6 ms·

Wow! That's one way to get out of the Canadian market. Wonder what the number one cost was the get out of the market the normal way, legal fees?

Marsymars 7y ago
Well they already "got out" of the market by selling off or closing their CC portfolio and outsourcing their CSR responsibilities to a Canadian provider. Their only users remaining were those who've been carrying a balance for the past couple years.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  I think it's been about a 16 months since they exited. I overpaid my last bill by a cent in hopes they would waste their time and money to cut me a cheque, but they did not. Their Amazon card was pretty decent: no foreign exchange fee and no annual fee. It was my "daily driver" for non-CAD$ transactions like domain names, hosting, Paypal, Aliexpress. Such a pain for me when they got rid of it.
  - xodast 7y ago
    Have you found a suitable replacement??
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      HomeTrust Visa: https://www.hometrust.ca/credit-cards/preferred-visa-card/ https://www.hometrust.ca/credit-cards/preferred-visa-card/ Similar to Chase Amazon: no forex charge. No annual fee. Pro: Includes roadside assistance and rental collision insurance, 1% cashback Pros/Cons: Doesn't support tap/RFID payment. Cons: Application can take forever (not sure about current state). Cons: Higher foreign ATM withdrawal fee than Amazon (1.5% vs 1%, with similar minimum fee
      - fouc 7y ago
        Thanks, any idea if there's also one with no ATM fees?
        Scoundreller 7y ago
        Don't believe so. If there are, they're in the $100+/year annual fee club.
        Marsymars 7y ago
        Stack MasterCard or Koho Visa, you just have to be aware of their withdrawal limits.
        bpye 7y ago
        Stack is great until it's not. Don't let it be your only card. I was in Taiwan and couldn't load the card as they were having trouble with their Interac processor. Luckily I have a UK Monzo card that kind of saved the day for ATM transfers. My Canadian bank charge a stupid amount on ATM withdrawals.
    - Marsymars 7y ago
      I use Home Trust like the other poster, but Rogers is also an alternative if you can deal with their weird forex structure and the general unpleasantness of dealing with Rogers. (2.5% forex fee and then 4% cashback on forex transactions, so you still get hosed on forex if you ever get refunds on the card) Home Trust has a few annoyances too, most notably a 10-transaction per day limit that you can run into when travelling. Otherwise Scotiabank Gold Amex recently dropped their forex fee and might work for you depending on spending habits.
      - Scoundreller 7y ago
        My primary beef with the Rogers card is that it’s Rogers.
    - FigBug 7y ago
      I use Rogers World Elite Mastercard 4% cash back in a foreign currency 2% cash back on Rogers' services 1.75% cash back otherwise Rental car insurance Airport lounge access No fee
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    I had a weird situation where Amazon.com refunded me some import charges some months after the amazon.ca visa was closed, and the money seemed to just disappear into the ether. Amazon.com ended up just issuing me an Amazon.com credit for the amount after I complained.
hermitdev 7y ago
Assuming people are only making minimum payments, they could have had to maintain operations for 20 years or so, even if they otherwise closed the accounts and only accepted credits (to them) and no debits on the accounts. I dont know what infrastructure amd employment levels they would have had to maintain to service the accounts. I'm sure they probably ran the numbers, compared what they'd receive to cost of operations and probably realized itd either be a wash or a money losing proposition and decided to take the cheaper/expedient way out. Personally, I'd love this deal. My CC is closed, but still paying down a very large sum. Got married, assumed my wife's debts and struggling to get our heads above water. Should be clear in another 4 years sigh, maybe sooner if I can get a few good bonuses in the next few years.
- yurishimo 7y ago
  You got this! My wife and I have been married just over 5 years now and still have $50k~ of debt left, most of it is her student loans. Don't be afraid to shop around for jobs too. I'm about to transition to a new company making 50% more after putting 5 years in at my current job. Luckily, I liked the job so I had time to really search for another one that would be a good fit culturally as well and that paid more. Now we're going to be debt free hopefully by Christmas 2020 and making $110k/yr and 26 y/o at that time. Not to mention bonuses and raises for both of us in the next 18 months. My wife has only been out of school and working for 2 years as an engineer, so she has plenty of room left to move up and I can keep working for software companies with great work/life balance and people that I like. Win win! Rooting for you :)
  - hermitdev 7y ago
    I'm not worried. We have the savings to cover the debt, problem is I have a hard time touching it, since I work in Back office finance IT. I have access to the entirety of the firms positions and trades. Id like to cash out, because earning 3-4% interest, while paying out 20% interest on around 50k in debt makes far less sense than paying no interesting and paying into a matching 401k... To be honest, this has probably been my single biggest stressor since getting married, and my wife's apparent mental block that finances are tight (when they shouldn't be) and she keeps buying non essential items. A lot of this is self inflicted, then complicated with medical issues on shitty insurance. I mean, the year before I got married, I was debt free, even after been unemployed for 6 months (and I didnt file for benefits, stupidly). We spent too much on our rings, but not on the wedding (we did a JOP wedding and a nice dinner afterward with just my wife, 2 step kids and myself). But, we had to move out of my 1 bed + den apartment into a 3 bed, 3.5 bath townhouse. More than doubled rent, but was necessary. I mean, I make good money, but on my salary, we're struggling, living paycheck to paycheck, in large part of debt I assumed from marriage and medical issues. Kicker is I have the savings to cover it, but cannot get to due to compliance issues.

