Financial Uproar

So, yeah. It’s getting kind of late, and I haven’t actually gotten around to writing anything for tomorrow. I could just throw some crap against the wall and hope for some stickage, but Nelly is a tired monkey. So instead, you’re getting a recycled post I did for my internet girlfriend Young and Thrifty, like 6 months ago. Hey, it sure beats recycled toilet paper. So sit back, relax, and… GET A JOB YOU SLACKER.

Hey, I don’t mean to be a downer, but, what do I care? This isn’t even my blog. (Ed. note: blew your mind right there, didn’t I?)

Did you know that, without a decent credit score, your life is basically over? Yep, it’s true. If you need confirmation, just check around the personal finance blog-o-net. I’ll save you the time, since there are approximately 65,342 (author’s estimate) posts written on the subject. So yeah,  I kind of think having a high credit score is very, very important.

Of course it is. People with low credit scores will have difficulty getting any sort of credit. They can forget about a mortgage or any sort of unsecured line of credit. Even getting a credit card with a limit higher than $500 is difficult without a decent FICO score. And, to top it off, even potential employers will have a look at your credit report. Your crappy credit score could even make you lose out on that dream job.

But fear not, for all is not lost! Did you know that there are websites that you can check your score for free, every few months or so? What’s that? You do, because it’s been mentioned in each of those 65,000 articles? Well, never mind then.

I’m going to go a different direction with this guest post. I’m going to list the reasons why you shouldn’t sweat about your credit score. I’m all about freeing up time for things that are important – like hitting on Y&T even though she clearly has a boyfriend. He probably wants to fight me. I can’t say I blame him.

A High Score Isn’t That Hard

Let me tell you all a story about my credit report.

Back in 2008, I decided I was going to go ahead and buy a house. In the process of applying for the mortgage, I got to see a copy of my credit report. My score was 802.

How did my score get so high? Did I use the credit building tricks I’ve read so much about? Nope. In fact, I did some things I wasn’t supposed to do. I applied for a credit card just to get the free Blue Jays t-shirt, promptly cancelling that card a few months later when the bank asked for their annual fee (which I never did pay). The credit card was never used. That’s not so good for your credit score.

During that time, I only used one credit card. It’s the same credit card I’ve had since I was a much younger man. It’s the only card in my wallet, and it gets paid off in full. Every. Single. Month.

I have also never had a car loan or any other installment loan. Credit gurus commonly tell people to get a loan of this type and at least make some progress on it, which will increase your FICO score.

The point of all this? By being smart financially and by using credit responsibly, I have a great credit score. And the best part is, I didn’t even try. You can accomplish the same thing, just by not being a dirtbag.

The Consequences Aren’t That Bad

What are the three most common consequences people say about not having a card?

1. You’ll pay more for debt. (assuming you can even get it)
2. You’ll have difficulty renting a house or getting insurance.
3. You’ll lose out on your dream job.

Well, I’ve got good news for some of you. You can quite easily exist without a great credit score.

Think about all the people you know who have too much debt. Some of them got into trouble by loading up on so called “good debt”, financing things like their education or a house. Most of them though, have some sort of ill-advised consumer debt. There are millions of people in North America who would have easier lives if they never had any access to credit.

Now that’s not saying credit is bad. credit isn’t necessarily good or bad, it’s what you do with it. All sorts of people exist without using credit whatsoever. All sorts of people would love to have never seen credit cards. These people might even go as far as cutting up those cards once they pay them off. Credit may seem like a necessity, but it isn’t.

As for the house, insurance and job arguments, realize one thing. Many landlords and companies will check credit reports. Many more won’t bother. If you can avoid renting a house from a large scale landlord, you can probably avoid a credit check. It’s the same thing if you go work for a small, family owned company. All sorts of companies will screen potential employees with a criminal records check before they ever do a credit check.

Although credit makes it easier to live in today’s day and age, it’s not vital. Food, air and shelter are true necessities. Credit is not. I’m not saying you should intentionally screw up your credit. I am saying living without it isn’t the end of the world.

Identity Theft Is Really Rare

In 2009, the RCMP received identity theft complaints from 11,095 Canadians. Wow, that’s the population of a small city! That’s a lot of identity theft, which is why everyone should be checking their credit reports regularly. Identity theft is a real threat!

Except it really isn’t.

During that same year, RCMP recorded 443,000 violent crimes across Canada. That means that the average citizen is 40 times more likely to be beaten up in a dark alley than having their identity compromised. Heck, you’re 3 times more likely to get robbed than having your identity stolen. (Especially in Winnipeg. Click the link if you don’t believe me. Oh yeah, Winnipeg sucks.)

What steps do you take to avoid being the victim of a violent crime? Like most people, you use common sense. You stay in well lit areas at night. You don’t spend a lot of time talking to drug dealers. And, just maybe, you should take the same approach with your credit score.

