This is just a synopsis of the reality of the new US bank and financial institution (like insurance companies) bailout bill that did finally get approved by the US Government. 

US Bailout Bill full of Pork, or is it?

Lots of people are complaining about various provisions in the US bailout bill, like those for children's arrow makers, Virgin Islands rum distillers and others.

Lots of people like to say that these are "pork" riders to the bailout bill. I'm not saying these tax breaks are good or bad.

Why the FDIC and CDIC Need to Spread Bank Insurance Risk Around

There's been quite a bit of talk as to whether and/or how much the FDIC (in the USA) and the CDIC (in Canada) should raise the limit for deposit insurance on for deposits in eligible bank accounts, GICs, CDs and other insured vehicles.

As of June 1st 2009, Canadians will be required to show a valid passport to get into the United States, whether entering by land, water, or air.

So, if you're driving over the border, you'll need more than just a Photo ID and Birth Certificate or Citizenship card (though bringing them along isn't a terrible idea).

Get Rid of that Spare Change!

2013 Update: Rob reports that now >300 locations with coin machines, so do a search on http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/customer-service/contact-us/branch-locator/index.jsp

The USA DTV changeover date is February 17, 2009.

The Candian DTV changeover date is sometime in 2011.

The USA will be switching away from "analogue" transmissions of "Over The Air" Television signals. The reason for this, is that they can save a lot of wireless spectrum (ie: the amount of space available in the sky to transmit stuff wirelessly) by transmitting it digitally. So, you get the same quality signal (perhaps even better) but they can also run things like more data over new cellphone airwaves.

CIBC offers two Dividend Visas:

These are their two Visa credit cards that offer cash back rewards. Not points, but cash. I'll address their Aerogold and Aventura Visa cards in a later article. But for now...

Well, after my friend dropped his LG Chocolate into salt water, we took it apart based on this excellent guide and cleaned the insides with 30% H20/70% Isopropyl Alcohol.

Of course, confirm everything with your bank. There may be exceptions, get the sure answer from them.

Lehman Brothers Ebay Auction - History in the Making

Ebay took down the auction Monday morning (I guess they don't work weekends). Need a shorter link to this page? Try using http://turl.ca/lehman

Some person put Lehman Brothers up as a (presumably) fake auction on Ebay. Now of course, people try to sell all sorts of worthless junk on Ebay, so I guess this isn't much different.

But the Questions and Answers posted are hilarious, so here they are, nice and archived forever.

Professional Student Lines of Credit

Typically, professional students at university programs can get some preferred rates and terms for Lines of Credit at the big banks. Unfortunately, credit unions aren't particularly on top of things, so you're going to have to deal with the Big 5: TD, BMO, Scotia, CIBC & RBC.

Be sure to deal with their preferred branches (usually near the universities themselves), instead of standard branches which probably just do regular student Lines of Credit, otherwise they might not be too familiar with what is available for you.

Do you make a lot of purchases where you can't use a credit card, or perhaps you don't qualify for a decent rewards credit card, like the Citi Enrich 1% Cash Back card?

Well, there are actually reward DEBIT cards (yes, those Interac cards) available for Canadians.

I always see this term in legal documents "inter alia", and I have no idea what it means, so here it is:

"among other things"

In legal cases, it is often used when a reference is made to another case and they only wanted to being up specific aspects about it, even though other items were brought in that case.

Amex USED to have a 2% Cash Back Credit card. Even then, the 2% didn't kick in right away, so you'd have to spend many thousands per year to get > 1% overall. And of course, spending lots of money on an Amex card can be a bit difficult in Canada, since many merchants only accept Visa or Mastercard.

The American Express Gold 2% Cash Back card is No longer available, as of ~1 month ago in Canada. Those that still have cards should be fine until they expire, but if you're looking to apply for such a card, you are out of luck.

For Canadians, a valid passport is already required for those planning on entering the United States via Air, such as an international flight from Toronto to Seattle. However, a passport would NOT be required if you were to drive across the border to Buffalo and then take a flight to Seattle from there. This is as of 2008.

APC BE550R Review and why to NOT get the BE350R

I Purchased this from Staples.ca for the price of CAD$50+tax, I would say it is well worth spending the extra $10 in cost to get the 550VA version, rather than the 350VA BE350R.

Yields and P/E Ratios for all of the Big Canadian Banks, as of August 19th, 2008.

But first, some recent news articles about Canadian Bank Stocks and their Yields:

On this page I am going to cover all of the major offerings of the BMO/Bank of Montreal Mosaic Line of Mastercards

Mosaic Mastercards With No Annual Fee

Your choice of Cash Back or Airmiles.

You can choose either 1 Air Mile per $40 Spent or 0.5% Cash Back

Getting a first credit card can be difficult while a student, or otherwise young person, due to the lack of credit history, job history and plain and simply, age.

Trying to get your PC to run fanless, but just can't do it? Don't want to run completely fanless?

Well, one solution is to undervolt your fans. 

There are a number of acceptable methods to undervolt your DC fans. Suprisingly, you can get quite a bit of granularity of control with ATX power supplies.

Just to announce the launch of another website of mine, hdOLEDprices.com

Here are the main details on cashing cheques/checks from the US in American Dollars.

Yes, you can do it. Usually you won't be charged any extra fees. Sometimes, banks will put on a hold (if it is a personal cheque) of as much as 30 days. TD did that. 

Be sure to ask if there are any extra fees before you do the transaction! Though there usually shouldn't be any.

Getting back into Linux and having trouble setting up these text editting or email clients? Just installed this fabulous Ubuntu Package System where you never have to look for any utility, just do an "sudo apt-get install"?

Well, it seems like due to some licensing issues, pico and pine are distributed as source only, binaries are not allowed to be distributed.

Planning on travelling overseas, like to Europe or Australia, with your Mastercard or Visa Debit Card?

The answer is yes, it will work as a signature transaction the same way that a credit card is accepted. I've never had a problem using my US-issued Paypal Debit MasterCard or US-issued National City Debit Visa Card in Canada. I don't see why I'd have a problem overseas either. 

Doing cash withdrawls at an ATM may be subject to extra fees. There usually will be a currency conversion charge or some such, but it isn't too major. 

Compilation of US$ Bank Accounts Available for Canadians at Canadian Banks.

I've already written a guide here on getting a US-based US Bank Account as a Canadian. These have to be opened in-branch at a US Bank Branch. RBC, through its Centura operations can do it through a Canadian Branch (I think), but they're kind of expensive.

In addition to my previous guide on Best Bank Accounts for Canadian Students, RBC Royal Bank Student Banking is now on the list. They make the website a bit hard to find on their site, which was a bit of a downer.