Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Why I don’t Go Into TD Bank Branches Much

On Saturday I went into my local TD branch to deposit a cheque, which my wife had endorsed (it was a larger cheque, so I figured it would be easier if she endorsed it and then I could deposit it, without problems (although the account it was going into was a joint account, so what I was worried about, I have no idea)).

I was informed by a flabbergasted Teller (young lady)  that I could not in fact make a deposit at that time because all the banks computers were down, due to storms in the Toronto area. I looked at her a little puzzled and explained that I really didn’t feel safe wandering around with a cheque endorsed by my wife for the next two days, until their computers were fixed.

She said she could take a note, and deposit the cheque once her computer came back up (it was 2:45 PM, the bank closes at 3:00 PM, it was a Saturday, I did not hold out a lot of hope that much would change in 15 minutes), so I agreed.

The Teller then did the following:

• She wrote down my access TD card ID number, in a writing style, where I could barely read what she had written.
• She filled out my instructions on a bank form.
• Signed the form
• Photocopied the form with a copy of the cheque and stamped it dated for Monday for me.

What does this mean? I have no idea, I know that so far nothing seems to have happened in terms of the cheque, as my on line banking does not reflect any changes.

The humorous part then was, when I asked if the Interac network was down, and she informed me that no it was still up and I could also withdraw cash from my TD account if I wanted to then as well. I left the bank feeling very nervous about what might be happening to that cheque. I walked over to the Loblaws and deposited the other two cheques in my PC Financial account.

When I was growing up in Montreal I had my bicycle stolen straight out of my family’s garage, and I remember my Dad giving me some money to go get a new one. It was traumatic for me, since I had never had anything of my own stolen, and suddenly my bicycle (my only means of transport) was taken, it was quite upsetting.

From that day onward I closed any garage I was associated with and became a Nazi about locking doors and such, because I was worried about people taking my stuff.  I got insurance and worried about my stuff getting taken, so I was very careful with my stuff. I write this because there was a posting on a local board that I read about a bicycle being stolen from someone’s garage, and it brought back to me, and made me wonder what some people are thinking in my neighbourhood.

I go off to work and it seems like my neighbours leave their garages open all day long, how trusting can you get? I realize no one is going to run off with my snow blower (although anything is possible), but the bicycles in my garage aren’t cheap, and worse still, the door into my garage from my house is rarely locked, so thus it is an open door to my house.

Do I have enough home insurance? I really am not sure, I think I can replace my house, and I can replace many items in it, but I hope not to have to find out. I have been meaning to do a home inventory of the major items, so at least I would have a guess what might need replacing, but it is something that you procrastinate about because you don’t think it will happen to you.

Am I being paranoid? I invite my readers to comment on this, but I am always worried that someone might be wanting to take my stuff, and I take action to stop that.

RIP George Carlin

Way off topic, but still I must mention the passing of George Carlin. He was an influence on me growing up, I must have worn out my copy of “Class Clown” and his mistrust of “the system” in general still pervades my belief system. I did manage to see him live in the late 90’s in Vegas and I am saddened that he is no longer with us.

Happy St. Jean Baptiste Day

A mes amis Quebecois,  I wish you a joyeux Fete National and hope there are many choruses sung of Gens du Pays sung. Vive Le Quebec!

How are your teeth? Mine are not in great shape and I have had a history of bad teeth, and it hasn’t got much better as I got older. Currently I have 4 Crowns in my mouth and at least 3 teeth that I would guess will soon become crowns.

Crowns are a wonderful thing that for some reason is viewed as a Prosthetic for most insurance plans, and thus are rarely covered more than 50% by most Dental plans (and in some cases not at all). What does this mean, financially?

Each crown with installation has been approximately $1000 each (that does not seem completely out of whack with what I have heard from other folks, so I don’t blame my dentist for this charge). This means I have been out of pocket almost $2000 so far for the crowns that I have had put in, and that is a LARGE chunk of change, as I had not planned on these expenses, but I will be in the future.

Do I have other options? Yes, I could have the teeth extracted, but then I must get either dentures or a real prosthetic, both of which are not covered much under most dental plans.

Other interesting dentistry related expenses might be Orthodontic work, for you (adults are getting braces more and more) or for your kids. This is usually only covered 50% by most dental plans. A lot of times if both parents are working they can get almost all of this work done, but for us lucky single income families we only get about 1/2 of the expense covered (unless it is for a medical condition like a cleft pallet, in which case it is mostly covered under Medicare (and rightfully so)).

That ability to cover both 1/2’s of a coverage shortfall that dual income families (that both have benefits plans) is yet another advantage that dual income families have over single income families.

My kids wonder why I keep bugging them to brush their teeth? For your financial future, that’s why!!!

For my regular readers (you know who you are), this past summer I spent a while hunting down roofing contrators in the Ottawa area, to get my roof replaced. This usually entailed me having someone see how lousy my roof looked from the street and knocking on my door (which gave me a very strange cross section of quotes, let me tell you). I then phoned a bunch of contractors and found out that thanks to the building boom in Ottawa, no one likes to do 1 roof much (except for the guys that wander around giving out quotes to people’s who’s roofs look like crap).

I came across a new web site for the folks in Toronto (yes the GTA, or as we call it in Ottawa, The Big Smoke), which will help you get quotes for your home renovation,Toronto Roofing Quotes which looks interesting. It helps you get quotes from up to 5 contractors in the GTA to get a home renovation job done. The site only gets you quotes, you choose which contractor you want to go with (and checking with the Better Business Bureau for your area, is always a good thing to do in this area (I have watched enough Holmes on Homes to know that one)). I can’t use the service, because, I doubt these contractors want to come up the 401 to replace my windows (this coming summer’s money pit), but if you live in Toronto (Big Smoke, or Toronto the Good) and need renovation, this would be a good site to start your renovation contractor search with.

Now I must put a caveat that I am getting paid to say this by PayPerPost, but I have checked out the web site, and it looks like a good idea, wish we had one in Ottawa.

–C8j