Marsymars 7y ago

Well they already "got out" of the market by selling off or closing their CC portfolio and outsourcing their CSR responsibilities to a Canadian provider. Their only users remaining were those who've been carrying a balance for the past couple years.

Scoundreller 7y ago
I think it's been about a 16 months since they exited. I overpaid my last bill by a cent in hopes they would waste their time and money to cut me a cheque, but they did not. Their Amazon card was pretty decent: no foreign exchange fee and no annual fee. It was my "daily driver" for non-CAD$ transactions like domain names, hosting, Paypal, Aliexpress. Such a pain for me when they got rid of it.
- xodast 7y ago
  Have you found a suitable replacement??
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    HomeTrust Visa: https://www.hometrust.ca/credit-cards/preferred-visa-card/ https://www.hometrust.ca/credit-cards/preferred-visa-card/ Similar to Chase Amazon: no forex charge. No annual fee. Pro: Includes roadside assistance and rental collision insurance, 1% cashback Pros/Cons: Doesn't support tap/RFID payment. Cons: Application can take forever (not sure about current state). Cons: Higher foreign ATM withdrawal fee than Amazon (1.5% vs 1%, with similar minimum fee
    - fouc 7y ago
      Thanks, any idea if there's also one with no ATM fees?
      - Scoundreller 7y ago
        Don't believe so. If there are, they're in the $100+/year annual fee club.
      - Marsymars 7y ago
        Stack MasterCard or Koho Visa, you just have to be aware of their withdrawal limits.
        bpye 7y ago
        Stack is great until it's not. Don't let it be your only card. I was in Taiwan and couldn't load the card as they were having trouble with their Interac processor. Luckily I have a UK Monzo card that kind of saved the day for ATM transfers. My Canadian bank charge a stupid amount on ATM withdrawals.
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    I use Home Trust like the other poster, but Rogers is also an alternative if you can deal with their weird forex structure and the general unpleasantness of dealing with Rogers. (2.5% forex fee and then 4% cashback on forex transactions, so you still get hosed on forex if you ever get refunds on the card) Home Trust has a few annoyances too, most notably a 10-transaction per day limit that you can run into when travelling. Otherwise Scotiabank Gold Amex recently dropped their forex fee and might work for you depending on spending habits.
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      My primary beef with the Rogers card is that it’s Rogers.
  - FigBug 7y ago
    I use Rogers World Elite Mastercard 4% cash back in a foreign currency 2% cash back on Rogers' services 1.75% cash back otherwise Rental car insurance Airport lounge access No fee
- Marsymars 7y ago
  I had a weird situation where Amazon.com refunded me some import charges some months after the amazon.ca visa was closed, and the money seemed to just disappear into the ether. Amazon.com ended up just issuing me an Amazon.com credit for the amount after I complained.

hermitdev 7y ago

Assuming people are only making minimum payments, they could have had to maintain operations for 20 years or so, even if they otherwise closed the accounts and only accepted credits (to them) and no debits on the accounts. I dont know what infrastructure amd employment levels they would have had to maintain to service the accounts. I'm sure they probably ran the numbers, compared what they'd receive to cost of operations and probably realized itd either be a wash or a money losing proposition and decided to take the cheaper/expedient way out. Personally, I'd love this deal. My CC is closed, but still paying down a very large sum. Got married, assumed my wife's debts and struggling to get our heads above water. Should be clear in another 4 years sigh, maybe sooner if I can get a few good bonuses in the next few years.

yurishimo 7y ago
You got this! My wife and I have been married just over 5 years now and still have $50k~ of debt left, most of it is her student loans. Don't be afraid to shop around for jobs too. I'm about to transition to a new company making 50% more after putting 5 years in at my current job. Luckily, I liked the job so I had time to really search for another one that would be a good fit culturally as well and that paid more. Now we're going to be debt free hopefully by Christmas 2020 and making $110k/yr and 26 y/o at that time. Not to mention bonuses and raises for both of us in the next 18 months. My wife has only been out of school and working for 2 years as an engineer, so she has plenty of room left to move up and I can keep working for software companies with great work/life balance and people that I like. Win win! Rooting for you :)
- hermitdev 7y ago
  I'm not worried. We have the savings to cover the debt, problem is I have a hard time touching it, since I work in Back office finance IT. I have access to the entirety of the firms positions and trades. Id like to cash out, because earning 3-4% interest, while paying out 20% interest on around 50k in debt makes far less sense than paying no interesting and paying into a matching 401k... To be honest, this has probably been my single biggest stressor since getting married, and my wife's apparent mental block that finances are tight (when they shouldn't be) and she keeps buying non essential items. A lot of this is self inflicted, then complicated with medical issues on shitty insurance. I mean, the year before I got married, I was debt free, even after been unemployed for 6 months (and I didnt file for benefits, stupidly). We spent too much on our rings, but not on the wedding (we did a JOP wedding and a nice dinner afterward with just my wife, 2 step kids and myself). But, we had to move out of my 1 bed + den apartment into a 3 bed, 3.5 bath townhouse. More than doubled rent, but was necessary. I mean, I make good money, but on my salary, we're struggling, living paycheck to paycheck, in large part of debt I assumed from marriage and medical issues. Kicker is I have the savings to cover it, but cannot get to due to compliance issues.