Does a chequing account affect your credit score? May 31, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : banking, credit score , add a commentA recent reader made this comment:
ps said…
If you have already closed your TD chequing account, then well, end of story. If you haven’t, then don’t, if you possibly can. The reason is that since you have had the TD account for so long, it is reflected in your credit score. If you close down your older financial association, you might hurt your credit score or so I’ve heard. You can find a lot more info on bankrate.com
Is this true? I thought the only way a chequing account would impact my credit negatively is if I had a bunch of overdraft on the account, or if I had bounced a cheque … at least that’s what I’ve been reading after Googling the heck out of it before I came to post on my blog. But after reading the comment, now I’m scared that I’ve closed an account that I’ve had open for over 20 years. Because anyone can open a chequing account, right? My mom opened it for me when I was just a baby.
It’s not like I can do anything about it now since the account is definitely closed, but for future reference, I should probably know for certain what the answer is.
New blog header is up May 31, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : blog , 1 comment so farWell I’ve put the new header up. Yes, that’s my real wallet. Also, I had to borrow the money from the BF for the photo shoot, which is pretty funny. He actually kept saying “give me back my five bucks!” as I was taking the photos. It’s been really hard to keep this blog from him, since we live together, our computers are side-by-side, and I stole his $5 and started taking pictures of it for seemingly no good reason. Oh, and I’ve basically told him about the blog, but refused to give him the website address. But really, if he just did a simple search in Google for this blog, it’ll come up. I’ve already tried. And who knows, he may already be reading it without my knowledge. Not that I have anything to hide, I just like the idea of this blog being mine and anonymous to anybody that I know in my real life.
Anyway, the graphic is kinda cheesy, but I also kinda like it because it’s unique, and I made it. But, if you guys completely hate it, then I can change it back to the railroad picture I had up there for the past couple of days. My feelings won’t be hurt.
The layout is basically finished. I have working links for the tabs on the header, and everything seems to be in place. If you see any errors or something that doesn’t look quite right, please let me know. :)
Thanks TD, but I don’t need your free iPod! May 30, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : banking, blog , 1 comment so farUgg, this is getting so frustrating. At home, the new layout looked great in Firefox, but now that I’m at work and viewing it through IE, it looks like crap on a stick. Most of the text looks smushed, and isn’t going the full width of the sidebar … but some things (like my progress bars) do utilize the full width. I’m not sure what’s wrong, and I don’t want to fiddle around with the layout because it looks perfect in Firefox. At least, from what I can remember, it looked perfect. And I haven’t even tested it in Safari yet. Sigh. At least I got the whole “Published on” date stuff corrected … even though I had to get rid of the Time Stamp, and just go with a Date Stamp. But no one really cares what time of the day I posted at anyway.
*** EDIT 11:15am — The sidebar text isn’t smushed anymore! Hoorah!!! Now it looks normal in IE … but I did have to tweak two things in the code to get it to work. Does it look okay in Firefox still? I guess I’ll have to check it out when I get home this afternoon, unless any of you are using FF to view this site.
In PF news, my first PPP post got approved, so all I have to do now is wait for PayPal to confirm the new chequing account I added to my profile. I originally had my chequing and savings accounts with TD Canada Trust, along with both my registered and non-registered mutual fund accounts, a Line of Credit, and a Visa card. But last year, I discovered the wonders of no-fee/unlimited transaction banking from PC Financial (plus high interest rates on their savings accounts!), so I opened up a chequing/savings account with them, and had my pay cheques deposited at PC Financial instead.
I’ve kept my TD Canada Trust chequing account opened (and have been paying $3.95 in monthly fees) so I could finish paying off my LOC and my student loans … but now that I’m done, why should I pay $3.95 a month for 20 transactions, when I can get unlimited transactions for free?! So I went into TD last week to close my chequing/savings account, and they tried to get me to come back to TD by offering me a free iPod (depending on what you did, you could get a shuffle, nano or video).
I didn’t really get any more information passed that. I was sure I would have come out on top if I had decided to re-open my accounts with them, pay the $3.95 monthly fee and whatever else I had to do, get the free iPod and sell it, and then close the accounts again as soon as the required time passed … but that just seemed like way too much effort. And I’m glad I didn’t take the offer, because Canadian Capitalist just wrote a post about what the stipulations are to get the iPod video, and you have to sign up for a Visa with a $99 annual fee! The nano offer is a bit better, but it requires transferring money, opening up $5,000 worth of GICs, and setting up pre-authorized debit payments. It doesn’t seem worth it for the low interest rates they offer. Besides, I already own an iPod video.
So thanks, but no thanks, TD.
Crap! May 30, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : blog , add a commentWhile switching over to a new template, I forgot to save all my widgets, so I have to start my entire sidebar over again from scratch. I’m such an idiot.
Also, my new template has some glitches to it. For example, if I make two posts in one day, only the last post will say the date it was published on. That really irritates me. Hopefully I can fiddle around with the CSS and fix it … or maybe someone who’s really into CSS can check out my code and help me out?
The header graphic is hopefully only temporary until I can finish the real one … which will hopefully play into the name of my blog a little more.
Hopefully I’ll have everything sorted out by tonight, or by the latest, tomorrow.
Excuse the clutter May 29, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : blog , add a commentI’m trying to switch to a new layout … something a little less generic. So please, excuse the mess if everything looks out of place and ugly.
All quiet on the spending front May 29, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : motivation , add a commentNothing much to report on the financial scene. Without really trying, I haven’t spent any money since Friday, and it looks like clear sailing until this coming Friday as well. It’s interesting how, once I make it a goal not to spend money for 7 days (my failed NO SPENDING CHALLENGE attempt), I end up screwing it up on Day 3 … but when I’m not concentrating on spending money, I can go so much longer without spending a dime.
Spending time together for free May 27, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : entertainment, relationship , add a commentYesterday the BF and I went for a 3 hour hike with his dad through Goldstream Park, and all the way up to the active train trestle 300 ft. above the river. On our hike back down, we also saw two abandoned gold mines. It was a great way to get in some exercise, since the BF hates going to the gym. He thinks it’s too boring, and would rather exercise outside doing something fun. Afterwards, we were invited back to his parents’ house for dinner, and who are we to say no to a free meal! :)
Below are a few pictures I took:
When we were up on the train trestle, I was pretty much scared for my life. The BF kept telling me not to look down, so obviously I spent the entire time looking down through the wooden beams to the river 300 ft. below. We were so high up I started to get dizzy from concentrating so hard. I have a huge fear of heights (and the train was scheduled to come by any minute!), but the BF is really adventurous and just ran off the bridge.
Today the BF is off canoeing with some friends down by the inner harbour area while I’m stuck in the office on this gorgeous day. I need a M-F job. While I really like having Fridays off, I really despise having to work Sundays every week. :(
Money back in the EF May 27, 2007
Posted by gmbmfb in : emergency fund, health care , add a commentThe refund for the $200 I spent on my prescription sunglasses got deposited into the BF’s bank account today, so next week on my day off I’m going to deposit it into my EF, to bring the balance up to $1,200! The refund came much quicker than anticipated, so I’m happy about that.
It’s too bad I managed to scratch up the frame and lenses the day after I bought them when they fell off the seat of my scooter and onto the cement. :( At least it’s not too noticeable.
