Toronto, October 14, 2026 – More small businesses will pay lower credit card processing fees when new Visa interchange rates take effect on October 24, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

Small businesses pay interchange fees every time a customer pays by credit card. These fees go to the bank that issued the customer's card and are levied as a percentage of each sale.

In an agreement with the federal government that took effect in 2024, Visa and Mastercard significantly lowered interchange fees for small businesses with sales under $300,000 for Visa and $175,000 for Mastercard.

Visa is expanding its small merchant interchange rate to firms with up to $750,000 in annual Visa sales and lowering rates for all qualifying businesses. Mastercard is not expanding its small merchant program, and its threshold remains at $175,000.

“This is a big win for many small businesses that will now qualify for Visa’s special, lower interchange rate. The additional businesses that now qualify for the small merchant program will save thousands each year,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB president.

“Sadly, there are new credit card processing fees on the horizon as well,” Kelly added. Visa has announced plans to join Mastercard in assessing a new 1.8 cent USD fee on all domestic transactions. Mastercard will expand this fee to all transactions starting this week and Visa intends to levy the exact same amount starting in April 2027. These fees are first charged to card processors but are routinely passed on to small merchants.

“After reducing credit card interchange fee revenue that goes to the bank, it is disappointing to see Visa and Mastercard increase their own slice of the payment fees that may end up being paid by small businesses,” noted Corinne Pohlmann, CFIB’s executive vice-president of advocacy.

CFIB continues to put pressure on the government and payments industry to expand the program of lower small business rates to additional credit card providers, regularly review size thresholds, and ensure that the cost savings are fully passed on to merchants.

“For two decades, CFIB has been pushing for fairer credit card fees for small businesses. We’re glad to see Visa include more small merchants, and we are calling on Mastercard and other card brands to do the same,” said Pohlmann.

https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/media/visa-lowers-interchange-fees-for-tens-of-thousands-of-small-businesses-but-new-credit-card-fees-are-on-the-horizon

I finished nursing school (RN) months ago and I’m in a really bad spot now. I have $300 to my name, credit score is trash, lots of debt over 50k and all my credit is maxed out. I don’t have any stable employment either so that 300 needs to last me until my birthday in late November. I applied all over gta/Ontario and I do really mean everywhere to hospitals, long term care, corrections etc with hundreds of applications.

I keep selling my stuff to keep a float but it can’t last forever. I’m literally on the verge of either selling possession or my body every month atp and even minimum wage jobs outside of nursing or entry level stuff won’t take me. My current situation has me considering driving to Vancouver with the last of my money, take a job with a signing bonus and live out my car until I get the bonus in a month or 2. 

I just don’t know if it’s a good idea with my financials as I have the $300 cash, my laptop which I can sell for maybe $600 and maybe I can borrow a couple hundred from people. My expenses are only my car insurance $320, debt payments $450 and phone bill $30. 

I probably won’t be able to get the relocation reimbursement cause I won’t actually be relocating but I can get a signing bonus for about 10k which I’d get in roughly a month on my first pay. Only issue is I’d have to live out my car until then and im worried about being in a new place living in my car. But really I just need to know if there is any holes in my plan or something I’m missing that would get in the way of this? I know the finances are very tight but is this a good idea or am I not thinking it through?

Hi everyone,

I have seen a few posts recently about whether it makes more sense to pay down mortgage or invest. The consensus is usually to invest in something like EQT.

I know everyones situation and risk tolerance is different, but I am thinking for us it make more sense to pay down mortgage but just wanted to get another opinion.

My wife and I currently have about $100k each in our TFSA. We are invested in Wealthsimple's Income Portfolio paying 2.5%. We are saving this money to upgrade our home in a couple years without a significant increase to our mortgage. We will continue to add to this fund as much as we can but the TFSA are almost maxed out.

Our current mortgage is with RBC, about $475k at 3.72% fixed. Renewal will be in 2028. Our mortgage agent advised we can make lump sum payments up to 10% of our mortgage each year. We want to put about $50k down this year and another $50k down next year.

We figure since this money is being saved for a new home anyway and only earning us 2.5% in our TFSA, we might as well put it into our mortgage. The only downside will be if we don't end up upgrading, then this money won't be available to invest but we are 80% sure we will upgrade in a few years as long as the market isn't too crazy.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

I just spent over 2 hours chatting and calling Amazon customer service over an issue that should not be this difficult to resolve.

The problem started when I changed my Amazon Prime payment method from my Mastercard to my Amex. Since then, I've been getting charged for Prime, and now Amazon is telling me they have absolutely no record of these charges on their end.

