Have your say! Why do you use your Credit Card?

While credit cards offer amazing convenience we would like to know what other reasons our members choose to pay with their credit cards vs other methods. Have your say and be entered to win a $100 Best Buy gift certificate!

Start Survey


Important Note: in order to be eligible to be entered into the contest for the $100 Best Buy gift card, you must register with Thought Exchange so that you’ve participated and we have a means of contacting you!

We value and appreciate all of our member’s feedback, and any thoughts that are provided will be kept confidential.

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Winners of the 2018 EnterprizeChallenge!

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Congratulations to Locality and the rest of the winners of the 2018 #EnterprizeChallenge!

This year’s Enterprize Winners:
#1: Locality
#2: The Think Tank
#3: STEAKHOLDER

VantageOne is proud to once again be a part of such an amazing community event put on by Community Futures North Okanagan.

Best of luck to everyone who participated in the 2018 Enterprize Challenge with your business ventures, and congratulations once again to all of the winners!

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7 tips to protect yourself against online fraud and identity theft

March is Fraud Prevention Month! We’ve put together a list of tips that you can use to protect yourself and your friend and family. Take a quick read through it could help you to spot potential fraud before it happens.

1. Don’t take the bait
This is one of the number one ways that fraudsters and hackers can gain access to your information. Don’t open up links, pictures, or attachments from any unknown contacts or simply if you are suspicious. Red flags could include content that your contact wouldn’t likely share, pictures claiming to be you, or an attachment sent from a person you have little to no contact with. If you are suspicious about any of the above or something feels off about the content, do not reply to the email. Make sure to verify with the sender through another communication tool such as calling the company or sender over the phone to make sure that they did in fact send the item themselves and that it wasn’t maliciously forwarded from a disreputable source. Other forms of bait could be being “randomly” selected to be a winner of a prize of a contest you did not enter, or too-good-to-be-true offers online, long lost contacts, or online “virus” scanners. These are very general but aim to give you an example of what a potential scam may showcase in an attempt to convince you to click on their content.

2. Change up your passwords, and use strong passwords
Your username password is usually the only thing stopping a potential scammer from gaining access to information sites like your personal email, social media, or more. Avoid using easy to guess passwords, such as “Password”, your birthday, etc. The number one password according to a recent study, was 123456. Several of the top 10 were related number combinations. By using a password like this, it makes it very easy for a hacker to simply guess your password without even having to know you or take further action. When creating passwords, use strong password criteria such as passwords that contain multiple instances of numbers, upper and lower case letters, and special characters when available. To take this a step further, activate two-factor login authentication that can be as simple as answering a secret question set by you, or having a 4-6 digit pin number texted to a smartphone of yours that you’ll need to enter into the login to access your account. This is the preferred method as it gives you significantly higher security and a scammer wouldn’t be able to access your account without your password, secret question, and personal device.

3. Use sites that contain only HTTPS URLs
This is one point that is extremely important to take note of. If you are on any site that you are looking to make a purchase from, or enter personal information into, at the very least make sure that the secure icon is displayed, and that the very first letter preceding the “www” are https:// and should show up in your web browsers address bar like so:

 

Depending on your web browser, it may display differently so make sure to take note of the actual letters in the URL address.

4. Stay up to date on current scams going around
Staying up to date is by far one of the best ways to make sure you’re protected against fraud and identity theft. If you are aware of the scam going around you will be significantly less likely to fall victim to the scammer’s intent. Some of the common scams going around could potentially be dating services, computer services, charity organizations, and even people posing as government agents such as Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). There are several more common types, make sure to check the Little Black Book of Scams and stay up to date with some the common and current scams going around.

5. Keep personal information confidential
Unless you are very confident about the site you are using, be wary of entering information on sites that are looking for your personal information. Be especially wary of sites asking for any financial information, address and birthday, or middle names. Most sites do not need this information and have very little use to collect this, especially all in one place. A huge red flag is if a site (aside from a verified government website) will be if they are asking you to input your social security number or any other personal identification number, your Personal Health Number, Drivers License Number, or Birth Certificate ID Number. There are very few organizations on the internet that will actually need this information so be wary and do your due diligence before inputting any of this information into an online site.

6. Don’t respond to phone calls about your computer asking for remote connections
Unless you have otherwise contracted an IT company to fix your home computer, which is probably unlikely, anyone who phones to try to gain remote access to your personal computer is very likely up to no good. These scammers will tell you that they are updating your version of Windows, fixing an error they detected on your machine, offer to clean up and speed your machine up, and many other stories, but in the end they are looking to do none of these things. Often, these types scams will lock down your computer and demand that you pay them to unlock it for you, in which it won’t stop there. Once you give them your payment details they now have your personal information to do what they wish with. The best thing that you can do to anyone that you don’t know asking for remote connections to your computer is to hang up on them without saying a word.

