ohhhh...kay. So finally she closed my savings account and moved my money to my brand new TFSA account.

3. MAXIMIZING MY INTERESTS. So while she finished my paperwork, I had been thinking about this TFSA account. What will I do when I’ve reached the limit? I was pretty sure by the third quarter that $5,000 limit we placed will be filled and I was wondering what will I do with my the rest of the money I want to save. I don’t want my savings to be only $5,000. I also didn’t want to open another Savings Account and earn a measly .05% (sorry if I keep on writing .05%, I just can’t help but scoff at that interest rate). At the same time, I was learning to love my bank already and don’t want to open another account from a different bank. The moment Ms. Good looked at my direction and asked how I was doing I shared to her my thoughts. It was then that she looked at me closely which made me afraid she thought I’m majorly greedy. But she smiled and said that that was really smart of me to think ahead. She explained that I can invest the money in my TFSA account and earn interest from both the TFSA and the investment I made. WOW!!! I felt my face glow. She said under my TFSA I can open a Savings, or get GICs, or go for stocks. Whoaaa.. stocks. I don’t think that I’m ready for that yet. I’m still in minor league and not yet ready for the big guns. I’ll try stocks on August I told her. So she explained what GICs are.

4. THIS IS GOING TO BE A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP. So GICs are actually time deposits. I started surfing it while she printed stuff and with so much options it was quite difficult to choose. Bottom line is I got myself a GIC that semi-annually pays the interest of 2.20%. So nice. And next month, I can get another one. With another 2.20% interest. My grin is as big as the Cheshire cat. 

5. GIVE ME A LITTLE CREDIT. So Miss Good asked if I applied for credit. I said yes, I tried to get one so that I can just buy my parents and Kitty Kat’s plane ticket online when they visit me on July. But I got disapproved so I figured, I’ll just give it to them in cash. She said that she can give me a credit and use my GIC as a collateral. Sounds nice. But I was still getting the heebie jeebies because credit means debt, and debt is like a comfortable bed you can’t get out from. I explained my anxiety to her and she said that it is important to establish credit in Canada. *sigh* To encourage me she said to think of something I buy every month and I can use my credit there and pay it immediately. I thought of the $20.00 I always put in my Timmies card every two weeks and I realized, yeah, sure, I can do this. I can get a credit card and not be burdened with the interest rate. Plus I get the credit card with the lowest interest rate. Hahahaaa!

I must say, speaking to my bank really unburdened me. I was close to giving up. I was close to moving on. But it’s interesting how somethings in life are worth second chances. As Gay Good handed me all the documents that are my copy and we stood up to shake hands, I felt... happy... Happy I have some people to depend on in one crucial aspect of my life.