I sent them screenshots of my credit card statements clearly showing the transactions. The charges are there. I've been paying for this membership every fucking month since December 2024, and somehow their system can't find them.

Their proposed solution? Contact my bank and both credit card issuers and dispute every single transaction going back to December 2024.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Why the hell should I have to spend hours contacting multiple financial institutions to dispute almost two years' worth of transactions when I'm literally providing Amazon with statements showing that I've been charged for their own membership?

The customer service experience made everything even worse. Throughout the entire process, I had to explain the situation over and over again as I was passed from one representative to another. Some of the representatives had such thick accents that I genuinely struggled to understand them over the phone. I'm not blaming anyone for their accent, but when you're already frustrated and have to keep repeating the same explanation, communication difficulties just make the experience even more exhausting.

Eventually, I received this email from Amazon:

"After reviewing your account, we are unable to locate this charge on our end. Since the transaction is not visible in our system, we are unable to process an adjustment or refund from our side.

We kindly ask that you contact your bank or card issuer directly to dispute the charge."

I've since looked online and found other people describing similar issues going back years. How is this still a problem? How can a company the size of Amazon charge customers repeatedly, have those charges appear on their credit card statements, and then claim they have no record of them?

Has anyone else experienced this, particularly after switching payment methods? Did you manage to get Amazon to resolve it, or did you actually have to dispute every transaction with your banks?

I'm honestly baffled that this is considered an acceptable resolution.

I'm a new driver with about two years of driving history. I work full-time and can afford my current car, but I'm paying around $459/month for the loan and $500/month for insurance with collision and comprehensive.

My car is worth roughly $25,000, which is close to what I still owe. I originally bought it for about $31,000 in February 2025. I'm thinking of selling it and buying an older small car for around $10,000 cash. I got an insurance quote of about $250/month without collision or comprehensive, so I'd free up around $700/month before extra repairs.

I live alone and don't need anything fancy. I'd rather put more money into my long-term index ETF investments. Maybe in a few years I'd buy a newer car with cash.

My friends think repairs on an old car could eat up the savings. I'd get it inspected before buying and keep some money aside for repairs.

Does making this switch make financial sense in my situation, or would keeping my current car for reliability be a better choice? Are there any costs or risks I'm overlooking?

Edit:

• 2024 Hyundai Kona AWD
• Current mileage: 52,000 km
• Interest rate 6.89%, originally financed over 84 months. 60 more months left.

I'm going to have a meeting with a bank advisor to talk about investment options for savings. I know nothing about investments yet but will have this first meeting to hear what they suggest. What should I ask him, ie, what would be good for me to know to see whether he's trying to help me vs help the bank profit off of me? Any basic questions one should always ask?

Back in 2020 I lost my job due to COVID, I was on the verge of losing my apartment, I was desperate, so I took a $4000 loan with EasyFinancial.

After two years of making payments I inquired of what my principal was and was told it was just over $4000, I said that made no sense since that's what I initially borrowed, that's when the agent told me I've been paying for some insurance I never signed up for? Needless to say I was livid.

I requested all payments to be stopped until I figured out what was going on, and of course, the payments kept coming out of my account, so I went to my bank and requested a stop payment.

This went on for a whole year with them refusing to give me a transparent answer and me refusing all payments.

Eventually I started making payments as long as some of it went to my principal which they agreed on.

Fast forward another year and I, once again, inquired about what my principal is, and the agent says I still owe $4073 😂😂, I just about lost it, I immediately requested to speak with a manager and asked how much I have paid to date, she downright REFUSES to provide me with a number, she just sends me a dozen pages of documents and pretty much tells me to figure it out, I pushed back and said YOU ARE THE MANAGER OF A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION and it's part of her job to provide me with the information, she replies "that process would take too much time" 😭😭.

After receiving that reply I said I will be filing a complaint with head office and all of the sudden I get an email with the number I've been requesting, and to my horror it was just shy of $9000 and they still wanted $4000 to close the account.

Needless to say I called head office, explained the situation, said I wanted to close my account and needed a solution today, the only way was for me to pay the 4k, so I made 4 separate payments of 1k each and today my account is officially closed,

Six years later, 12k gone, the nightmare is finally over,

Never again.

Let’s say you have a sum of money representing a 20% down payment on a condo in Toronto you would like to buy, but for circumstantial reasons you aren’t looking to buy for several years.

Traditional wisdom says to invest in very safe fixed income products for money that is required in the short term.

However the risk in this circumstance is that there could be a significant run-up in condo prices in the next few years before you buy, such that your down payment would represent less (let’s say 15%) by the time you’re looking to enter the market.