7. Be wary of unusual payment requests
Lastly, be wary of any merchant or any website accepting payment forms that are out of the ordinary. Websites that only accepts payments in the form of bitcoin or other e-coin, pre-loaded debit cards, gift cards, or iTunes cards are most likely doing this so that they are unable to be tracked and generally there is a reason for this. Any reputable online retailer will likely be able to process credit cards on site instantly, or through a well-known payment processor such as PayPal or Square.

 

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Arrow Lakes Annual Fishing Derby March 24-25!

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Our Arrow Lakes Branch in partnership with Lower Arrow Lakes Conservation Association will once again be hosting their annual Fishing Derby!

The event takes place this Saturday and Sunday March 24th & 25th.

Weigh ins both days at 4pm at the Edgewood boat launch.

Registration is open now until March 23 at our Arrow Lakes Branch.

Cost to enter is $20 per person.

Prizes include:
1/3 prize pot for Largest Dolly
1/3 prize pot for Larges Trout
And many more prizes to be given away!

If you have questions please contact:
Terry Ewings: 250-269-7244
Amanda Warren: 250-269-7334

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Happy International Women’s Day

#PressForProgress – in Financial Literacy Education for Women

The facts:

  • According to a study by Statistics Canada, Canadian women have lower levels of financial literacy and less confidence in their ability to manage their finances than Canadian men.
  • Canadian woman currently earn 31 percent less than men.
  • 9 out of 10 women will eventually have to manage their finances by themselves.

So, the question is, how can we assist the women in our lives to move forward and #PressForProgress?

I have heard women around me say “I am not good with numbers, or my partner is better at looking after our money”.  Although this may be true, one person can certainly be better or more interested at budgeting, saving or investing, however you still need to have an understanding of your financial situation.

It’s important that women also understand where we are with our money. In today’s world women continue to strive for equality. To achieve financial independence, it is extremely important that each of us self – educate and share this information with the women around us.

Here are 10 questions to get you moving toward financial independence:

  1. Do I know my financial credit status?
  2. Have I established credit?
  3. Are there debts in my name?
  4. Are there bills in my name?
  5. Are there assets in my name?
  6. How much is spent each month on needs vs. wants? Do I understand where my money is going?
  7. Do I have the right type of account?
  8. What type of investment is best for me?
  9. Do I know where I have loans, mortgages and investments? Do I know which financial institution they are at?
  10. Do I have a record of account numbers and passwords for access if necessary?

Next steps start somewhere, we don’t need to know or understand everything at once. We can start by asking questions, education and empowering ourselves, this is our first step in making informed decisions.

#PressForProgress for Financial Literacy Education for Women!

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Attention: GLOBAL PAYMENT™ Mastercard® Cardholders

As you may be aware, CUETS Financial provides certain financial services in connection with the GLOBAL PAYMENT product. However, as of December 31, 2017 the relationship between VantageOne Credit Union and CUETS Financial came to an end. We have arranged to have the cards remain active until May 31, 2018 and on this date your GLOBAL PAYMENT Mastercard card account (your “GPC Account”) will be closed and you will no longer be able to make transactions on your card.

How Can I Prepare For The Upcoming GPC Account Closure?

  • Rewards Program Points
    If you earn CHOICE REWARDS® points on your GPC Account, please be aware that you will stop earning points on May 31, 2018. Be sure to log-in to Choicerewards.ca to redeem any accumulated rewards points on your GPC Account by Sept 27, 2018. On Sept 28, 2018 any unused points will expire and no longer be available for redemption.
  • Cancel Pre-Authorized Payments
    If you have regularly recurring bill payments set up on your GPC Account – such as payments for magazine subscriptions, gym memberships, internet or utility bills – please contact the merchant(s) directly before May 31, 2018 to arrange for an alternate payment method.

As a Credit Union Member, you are important to us. If you have any questions about the above change or how we can support you going forward, please call us at 1-888-339-8328. We also invite you to visit one of our branches to discuss other options that may be available to help meet your financial needs.

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Tips on how to stick to a set budget

  1. Pack a brown bag lunch

The single best way to save money is to pack and plan out your lunches on a weekly basis. Try keeping track and total up your spending for a week, you’ll soon realize that those lunches out are costing you huge. To illustrate, if you eat lunches out 5 days a week, you could be spending hundreds on these meals when you could easily plan and bring food from home. The same also applies to your morning coffee, a product that made at home literally costs pennies while those morning coffee trips could be costing you as much as $5-$10 a day which is upwards of $2,600 a year. Still think you can’t afford that trip abroad?

