I thought it was going to be illegal to send me “Credit Card Cheques” (unsolicited) in the mail, yet every month I get at least 1 more set of “Credit Card Cheques” from one of my credit cards, what gives?
To be honest, I cannot find anything that states that is the case, so I guess I am going to continue to receive these “financial land mines” in the mail (maybe this is a good reason to go with E-statements, at least I can’t get these horrible little financial poison pills).
The regulations brought in 2010 are clear about other practices though:
Mandate an effective minimum 21-day, interest-free grace period on all new credit card purchases when a customer pays the outstanding balance in full.
Lower interest costs by mandating allocations of payment in favour of the consumer. For example, any payment made in excess of the required minimum must either be allocated to the balance with the highest interest rate first or distributed proportionally to each type of balance (cash advances, purchases, etc).
Provide information on the cardholder’s monthly statement on the time it would take to fully repay the balance, if only the minimum payment is made every month. For example, a balance of $1,000 on a credit card that charges 18 per cent could take more than 10 years to pay off.
Mandate advance disclosure of interest rate increases prior to their taking effect, even if this information had been included in the credit contract.
Government of Canada Helps Protect Canadian Credit Card Users
Along with older regulations:
Providing a summary box on credit contracts and application forms that sets out key features, such as interest rates and fees.
Requiring express consent for credit limit increases.
Limiting debt collection practices used by financial institutions.
CG-5 Consent for increases in credit limits
One regulation I would love to see added is the outlaw of sending unsolicited “Credit Card Cheques” for my accounts, I don’t want them, I don’t need them and I shred them when I get them! A nice box on a web page saying, “DON’T DO THAT!” would be nice too.
RBC sent out some “legaleeze” a while back……not only do you pay the 1.99% or whatever interest starting the day of the cheque, but now also a convience/service fee based on the amount(%) of the cheque. Glad we avoid these things like the plague.
Hence my view of them as “financial landmines”, they may not kill you but they will maim you terribly (financially) and they tend to hurt the unsuspecting….
My credit card is issue by my bank so that’s not an issue (in fact, that’s the point).
And I’d just use the ATM – assuming the ATM would le me enter $0 for the cheque amount.
Well, if you try it, I want to hear how it goes!
Actually, even if you opt for an e-statement they still send you the cheques separately.
I wonder what would happen if you wrote yourself $0 cheques? Would they realise it’s costing them money to process them and costing you nothing and stop sending you the cheques?
I’d like to try that, but then again, you’d have to try to cash it at your bank, and they might not be happy with that either.
The access cheques are annoying, no doubt. I have also been getting phone calls from our credit card company trying to sell us balance protection insurance (we don’t carry a balance) and identity theft protection (for the low price of $19.95/month!).
The funny thing is, the caller gets annoyed with me when I question who in their right mind would buy these products.
They should be thankful they don’t reply the way I do:
“Thank you for calling, please take me off your calling list, thank you, good bye”… and that is it…
What an absurd notion – but it obviously works on some people! “Financial land mines” indeed..
I so agree with you on this…..there is nothing worse to receive and most people don’t bother to read the consequences that come with these cheques. They’re as bad as cash advances or worse! Credit cards are good for some things but they’re definitely continuing to try and make them the downfall of us all!
Mary