Christmas is now over and people are hitting the stores here in Canada for Boxing day/week sales (similar to after thanksgiving in the US). Supposedly there are many deals waiting for all that $$ you got from your grandparents for Christmas.

Did you know that Interac says it set a record with 31.2 million transactions processed December 22 and 23 - eclipsing last year’s record total by one million transactions (Canadian stats).

Would be interesting to know how many credit card transactions were made this holiday season. I guess we’re now programmed into going above our means just to get gifts for just about everyone we know at this time of the year. We must ask ourselves if it’s worth it. I mean… would we be less loved, less appreciated or less popular if we didn’t  rack up that credit card bill with purchases?

Now it begins… those of us who did spend on the Master Card or Visa now have to worry about paying it off before all the interest accumulates.

Have a great day.

Chris

I guess we must be having fun (time flies when you’re having fun) since it’s already been 3 years since we purchased our first home and we’re now getting ready to renew our mortgage. It seems that entrepreneurs (people who don’t have a real job ) will continue to get the shaft from banks. Without a weekly pay stub to show the banks, when we originally got the mortage we not only had to have a much bigger down-payment than what’s normally expected, we also had to settle for a mortgage with a high interest rate. We’re finding the same thing again, even though Caron does have the “Pay Stub”!

The Good..

Though we do have credit card balances, we make it priority to always pay on time so our credit card report shows no late payments or anything negative.

The Bad…

Student loans follow you to your grave Get it paid as soon as you can since it will never go away and will affect your credit score.

Advice…

If you have huge credit card debts, you may want to consider getting your mortgage broker to include those debts into your new mortgage… like a consolidation loan. Though it will mean a longer term on your mortgage, if you consider the interest charged by your credit card company compared to the interest on the mortgage, you’ll find one will be a lot less. Wanna guess which one has the lower interest rate?

The key to a great mortgage or getting help with credit card debts is to get professional help. We’re lucky to have someone who’s willing to listen to our needs and goals to help us get debt free (except for the mortgage) by Jan 1 2007.

Time to find the money to pay off the taxes we owe to the federal gov’t yea.. entrepreneurs continues to get the shaft!

Have a great Thanksgiving with your family and loved ones.