  1. Keep your receipts and review your actual expenses every month

Studies have proven that when we’re held accountable for our purchases we’re less likely to spend frivolously. Tracking your expenses doesn’t have to be overcomplicated as there are plenty of smartphone apps out there that can assist you for this. The main idea is to actually use them every time you make a purchase. Once you do this it can be eye opening to total up in a month just how much you may be spending on entertainment, food out, taxi rides, clothing, etc. This is important because you can’t change your spending habits if you don’t identify them in the first place. The first thing you’ll probably notice is that your actual spending is higher then what you’ve budgeted for. If this happens to you frequently, try to be realistic and adjust your budgeting goal by trying to meet in the middle. For example, if you budget $200 for entertainment but consistently spend double that, then try raising your budgeted amount to $300 and also try to reduce your spending a little in the next month. This should make your goal more attainable and therefore more likely that you’ll stick to your plan.

  1. Take out cash for grocery shopping and plan your meals

A lot of industry budgeting gurus will tell you that if you’re on a tight budget, take out cash for your weekly grocery shop. If you take your grocery budget amount out in cash once a week, you’ll physically see exactly how much you have to spend for the week and if you stick to cash, will prevent you from spending over budget. This strategy doesn’t just apply to those on a tight budget, if you’re looking to “stick” to your budget this can be a valuable tool for you as well no matter the budget size. Another great way to ensure you’re not wasting money in the supermarket by buying unneeded items is by planning your meals and creating a shopping list before you head to the store and avoiding buying items that aren’t on your list.

  1. Pay yourself first

When it comes to saving money, many people make the classic mistake of saving whatever is leftover at the end of the month, which can often be nothing. It’s critically important to pay yourself first. You can do this easily by setting up an automatic transfer into a savings account, and then budgeting with what’s left over. This ensures that you’re building and saving for goals as much as possible without forgoing it to the rest of your budgeted items.

  1. There’s a reason it’s called spending “habits”

Spending habits don’t develop overnight, which means they also won’t change that quickly either. If you truly are looking to change your spending habits and cut down expenses to save for that big purchase such as a house down payment, education, trip abroad, etc. it will take a bit of time and effort. 66 days on average to be exact according to a recent study conducted out of University College London. This means that if you’re looking to change or modify your spending habits, it’ll take at least two months before these new habits become automatic. The trick here is to acknowledge that these habits will take a period of at least two months to stick and really start to work for you, therefore make sure to make an honest effort in implementing some of these strategies it will pay off for you in the long term!

  1. If you come under budget, save it!

If you take anything away from this article try to remember this, if you happen to come in under budget for the month don’t spend it, save it! There is no written rule anywhere that dictates that you must spend your whole budget. Throw it in your savings account, or use it to pay off lump sum debt and you’ll be that much closer to your goal. The same goes for any additional windfalls in income that you receive such as an income tax return, bonus at work, etc. you’ll thank yourself in the future for it!

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Important MemberCard Notice: Our older version MemberCards are being discontinued.

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If your MemberCard does not have the flash icon (circled in red in the picture), or the card graphic does not look like the card pictured, you will be receiving a new card in the mail before May 31, 2018. This new card will have the same PIN as your current card.

If you are planning to go away, or do not want to wait to receive it in the mail, then please feel free to come into any of our branches and we will replace it free of charge.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 1.888.339.8328 or by email at info@vantageone.net

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5 Things You Need To Know About Tax-Free Savings Accounts

  1. Your TFSA doesn’t need to be previously setup to earn annual contribution amounts.

You’re eligible for TFSA contributions when you turn 18. You do not need to file a tax-return, or have earned income. They automatically start accumulating the year you turn 18 years old. This means, that anyone born in or before 1991, will have an unused contribution amount of $57,500 as of 2018. If you were born after 1991 you will have to calculate the amount of contribution room you have, a list of amounts are listed on the CRA’s website here.

 

  1. A TFSA can be more than just a savings account.

Although named a “Tax-Free Savings Account” you can invest inside a TFSA in more than just a high-interest savings account. In fact, a TFSA can hold a broad range of investments such as, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), bonds, stocks, ETF’s, and mutual funds. However it’s important to note that when investing in foreign equites that pay dividends, any dividend paid to your TFSA won’t be tax exempt like it is when paid to an RRSP or RRIF.

