My Mistake

Oops! So, in this post I will tell you about my mistake. We have a President's Choice MasterCard. For years(7 to be exact)we weren't allowed to have a credit card, because of my past financial screw ups(long story).Despite stories to the contrary, we had no trouble living without one!When we did get one again, I was very cautious. We had lived on cash for so long, I wondered if it was a good idea. We paid it off every month, but I just wasn't sure if we were overspending, like research shows we do.(At least 12% more when using a credit card, compared to cash). So, I cancelled it.

Just before we moved here I knew we would have lots of big unusually expenses. PCMC gives you points for ever dollar you spend, which translates to free groceries. We were able to charge really large house fixing projects(our roof)by putting through half(paying it off)and then putting the other half on. For us this meant we got $507.57 in free groceries last year.Now, some financial experts are violently against credit cards, because they say, "If you play with snakes you are going to get bitten." I understand what is being said, there can be lots of pitfalls with the credit cards. I, however, want to tell you a happy story. My oops was, I noticed there was an huge(to me)interest charge on my MC on this statement. I checked my bank and saw I paid it early, like I always do to avoid delays in bank payments. So, I called them and asked why the interest charge. Turns out I was a little dyslexic and mixed two numbers up. I paid about $60.00 less than the total. It wasn't very obvious, as even the lady I was talking to couldn't see it at first. I told her I deliberately pay it off every month to avoid interest charges, she said she could see I had never been late. I asked her what I could do, she said she couldn't help me. I asked again,she said she could submit a interest reversal to her supervisor, but she herself could not change it. She said I'd know in a few days if they honored it. This morning I got a call saying it had been reversed, as a one time goodwill gesture!(I learned to ask from you Aunt Lil!Thank you!)The lesson,triple check my numbers!

Wise Credit Card Use

1.Pay it off every month

2.Track your spending to see if you are spending more than your budget

3.Get a no fee card

Redflags compares the no fee cards in Canada at this link http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/articles/credit2/