However, if there was an investment you could put your down payment into that would approximately track the Toronto market, that would act as a hedge against the previous scenario, such that your down payment should continue to represent 20% of the condo you’d like to buy.

The downside to this is obviously that if there’s a significant decrease in the market, your down payment would be subject to the same volatility. However this seems like not a bad trade-off, since a poor return on your investment would mean you’re getting to purchase a home at a discount. In either scenario you’re ensuring that your down payment is remaining at that 20% level, whether the market itself increases or decreases.

Are there any REITs or ETFs that would help you accomplish this? Do you think this makes sense as a hedge in the way I’ve described?

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask so please let me know if there’s a better place to post.

My parents are looking at buying a car from a dealership in Ontario. They went to a dealership today who told them they have to commit to buying a car from them before the dealership checks their credit, and then are obligated to buy a car from them and can’t go to another dealership if they decide to not buy it after their credit check. They said they only check credit after a commitment to buy.

The salesperson says there’s an OMVIC rule about this. I can’t find anything online but I don’t know much about buying vehicles and rights and haven’t bought one myself in a while.

Anyone know if this is true?

Is a monthly after-tax income of $5,000 realistic for supporting a family in Southern Ontario? With housing costs of around $2,000 for a mortgage or rent, combined personal bills of roughly $1,000 for the primary earner, and an additional $500 for a partner's insurance, phone, and subscriptions, the remaining budget must cover groceries, utilities, childcare, transportation, and savings. When considering the long-term financial picture, does having roughly $200,000 in savings for the earner and $100,000 for the partner change the feasibility of this budget?

The biggest fear here is the wife not being able to find work. She has a college degree and works in construction management but wants to find something remote. She currently works in the GTA, but i live in southern Ontario and this is where she would move. I just think the job market is terrible right now and this is risky. Supporting her on $5000, lets say I get bumped up to $6000, but by that time we will have to support a kid.

Hello!

Hope you’re all okay. What is the best option after TFSA is maxed out, and why!

Let’s say I have income 80-90k after tax every year in BC.

It’s my first year in Canada, and I started investing recently, first I want to max out my TFSA, then I’m thinking which option is the best after, and I would like understand why.

Non registered takes 50% on capital gains is that right? To be fair that’s quite a lot to be fair, if I understand it right.

I've done the common stuff I've heard such as investing my money and letting it compound, and i'm looking to get a credit card in the near future.

Currently, I'm about to hit my TFSA limit and I am putting my money in a TFSA with Wealthsimple, as well as a TFSA with Equitable Life. After my limit hits, I'm wondering where to go from there, I was looking at a FHSA, but I was thinking maybe I should just go for something like a Roth IRA.

My Equitable Life TFSA was set up by my parents through a WFG advisor, and I've heard a lot about WFG and their predatory business model. I'm in the dark about a lot of the terms of the policy but I'm pretty sure I have a life insurance or something like that.

I'm just wondering if there is anything else that I should do as an 18yr old looking to start off on the right foot with his personal finance, as well as if this whole WFG is a good or bad thing for both personal and familial finances.

TLDR: What can I do as an 18yr old starting out? Is WFG a good or bad thing? What do I invest in after hitting my TFSA limit?

I am a graduate student looking for disability insurance ($1500, FIO, regular or own-occupation, partial and residual benefit, COLA). RBC provides their Professional DI for ~$60 per month with the student discount. It is great but it is regular-occupation, and I heard Canada Life provides own-occupation more readily and might have a bigger discount.
Problem is that.. they have been enormously difficult to reach. I just got told they will contact me in 7-10 business days!!
Are they likely going to be worth the wait, or do I just go with RBC?

Thanks!

I already made a reddit post about how I got my tax benefit check and mobile deposited it and it said that it was good so I threw the check away but the next day it said that the deposit was cancelled.

I just wanted to know if I wait till the 20 october like they told me to but this time I set up the direct deposit option could I receive the check directly on my bank account or do they HAVE to send it back by mail? Thanks you

I heard someone got 25$/Month for a 70-80 GB US CAN MEX deal ( 35$/Month Plan but 10$ discount after auto deposit ) On Telus. Is this true? How to get it then?

What are the best mobile plans on the Big 3 lines?

Hi all, hoping someone has an answer or fix for this. I recently signed up for Flexiti Card to get Samsung AUP device, which divides balance in two buckets, one equal payment plan which I am supposed to pay for a year and second deferred payment plan, which is only to be paid if the device isn't returned.

