Effectively Use CREDIT CARDS In Canada

Credit card protection, that's one thing you should know about. It's a real. Well, I think it's a benefit for people that use credit cards because it's, you know, unlike something else. If they get access to your bank account and it gets compromised, it's a little more trickier to get your money back out of that deal. How much Canadians have as far as debt goes on their credit cards, I was kind of surprised to learn it's like 9,000 plus dollars that an average Canadian has on debt on their credit card.

Is there a way to use my credit card that's effective and going to make me look like a pro when it comes to my credit card? Today I just wanted to talk a little bit about credit cards. Just some things that you should know and maybe that'll help you become a credit card pro. There's about three things I really want to cover today, but before I do that, I just want to tell you one thing. You know, I'm here just to give you information. I'm not going to bash banks because, you know, if you. One of the things I appreciate banks boat banks is they know how to make money and they do it very well. And they happen to use a multitude of products. You ever notice that you don't see a lot of advertisements for debit cards from our banks? Not as a rule, like they don't spend a lot of time and a lot of marketing on debit cards, but they spend a lot of time marketing credit cards. Why do you think that is? Well, we're going to dive into that for just a short little video on how you can become a pro using your credit card. All right, so with that, let's start with. First thing. I think it great. This is one of the features I really like on credit cards. It's called purchase protection. And I think might be kind of real and near to me because I've used that where my credit card got compromised. And man, it was pretty slick just to give them a call as soon as I recognized that something gone a little haywire. And they have some great systems to help you, you know, keep track of where your credit cards getting used and how it's getting used. So I got a flag and man, it was just minutes. And I had that dealt with working with the company, the bank, it was great. So credit card protection, that's one thing you should know about. It's a real. Well, I think it's a benefit for people that use credit cards because it's, you know, unlike something else. If they get access to your bank account and it gets compromised. It's a little more trickier to get your money back out of that deal. With credit cards, hey, it's pretty simple. Now, sure, there's a cost, right? Everything that you get always comes at a cost. So with the credit cards, there's a fee or there's interest rates, depending on what kind of credit card you have. But if you're traveling, hey, it's a great tool to have in case comes up unexpected. And you know, you, you need access to capital money. And hey, doesn't matter if you're in a different country and their money is different than the money you have. It's gonna. All the conversion happens without a lot of work on your part. So it's really convenient. And the thing I'd remind you about is if you're going to do that is just let, let your bank know that you're going to be traveling. And that just simplifies the use of it when you get somewhere. Why would the bank, you know, because they're in a business to make money, why would it, you know, they provide things like purchase protection. Well, they're really marketing a asset that they have, which is these credit cards, because they're after that stream of payments, they're after that interest. And you know, I think in a lot of times they're kind of banking on the fact that, you know, you're going to carry over some purchase for longer than one month. And as soon as that happens, you know, they get to charge you interest. And you and I both know that most of the time here in Canada, those interest rates are in that 19 to 20% range on those credit cards. So that's a pretty lucrative, you know, kind of thing from a bank perspective. You know, if you had a product that you were getting back, you know, 19 or 20% interest, that's a pretty good positive cash flow for you. So they offer things like purchase protection because, hey, they want you to use that card. That's what it's all about. They want you to use the card. They're making good business decisions by providing that kind of service for you. And know, always be aware that if you don't pay that off each month in time, you're going to have an interest cost applied and it's a big interest. I think when I did a little research, it's on how much Canadians have as far as debt goes on their credit cards. I was kind of surprised to learn it's like 9,000 plus dollars that an average Canadian has on debt on their credit card. Now again, if you're using it away and you have a plan that you're paying it off every month, that's a different story. You know, that's just something, you know, if you're not and you don't have a plan, okay, that's one thing you need to know. If you're not paying off your credit card every month, you're probably not using it like a pro.

So be aware of that. Secondly, what does a pro do with their credit card? Well, they focus on rewards. Why would the banks offer rewards for, to you for using your credit cards? Well, there's a couple of things that I think you're aware of. A, most of those reward cards, the good ones all come with a fee, right? So you know, they have that, that's just, you know, a stream of income for them, that fee that comes around. And again, if you really pay attention to the rewards that you get and you recognize that sometimes it takes a lot of spending on that credit card to get, you know, much of a reward. So just be aware of the cost versus the reward. And a pro would know, how much do I have to use this credit card to really get the value from those rewards that they're offering to make it worth my while? So there's the second thing for the credit card pro. It's like, know how many, how much spending to get what you want out of that card. So for example, I use credit cards all the time and my focus is travel. So I have a really good idea of how much travel, how many points I'm going to get for travel when I use that credit card. Plus, I have a plan. I pay that credit card off every year. So I get to use their money for a number of days depending on when I made that purchase. But right up until the payment is due for that month, I get to use their money for no cost. And I'm building.

Points. But remember, I also know that I'm paying a fee to get that card to build those points. So I always factor that in. I'm going to use this enough to justify the cost of those fees to get those points. So have a plan, understand, read what you got with that card, understand what it would mean. It's just a matter of utilizing what the good Lord give you, which is your mind and looking at it from all the angles and understanding is this really an advantage for me or not? So again with the credit card companies and these banks, God bless them, they play in our emotions. They show Us all those great pictures of somebody sitting on the beach somewhere warm and enjoying the rewards of their credit card. But be careful. You know, banks have huge marketing programs like they just spend huge amount of money to make us feel like we should be using that card and this is what we should be doing with it. So just make sure you're being very thoughtful and understand what you're doing. Again when it comes to reward side. All right, point number three that a credit card pro would know here in Canada and that is hey, there's flexibility. Yep, they give you flexibility. Now what do I mean by that flexibility? Well, now you can buy something and hey, you don't have to pay for it right away. So you know your money if you know, thank hopefully you have the money available to buy what you're buying. But if you don't, that's a different story. But I'm just talking about where hey, if you had that amount of money in your bank account and it's earning you interest or it's reducing a debt you have, well then there's an advantage to you long again you get down to the point where hey, when I have to pay that, I pay it. So there's flexibility. You get to use it but you really don't use your have to use your money right away. And the other point for some people out there, they use it from a flexibility perspective that hey, I don't have to have the money available, I can do it on credit. So if you're a credit card pro, you will know what that costs you if you're using that flexibility. It comes at a cost. And that's the thing that I think is the overarching, you know, kind of goal. If you want to be a credit card pro, this is what you need to do. You need to understand the cost of using that credit card. Now I hope you found this useful and for you know your situation and I hope it makes you better when it comes to using credit cards because there's nothing wrong with credit cards. If you have a plan, if you know how to control your spending related to the, you know, flexibility that you've been given, just be aware of that. And one thing that you know I'm going to encourage you to do is just keep on learning more thing about more things financial. And I'm going to encourage you on this channel to go and click on the link below which is watchibc.com It's a 90 minute video and it's on the infinite banking concept here in Canada and it will help you understand how we help Canadians coast to coast on improving their financial well being. And part of that is learning, learning about all things financially. We've got some great videos on this channel if you want to know about RRSPs or RESPs or you know, crypto. There's some great videos. I'm just going to encourage you to go and watch them and you just improve your knowledge related to all things financially until you get a chance to talk in. I wish you well take care of.