Use Direct Deposit for Canadian Federal Government Payments

Direct Deposit or Cheque

Our family is a one car family. My husband works Monday - Friday 9-5, and I work shift work, typically evenings and weekends. With one vehicle, this can make running errands difficult!

Thankfully, going to the bank is one of those things that we don't have to do very often, thanks to a combination of direct deposit and e-transfers of money.

Most of my clients from my self-employment work now pay me either using cash or e-transfer. Many don't even own cheques. They are becoming obsolete. I still use them, but more rarely than I did in the past.

Government Cheques

Growing up, "baby bonus", now known as Child Tax Benefit, would be received by cheque monthly through the mail. As a teen, my mother would occasionally sign the cheque over to me to deposit. I'm pretty sure I had a debit card before she did, and I was able to deposit the cheques into my account after regular banking hours using the new-back-then "bank machines", that we all now are very well accustomed to using.

Most people get paid by their employer by direct deposit, The federal government is in the process of changing over payments to direct deposit as well. Tax refunds, Child Tax Benefit, Universal Child Care Credit, Employment Insurance, Canada Pension and more.  Make sure to sign up soon, to not miss any payments.

It currently costs the government 83 cents for every payment they make by cheque, and only 11 cents for every payment made by direct deposit. The government estimates that the switch to direct deposit by Canadians who have not done so yet will save taxpayers $17 million each year.

How do I sign up for direct deposit?

1) If you have someone do your taxes each year, they can set you up for direct deposit if you ask them to. Just provide them with a voided cheque.

2) Online If you are registered for Canada Revenue Agency's My Account, you can sign up for direct deposit now. If you aren't registered, look into it. It can be a useful tool!

3) By mail. Fill out the Direct Deposit Enrollment Form and mail it in.


4) By phone. To sign up for direct deposit, or change your banking information, call 1-800-959-8281

Financial Costs of Orthodontic Braces for Pre-Teen

Our daughter has very crowded teeth.  We've known she would need braces since her adult teeth started coming in at around age 4.  They didn't push out the baby teeth.  Instead, the grown teeth came in *Behind* the baby teeth.  She had two rows of teeth at the bottom as a result.  I think they call this "dragon teeth".  At the same time, her upper two baby teeth fell out, and it took a full year for the adult teeth there to grow in.  She liked pretending to be a vampire during this time period!

She is self conscious about her teeth.  She wants them "fixed".  She has a couple teeth that are still completely in behind the others.

My dentist offered to do them, but to be honest, I'm not comfortable with a dentist doing orthodontic work.  I'd rather go to someone who does them full time. An actual orthodontist.  It seems there are only two in our town, so I asked for advice from friends and about 80% recommended one and 20% recommended the other.

Although I have good medical benefits through my employer, it does not include orthodontic treatment at all.  Knowing braces would be in the thousands of dollars, I also knew that I wouldn't be able to afford them for the next couple of years.  My father has offered to pay for at least part of them though, so I booked a consult with the orthodontist that came highly recommended.

The consult was very reasonably priced, at $50.00, which included any needed x-rays.  We learned that not only are her teeth crowded, but that they don't align properly at all in the molars, and that she has an overbite.  Apparently we will start noticing the overbite more once the teeth start straightening.  She will need braces, and springs to go on the braces as well to correct all of this.

So...are you ready for the price?

$5800.00

(plus the $50.00 paid for the consult)

Payable as $300.00 for initial moldings, a $1500.00 downpayment, and then $200 per month for 20 months.

I'm thankful for proud grandfathers (my dad) who are willing to give generous gifts to their grandchildren to help pay for this!

Are orthodontic braces in the future for you or your teen?  How are the prices in your city?

Greyhound Facility Fee Adds $5.00 To RoundTrip Ticket

I've done a lot of travelling this week!  To Toronto twice, and Ottawa for a day as well.  For one of my Toronto trips, I took the Greyhound bus in.  It's a nice direct trip with only one quick stop in Scarborough along the way, which makes for a nice time to relax and nap.  They also have plugin outlets at every seat, along with free wifi, which means you don't have to worry about your devices losing charge during the trip, AND you have access to data to browse the web.