When my first statement was generated, I wanted to pay a bit excess to have my monthly payments down.

My monthly was $1,448 equated to $124/monthly. Deffered is $1,199.

I reached out to their customer service, have conversation on email. They confirmed, if I paid extra the excess amount would go to outstnading balance and equated monthly, accoridngly.

To my horror, I see that the excess amount of $378 has been allocated to deferred amount, which I am anyhow not to pay until next year, as I would be returning the device.

My monthly remains same now, and they say they can do nothing about fixing it, money is allocated to deferred account.

This is pathetic stuff by their team. Anyone able to have this fixed/reversed?

Thanks!

I just wanted to know if I updated the direct deposit feature and waited till the 20 october (10 days) and called an agent could I receive the check directly into my bank account or will they have to send it back to me by mail? Kinda wish that I don't have to wait 10 days for it

Hello,

I’m looking for a business CC that I can use towards flights first and foremost. The expenses on my CC can average $3000-$5000 a month that includes insurance, online shopping but not groceries or dining out.

Which card would be the best one for me? Right now I have the TD business travel which doesn’t seem worth it and I’ve read that Amex cobalt is better if you spend on groceries/dining.

I bank with TD if that makes a difference.

I know from following this subreddit that people are quite split on how to handle finances when you live with a partner/spouse: some people want to pool everything in a joint account, and some people like to keep things separate and pay bills based on a pre-determined split. That can swing based on the couple having kids together.

How have people here handled moving in with a partner where one of you comes with a kid (or kids) from a previous marriage and the other has no children? Assuming this couple are not planning on having children together in the future. If married, I can see the argument still for "we're a team, we share and split everything", but on the other hand, it's not the child-free partner's responsibility to pay the expenses of children that aren't theirs, as well as possible child support/spousal support to the children's other biological parent. A shared home would also need more bedrooms than would be required if there were no children involved.

Where do you guys land on how to handle finances in this case? I lean towards there should be a joint account for shared expenses (which could include some of the costs of the kids), but that fully co-mingling finances forces the child-free partner to cover the costs for the kids on the same level as a bio parent, when they aren't one.

I’m currently house hunting, and my experience with real estate agents has been terrible. I found a property I liked on my own, but my agent tried to talk me out of it in favor of a higher-priced listing (probably his realtor friend listing). I decided to stick with the home I originally found, but then the agent discouraged me from offering below asking price, claiming it might 'offend the seller.' In reality, it feels like they’re just pushing for a fast sale at a higher price to maximize their own commission rather than looking out for my best interests.

What is the best way to house hunt myself and collect the 2.5% buyer agent commission as cash back or a credit? Some seller realtors don't talk to me unless i have a buyer realtor. Do i have to go to a cash back realtor?

Have TFSA maxed and just opened an RRSP. Is it like the TFSA where I have a max lifetime accrued limit from unused years?

For eg. On my 'Prior Years RRSP deduction limits' history on my cra account

From the years 2025-2020 I had a ~10k limit.

Does that mean I can deposit 50k this year and deduct it on my 2026 income?

Hey there, so I just got the normal greenish whiteish cash back visa with no yearly fees part of its rewards from what i understand are 1% cashback on groceries, gas and re occurring bills in the rewards summary it will show accelerator beside it to show you got 1% then there’s 0.5% for everything else.

However I noticed my total cash back rewards has been climbing slower. I checked my rewards and ever since September 16th at metro (a grocery store) hasn’t been 1% with accelerator it’s just normal 0.5% and I shop there quite a bit. Where stuff such as re reoccurring internet bill and Microsoft game pass including 1 time purchases I am getting the accelerated 1%.

So what im trying to figure out is if something is wrong or if theres a certain threshold once hit you no longer get 1%. I always pay my card off full eve Rh month and never missed a payment or paid late. So all that should be in good standing.

Took out a car loan with National Bank this year. Now working on paying it down.

Accessed the loan account.
When I click “accelerated payment” it said “you must have a chequing account to do this”, so I create a $4/month chequing account.

Click “accelerated payment” again. Gives the option to pay in full or “add to existing payment”.
Then it only gives me the option to use the chequing account I just opened.

Called & they said “paying via bill payment isn’t an option”.
Which seems weird as the automated payment comes from the original account I’m trying to use.

Instead they’re telling me I have to move the money from my account to the National Bank account, to pay the loan.

This seems super inconvenient & borderline predatory.

TLDR; Loan holder making it inconvenient to pay down loan. Is there any other options or just move the money 4 times every time I want to add a lump sum?

Does HELOC charge insurance on monthly interest payments?