info@zippitydodog.com

Tips for job seekers

• Present to employers what they are looking for today.
• Understand the job and industry you are targeting.
• Show enthusiasm for the job.
• Network broadly.
• Be open to jobs outside your field of interest.
• Be persistent but realistic.

“Tips to help the job hunt” May 5, 2004
Barbara Moses, The Globe and Mail

Check out the Making Moola section on this site.

The weight of student debt

• A recent Stats Canada survey found that undergraduate students who graduated in 2000 owed an average of $20,000, 30% more than the class of 1995 and almost 80% more than students in 1990.
• Don’t panic, sit down and create a budget.

“There are ways to dig yourself from under student debt” June 12, 2004
Erin Pooley, The Globe and Mail

• Students typically have up to 10 years to repay their government loans, and five years to pay a bank line of credit. Special concessions are available in some special cases. Some professional schools may offer bursaries, interest relief, promissory notes or other assistance for those in difficult financial positions. All of these options should be explored where necessary.
• The trick for grads is to live like a student as long as they can after graduation in order to put themselves on a sound financial footing. “You live like a student for so long, the first inclination when you get out is to start living,” says Murray Baker, the author of The Debt Free Graduate, How To Survive College Or University Without Going Broke. “But if you graduate with a lot of student debt, you may have to delay that a little bit longer.”
  Some tips on paying debt;
• Always make the minimum loan payments or you could endanger your future access to credit. This could prevent you from making major purchases, acquiring a cellular phone or setting up a business.
• Approach your financial institution about the best ways to keep your borrowing costs down.
• Use any extra cash to pay off the loan or credit with the highest interest rate.
• Do not consolidate the government loan with other debt, you will lose the non-refundable tax credit on interest.

“A financial primer for new graduates with loans” April 20, 2004
James Daw, Toronto Star

Payday Loans Spell DANGER

• Payday loans are loans issued against a pay cheque. They are short-term loans that can typically range from $100 to $200 dollars. To get one, the person borrowing writes a postdated cheque for the amount desired…plus a fee, a large fee. The cheque casher or payday lender holds the cheque until you are paid. The typical loan period is no longer than two weeks
• On payday, you take the cash to the lender and exchange it for the postdated cheque, or you allow the lender to cash the cheque. Or, if you don’t show up with the cash the lender cashes the cheque.
• When you borrow from payday lenders the fees are enormous, $100 will cost you $20 in charges/interest. That is an annual percentage rate of 521%, most banks and credit unions are charging 9% when lending money to clients.
• If you cannot pay back the loan at the end of the repayment period that’s when the expen$ive problems begin and any good credit history you have developed becomes history.
• Payday loans are predatory by design because repeat fees from borrowers are the lifeblood of this business.

“Five loans that spell danger” April 18, 2004
Leah Gliniewic, Bankrate.com

Be Aware of Fraud and Identity Theft

• A new credit card scam has prompted a warning from Vancouver Police who are warning people not to part with personal information over the phone after a recent scam came to light. The fraud involved an individual phoning a credit card holder and claiming to be from the security and fraud department at Visa.
• The caller pretended to have spotted an illegal $500 charge being billed against the victim’s credit card and offered to re-imburse the amount.
• The fraudster said a fraud investigation file had to be opened and gave the victim a fake control number before asking the victim for numbers from the credit card.
• The victim’s card was charged almost $500 by the fraudster.

“New credit card scam prompts warning”
Vancouver Sun, condensed by CUCBC newslist

• Seventy-five percent of Canadians say they are concerned about identity theft, but only 20 percent consider themselves ‘very well informed’ about how to protect themselves against one of the fastest growing crimes in North America. --This includes new tactics being used by criminals, such as “phishing”, where fraudsters create websites that mirror those of well-known companies to lure customers into providing personal information.

“Canadians Overwhelmingly Concerned about Id Theft, …”, June 30, 2004
CCNMatthews

• "Skimming," an insidious credit card scam that surfaced in the eastern US at the start of the new millennium, is now increasingly reported in British Columbia. The technology in this case is a "skimmer," a Palm Pilot-size hand-held device that can read and store all the encrypted data embedded within a card's magnetic stripe, as well as the name, number, expiry date and other face information. The data can then be copied onto counterfeit cards that are so good they zip past the security screens of the world's biggest credit card companies.
  The victim of skimming is unaware - because the cards have not been stolen. Rather, they've been used in a restaurant or a gas station where the crooks work so fast they can be charging on the card even as the victim returns it to his or her wallet.
  What can a cardholder do to prevent his or her card from skimming - or to mitigate the fallout if one is a victim? The experts recommend "vigilance".

“How to avoid credit card skimming…”
i-switch.com

• 
  RCMP issued a warning Thursday to people who use automated bank teller machines after the arrest of three men who are believed to be members of an organized crime group that is using sophisticated new technology.
• The trio of fraudsters allegedly used a debit card skimming operation that involved installing a real-looking card reader to capture magnetic strip data from the backs of cards.
• The card reader was overlaid on the exterior door of a bank. Also installed was a miniature pinhole camera directly above the number pad where customers punch in their confidential personal identification numbers. The remote camera transmitted images of the customer PIN pad entries to a video recorder hidden in a nearby garbage can, which had been brought into the bank by the suspects.
• Police believe the suspects parked outside the bank and wrote down times, then later used the PIN numbers to make counterfeit debit cards using data skimmed from the cards. The equipment was brazenly installed in broad daylight while customers were leaving and entering the bank to use the ATM, police said.

“High-tech scam rips off ATM users” Jul 9, 2004
Neil Hall, Vancouver Sun

Return to Spending Money - Main Page

Using Your Debit Card
Episode I - What is Credit
Episode II - The Cost of Credit