I typically take Greyhound into Toronto a couple times a year.  What has changed since my last trip is a new fee that I was not aware of.  On a round trip ticket that is $26 before taxes, an extra $5.00 "facility fee" was added.  That's a 19% increase before taxes for a facility fee.

When I looked up info on their website it says:

Note: A Facility Fee of $2.50 for one way and $5 for round trips will be charged in addition to the cost of the ticket or tickets purchased. Facility Fee are taxable fees. This facility fee will be used to provide ongoing maintenance, service and operation of the bus terminal building.

Really Greyhound?  Honestly, for short trips, this is a huge increase of fees/fares.  Why not just increase your fees by 3% of 4% over all your services (short trips, long trips, and courier services) and build this facility fee into your pricing?  

For my next trip, instead of automatically taking Greyhound, I will be investigating the cost of GO transit as well.  From here it means a combination of a bus and train trip, but the pricing may be better.

Giving Gift Cards To Kids ATTENDING Birthday Parties??

Last week, I was at our local Chapters, and saw a friend and their 3 children shopping in the kids book section.  I was there with my daughter to pick out a book as a present for a birthday party she was going to be attending.  One of the three children had a gift card.  I asked her politely who had given her the card...I had been thinking maybe it was a small gift from a relative.

"Oh, it's from a birthday party," she replied.

"From your birthday party?" I asked.

"No, from someone else's birthday party."

At this point I looked quizzically at the father, who said she had been given the card as part of the loot bag upon leaving a party recently.

This was not the first parent I'd heard this from recently.  I've been told that it's becoming the norm to give out $5 gift cards to each child who attends a birthday party either instead of a lootbag or as part of it.

LOOTBAGS

I'm not a fan of lootbags.  I'm especially not a fan of giving out a giftcard!  Holy moly!  Let's talk about teaching consumerism at a young age.  Do you know who the giftcard benefits the most?  The store where it's from!!  They get advertising.  They get kids, parents, and siblings into the store.  And of course, $5.00 doesn't go very far, so typically you will end up needing to spend more than the gift card in order to get something.

WHAT TO DO INSTEAD?

Although I don't agree with "lootbags", I do like the idea of having something from an activity.  Decorate or tie dye some t-shirts. Make and decorate a crown or wand.  Teach them how to play jacks and provide them a kit each.  My daughter just brought home a pot with some small cactus that she planted in it that they put together at a party.

Check out this article for some other ideas on non-loot bag ideas!

My 2013 Winnings So Far This Year

As promised from yesterday, I said I would put together a list of the items I have won so far this year.  My yearly totals the last 3 years have been approximately $3000, $2000, and $1000 in value of items won.

What Have I Won?

 

Two NFL footballs from @SamsungCanada on Twitter $50 value
$25 gift card to Chapters on Twitter from @ThomasCookca
Book "The Spark" on Twitter from @BookaliciousCA $15 value
Book "S.E.C.R.E.T." on Twitter from @BookaliciousCA $15 value
Bottle of Canada Dry from Canada Dry Surprizes Contest $2 value
Box of Minute Rice from Minute Rice Take a Minute Contest $8 value
Box of Post Cereal from Post Flip the Flap Contest $5 value
$300 Gift Card from Gelaskins from a Twitter chat
$200 Voucher for UPS Store from Twitter Chat from @UPS_Canada
Weekend stay at Ottawa Marriott from contest on their Facebook Page value $320

What's The Total So Far?? 

 

So, for the first half of 2013, my total winnings so far total $940.00!!

Looks like I'm on my way to beating last years total of $1000.  Have you ever won anything?  What was it?

Activia/DanActive Danone Class Action Lawsuit in Canada - Are You Eligible?

As you may have read, earlier this week I received a cheque as a result of the Mattel class action lawsuit.

