Thanks guys, I (we) can only hope these common sense,& proven ways will help some brothers & sisters hold on to their cash!
As all of us realize, in life, it's way easier to spend $ than to save it.

It all depends. Closing a card isn't always a good thing.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Closing Credit Cards | My Money | US News

Maybe banks in Canada look at it differently vs the banks in US.

I had four or five cards at one time and when I went to purchase a real estate property, my bank said that all these cards I have limit the amount of loan I can get because they are considered a liability even if the balance on them is zero. They told me to close the cards I do not need to increase the loan amount. Which is kind of the opposite of what the link says.

That very well could be the difference. Here, it can ding you. It's a screwy system.

Another thing to watch out for. When something goes on sale. Like tires or what ever. Buy 3 and get the 4th one free. It ain't so. The month before, you could get all 4 tires for the same price as the 3 tires this month. They jack up the price of the tires to cover the cost of the free 4th tire. In the end, you pay the same price this month for 4 tires as last month for 4 tires. I worked for Goodyear a lonnnng time ago. I seen it done by other companies too. It's just not only tires.

That's why large purchases should never be an impulsive buy, but researched thoroughly, so that one knows when a deal is truly a deal.

Similar thing here when I went to buy a second place. I figure my good standing on my credit cards was a good thing. Closing, and consolidating (at low interest) turned out to be the way to go.

It's likely a weird Canada thing; not sure how it goes with our American friends to the south.

They give credit to anybody in the states. Thus the recent economical crisis. And none in Canada.

Sadly, that's pretty close to the truth. :rofl2:

It is kind of an interesting observation.

A bunch of my former coo-workers (me included), are trying to create an oil company and are looking for investors to put money in. Canadian lenders expect a return on all the companies they invest in, so they scrutinize everything much more thoroughly and will not give you money if they perceive any small risk, where as American investors fully expect that 75% of their investments will fail. they are looking for that 25% that wil make them big bucks. Much easier to find investment money in the States.

:ohsnap1::ohsnap1:

That reminded me of when I worked in the grocery store : the price would go up 50 cents / 2 weeks later the new stock would be printed WOW 50 cents OFF!:icon18:

My wife laughed at me because I ate a big giant scoop of that peanut butter before we took it back for a refund!

closing credit cards in the states is bad for you. They rate you based on the percentage of balance owed to credit limits, so if you owe 1000 on a 2000 limit card and 0 on another 2000 limit card, they look at it as only a 25% utilization, which will yield a higher credit score than a 50% utilization.

Actually, after visiting Japan 2 years ago, I bought this first thing when I got home. I pamper myself now!

Probably shouldn't be in the money saving thread though, as it wasn't cheap!

http://www.getflushd.com/images/uploads/IMG_54642.JPG

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