 

  1. Your investments grow inside the TFSA tax-free

Unlike an RRSP, a TFSA does not provide an income tax reduction meaning any income invested will be after-tax income. However like many registered accounts, any gains made in your TFSA are not subject to capital gains. This makes a TFSA an attractive account for growth-based investments over the long term. For example, if you invested $10,000 for 5 years and earned an annual rate of return of 5.5%, without any further contributions you would have earned $3,609 in additional savings that are completely tax-free.

 

  1. You can withdraw from your TFSA whenever you want, no matter the reason, tax-free.

One of the best features with a TFSA is you are able to withdraw any amount from your account whenever you want, for whatever reason. Also since the income put into the account has already been taxed when it was originally earned, any withdrawals are completely tax-free. If you decide to re-contribute the amount you withdrew, the only stipulation is you must wait until the next calendar year to put the money back and you can do so on top of your annual contribution amount maximums.

 

  1. Your contribution amount is periodically adjusted for inflation.

In order to keep up with changing income and price inflation, the Canadian government adjusted the TFSA contribution amount periodically for inflation. Historically the increments have been in $500 amounts, with exclusion of the previous Conservative government that allowed a one year maximum amount of $10,000 in 2015

 

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7 Personal Tax Tips For 2018

Invest in RRSP’s

One of the best dollar for dollar ways to reduce your personal income amounts, and thus your income tax is by investing into Registered Retirement Savings Plans. With RRSP’s you can invest a maximum of $26,230 or up to 18% of your annual personal income. The idea of RRSP’s is to defer the income tax you would pay this year and grow your investment tax free. To find out more about these, see our article from last week to help you get started.

Invest Using a TFSA

Using a Tax-Free Savings Account to store your investments in is a great tax-free way to save for the short term, or long term. Unlike an RRSP, a TFSA won’t reduce the amount of income you pay on your annual personal income amounts however your investments will grow inside the account tax-free. Therefore it’s wise to hold any of your eligible investments in a TFSA to avoid paying capital gains on the investment. Contribution limits begin when you turn 18, and carry forward indefinitely without cumulative limit year after year. This means that anyone born in 1991 or earlier who have never opened or utilized a TFSA could have an upward contribution amount available of $57,500 as of 2018. To see the corresponding limits for each year visit the Canada Revenue Agency’s website here.

Medical Expenses

Another item to be aware of to reduce your tax payable is to claim medical expenses for yourself and your family. This can be in the form of payments towards a child’s braces, medical prescriptions, or prescription contacts or glasses. While these items can alter your monthly budget, you may be eligible for some tax relief towards these payments. Each year the maximum amount differs, currently in 2018 the maximum claim amount is the lower amount of 3% of your income, or $2,302.

Setup and Contribute to RESP’s

For those of you with eligible dependents, setting up a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a great method to put money aside for your children’s post-secondary education. While there is no longer an annual contribution limit, it is limited to a lifetime contribution limit of $50,000 per beneficiary. While like the TFSA, the deposits made are not tax-deferred they do grow inside the account tax free and qualify for the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG). The CESG is a grant that the government gives out to match 20% of the first $2,500 contributed annually to the RESP, with a yearly limit of $500 and a lifetime limit of $7,200 per beneficiary. Any unused CESG amounts can be carried forward to the next year. It’s worth noting that withdrawals from the RESP are not tax free. Withdrawals are attributed towards the student beneficiary however and will be subject to their income tax. The benefit here is the student will likely be at a very low income tax rate and may end up paying little to no tax at all on the payments.

Tax Loss Selling

If you own any investments that are going to end up in a capital loss position, consider offloading these to realize a capital loss that will help you offset any capital gains you may have also made this year. Any realized capital losses may be attributed back by up to three years, or carried forward indefinitely. One consideration to note here is if you claim a loss be aware of the “superficial loss period” a rule stating that once an investment is sold and claimed as a loss, it cannot be purchased back within a 30 day period. If this does happen your capital loss claimed will most likely be denied.

Student Loan Interest Payments

Any interest paid on student loans can be claimed within the current tax year. The stipulation to this is that only the student can claim the interest payment credits, a parent, relative, or spouse can make the payments on their behalf.  This is a non-refundable tax-credit meaning you won’t get any cash back for claiming the interest payments but it will lower the amount of tax owing at the end of the year.

Charitable Donations

Making charitable donations is a great way to grab a tax break and support a worthy cause of your choice. These donations are immediately tax deductible at the allotted rate both federally and provincially. There is no upper limit to what you can donate for a tax credit, as long as the charity is listed with the CRA and is a qualified charity.  Depending on the amount of the contribution, you could see a total tax credit equal to anywhere from 15% to 50% of your donation. To see a full list of charitable donation tax credit rates check out the CRA’s website here.

 

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