Helping Canadians Get Out of Debt
If you have family members in trouble financially, you may want to help them, but giving them cash may not feel right. If you’re worried your family members will just squander away the money you give them, here are 5 non-cash ways to help family members with financial troubles.
Continue reading “Non-Cash Financial Help Options – Helping your Family without Giving them Cash”
You’ve likely felt the effects of inflation already. Your grocery and gas bill probably felt it first. Suddenly it costs a lot more to feed the family or fill your gas tank, but these are things we need so we have to adjust elsewhere, right?
One area many people struggle is managing debt during inflation. If your wages don’t keep pace with inflation (most don’t), then keeping up with your debts may feel impossible.
Here are a few ways to help you manage debt with inflation rising.
Continue reading “How to Manage Debt with Inflation on the Rise”
Managing your personal finances can feel overwhelming at times. There are many terms, definitions, and responsibilities to understand that it’s easy to feel lost.
We’ve covered the top financial terms everyone should know and understand to help you stay on top of your personal finances below.
Continue reading “Financial Terms Everyone Should Know”
If you’re sitting on a lot of debt right now, first know that you aren’t alone. The pandemic wreaked havoc on most people’s finances. Now that we’re seeing life get back to somewhat normal, you may wonder what you should do with your debt or if it will just hound you the rest of your life.
The good news is there are ways to conquer it. Here’s what you can do.
Continue reading “You can Conquer your Debt”This week’s first snowfall is a good reminder that most of us have to start planning for the holiday season! Our November temperatures had been positively balmy up to this point, but now there’s no denying it, only a few paycheques remain until the holidays are upon us.
Half of Canadians surveyed are willing to postpone retirement for their children according to a study by BMO Wealth Management. Even more worrying is that 24 per cent said they’d be willing to go into debt to help their children succeed. Ironically, one of the top reasons parents cited for their financial concern about their children is that they will incur debt that they can’t manage.
According to Statistics Canada, today’s youth are more educated, staying at home longer and putting off their entry into a treacherous labour market where unemployment rates for young adults are twice the national average. This is daunting information but not insurmountable. Parents and their children can find a way through the morass by learning about how to manage their money better.
Continue reading “Canadians are Postponing Retirement to Help Their Adult Children”
All of us at Creditaid were very happy to welcome Dan and Leslie Michaels from local radio station Jewel 100.5 FM to our office this past Wednesday. We always love to have visitors, and even more so when they come bearing coffee and doughnuts!
Our staff was very happy to be this week’s winner of Jewel 100.5 FM’s “The Office Tour Contest“. With coffee, doughnuts, good conversation, and lots of laughter, we think Dan & Leslie might have wanted to stay all day! They described their experience in the following day’s broadcast, click below to listen:
Thanks to Jewel 100.5 FM for sending over such great company and tasty treats, it made our week! If you’re looking to brighten up your work week, enter their contest, because you never know when it will happen to you.
And if you’re looking for help to manage your debt, rebuild your credit, or just find some financial clarity in your life, call Creditaid today – we can help.
Creditaid is proud to support various community initiatives and has been an important supplier to Habitat for Humanity Manitoba in their support of low income working families for many years.
As credit counsellors, we have the skills and experience to aid this wonderful charity by providing budget strategies to new Habitat homeowners to help them prepare for home ownership and budget effectively for a lifetime of financial success.
The financial education they receive helps to instill a sense of accountability and pride in their new home ownership status.
We are happy to be part of the Habitat for Humanity family, and seeing videos like this one makes us even bigger fans!
If you are struggling to make all of your payments or are already unable to make your required monthly payments, Creditaid can help. Whether you need to rebuild your credit, undergo credit counselling, tackle your credit card debt, reassess your finances following a divorce or a move, or any other challenge that life brings – we’ve seen it all and we have a program that will suit your needs.
Reposted from the Winnipeg Free Press online edition February 16, 2016.
CALGARY – A new poll suggests nearly half of Canadians surveyed last month are within $200 per month of being unable to pay for their bills and make their debt payments.
The Ipsos Reid survey also found about one-quarter of the 1,582 people who responded to the poll were already unable to cover their bills and debt payments.
The online poll was done between Jan. 27 and Jan. 29 for MNP Debt, which provides licensed trustee services in six provinces, from Quebec to British Columbia.
MNP says the poll found that 31 per cent of respondents said any increase in interest rates could move them towards bankruptcy.
Ipsos Reid conducted the poll about a week after the Parliamentary Budget Office issued a report on Jan. 19 that said Canada has seen the largest increase in household debt relative to income of any G7 country since 2000.
The survey also followed Bank of Canada’s decision to keep a key lending rate at a historically low level of 0.5 per cent on Jan. 20, as the central bank lowered economic growth estimates for 2015 and 2016.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error as they are not a random sample and therefore are not necessarily representative of the whole population.
We all know that we need to be careful with credit – because it’s easy to borrow money, and wind up owing as much, or more than we can pay. We all know what it feels like when there’s “too much month left at the end of the money”.
And there’s this vague fear of a negative impact on our credit history that can affect us in the future. The more we know about credit reporting, the more we can work to improve the way potential lenders see us, and then we can leverage a good report to get favourable terms when we borrow money.
What is a Credit Score?
In Canada, a credit score is assigned by one of the two large credit reporting agencies – Equifax or TransUnion. The score is a number between 300 and 900 (900 being perfect) that represents 
the aggregate of all of the information that the bureau has on file about us. Most interactions that you have with lenders, either positive (payments made on time) or negative (late payments, collections, bankruptcy) will affect our score. Anyone who has ever accessed any form of credit has a file with the credit bureaus. Potential lenders use your credit score, with your permission, to determine whether or not you qualify for credit, and sometimes they use it to set the terms of borrowing (interest rates, etc.).
Who Can Access My Credit Report?
Any lender can provide information about your loan, payments, etc. to the credit bureaus. You give them permission to do so in the agreement you sign when you begin to access credit with them. Any potential lender with your permission (usually in the application) can access your report and score. You can (and should) access your own credit report with both bureaus. Make sure that all of the information that they have on file is accurate.
By knowing your own credit score, you can demonstrate to potential lenders that you are a responsible borrower. You may be able to negotiate more favourable terms as a result.
If you’ve got questions about credit, or have found yourself in some trouble, contact Creditaid anytime online or by telephone at (204) 987-6890 or (877) 900-2659. We can help you take those important first steps toward a debt free life.