On the same day, Monday September 24th, the Toronto Star had a large ad in it stating that there is a class action lawsuit against Danone regarding health claims in advertising for Activia Yogourt and DanActive probiotic drinks.  They had an article about it in the Toronto Star on Tuesday.  You can read it here. 

Numerous Canadians are eligible to be part of the settlement of the this lawsuit and will receive between $15 and $50.  However, in order to qualify, you must have purchased the products, and must submit a claim.

It all comes down to this:

• The advertising stated that the products could aid digestion and/or help colds. 

• A class action lawsuit for the same issue has already been won in the US for the same issues. 

• The settlement should be finalized in court on November 6, 2012. People will have up to three months after that date to claim, and the cheques are supposed to be sent out to claimants within 60 days after that. You are looking at a payment date of up to 5 months after November 6, 2012. 

• If you have receipts of products purchased between April 1, 2009 and November 6, 2012, in the amount of $15-$50, you will receive your money back. 

• If you have receipts of purchase of products in the same timeframe of less than $15, you will receive $15. 

• If you don't have receipts, but will sign an affidavit that you purchased the products, you will receive $15.

If you qualify and are interested in being a part of the settlement of this claim, remember to send in your claim form.

Here is a link to the form that you need to send in, either by mail, or electronically.

http://www.collectiva.ca/en/dossiers/documents/Claimform.pdf
http://www.collectiva.ca/en/dossiers/documents/Claim_Form_Dynamic.pdf

I personally have never bought these products, nor do I intend to over the remaining claim period, but thought many of my readers would be interested in this info.

Mattel Canadian Class Actions Settlement Received

When my daughter was younger she loved Polly Pockets. She's almost 11 now, so she's outgrown this stage. Sad, but true! As a result of her loving them, and being great playtoys we had many in the house.  There was a recall on a number of the sets back in 2006/2007 due to tiny magnets coming out of the toys.

I put together all the pieces from each set that was recalled (not an easy task if you know how small they are!) and ended up returning them, postage paid, and received a credit voucher to be used towards other Mattel products in the value of $53.00. 

A year ago, I received both an email and regular mail about a class action lawsuit that was happening regarding this recall against Mattel/Fisher Price.  Since my name was in the database from returning the toys, I was already a part of the lawsuit. (Who knew?)

I wrote about this last August, in a blogpost on my personal blog.

I'd pretty much forgotten about all of this, but today, 6 years after the initial recall, and one year after hearing about the class action lawsuit, I received a cheque for $26.50, which is 1/2 the value of the original credit.

Canada Learning Bond - Are Your Children Eligible?

I wrote about The Canada Learning Bond once before, back in 2008.  It was pretty new back then, having started in 2006. In 2006, only 4.7% of those eligible applied for this FREE money for their children's RESP.  By 2008, it had increased slightly, to 16.3%, and by 2011 had increased to 24.4%. 

You can see the totals of the participation rates broken down by province here.

At less than 25% of those eligible participating in the program, the program is still highly unknown.

I think post secondary education is important, so as a tax preparer, this year I am going to try to emphasize this program to my clients who are eligible for it.

Directly from the HRSDC website, the Canada Learning Bond is:

Introduced in 2005, the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) targets low-income families and provides them with a financial incentive to save. Upon applying, the CLB is given to all children who have an RESP account and are eligible to receive the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS) in addition to the Canada Child Tax Benefit, commonly known as “family allowance.” The CLB does not require any contributions from parents and is deposited directly into the child’s RESP. Specifically, the Government of Canada provides an initial CLB of $500 to children born after December 31, 2003 plus an additional $100 per year until age 15 and up to a maximum of $2,000.

So...if you receive the National Child Benefit Supplement, your children are eligible for this! Head to your local bank and ask to open an RESP for your children and have them apply for the Canada Learning Bond for you.  The first year you do so, each child will receive $500, and each year after that you still qualify they will receive another $100.

Tell me:  Have you done this already? Are you planning to?  How can you go wrong!?