Just one week ago, I treated you all to my opinion of Canada’s best gas rewards program. Part 1 of the series focused on the big gas chains –  companies like Esso, Petro Canada and Shell, among others. I wasn’t really impressed with many of the rewards, save one small chain. Do you want to go back and read the awesomeness? Then check out part 1.

It was a good post, possibly an epic post. Hell, it was quite possibly the greatest thing you’ve ever read. But it’s a good thing you stuck around for part 2, because this is where all the good deals are happening. It turns out that there are all sorts of grocery stores that also sell gas, and they give much better rewards that stand alone gas stations do.  Ready to save some money, you cheap bastards? Of course you are.

Co-op

For those of you unfamiliar with the whole Co-op concept, first a primer on the chain located mostly across the prairies, but also into western Ontario. Everyone buys a membership to the store, which makes them, in theory anyways, part owner. All the stores band together, using their collective buying power to get deals from suppliers. The store keeps track of your purchases, using your member number. Every year, you’re eligible to collect your percentage of the profits, based on how much you bought. My former boss at a competing grocery chain liked to compare the whole system to communism, even going as far as nicknaming them “the reds.”

But what about their rewards? I’m going to look at Calgary Co-op, since it’s the biggest group within the group. At first glance, the 5 cents per liter payback looks outstanding. But because it’s a dividend paid back to owners, it is a taxable benefit. Plus, it’s entirely up to the company what percentage of that payback they want to actually pay out, and what percentage they want to keep as retained earnings. Last year, Calgary Co-op actually paid out about 2.5 cents per liter. It’s a pretty good rewards program, but not outstanding.

Grade: B

Canadian Tire

There aren’t really that many Canadian Tires that sell gas, at least in my neck of the woods. There may be more down in the eastern part of Canada, but what do you expect, research?

Canadian Tire’s rewards program is basically divided into western and eastern parts of the country. Anywhere west of Kenora Ontario gets 5 cents per liter worth of Canadian Tire money, straight up. The only annoying part is actually having to handle Canadian Tire money. Meanwhile, anywhere east of Kenora they give you a base rate of approximately 0.4-0.5%, and then give out multiplier coupons either in the flyer or at the till in the main stores. 5x multiplier coupons are common, turning that piddly 0.5% reward into a respectable 2.5% reward. You can really ramp up the rewards if you use their credit card.

I should note, as is the case with all the big store rewards, (except Co-op, they give you a cheque) the rewards are only redeemable at the store that issues them, and never for more gas. So before you start filling up at Crappy Tire, ask yourself just how much you want a bunch of credit you can only spend there.

Does anyone else call it Crappy Tire, or is it just me? Comments, people!

Grade: B+

Costco

Costco gives you nothing. And you have to pay a membership to get gas there. Sure, they have cheap gas, but no rewards makes Nelly sad. (I was going to add an emoticon there, just for kicks, but then I realized that every time a blogger uses one, a regular baby turns into a crack baby.)

Grade: N/A

Loblaws

Next up is Canada’s largest retailer and owner of the stores so nice they call them super, Loblaws. (Note: the stores are not actually very nice.)

Loblaws has a very straight forward gas rewards program, giving back anywhere from 3.5 cents (in rural locations) up to 7 cents (urban locations) per liter in Superbucks, redeemable in the store. If you can find a location that pays 7 cents per liter, you can accumulate some pretty decent rewards pretty quick. If you combine it with a PC Mastercard, you rewards will add up even faster. Even at 3.5 cents, this program is a winner, assuming you buy groceries. But not smokes.

Grade: A

7-11

Yeah, I know. 7-11 is probably better suited for part 1. I forgot it, okay? It’s not my fault there’s only like 8 across Canada that still sell gas. (Note: that last author’s estimate is wildly inaccurate) Anyhoo, they give back $1 in 7-11 cash for every 30L worth of gas. Meaning, with every 60L fill up, you could walk out of there with a large slurpee. It’s probably a good thing my 7-11 doesn’t have gas.

Grade: C

Safeway

You can get some outstanding rewards for filling up at Safeway, assuming you become a member of their club program and you buy your groceries there. It’s free, so I’ll allow it.

If you don’t bother to buy your groceries at Safeway, you can still present your club card for a 3.5 cent per liter discount. The beauty of Safeway’s program is that your discount gets taken right off at the pump. If you have $100 worth of grocery purchases on the card, you can use them for an additional 3.5 cent discount. You can either use your discount at the time, or save it up to get a free tank.

Safeway is an expensive chain. They offer some good gas rewards though.

Grade: A+

Conclusion

If you’re searching for rewards, you should be buying your gas at grocery stores. They give the best rewards, you’ll probably be going there anyway, and they usually have decent prices because they’re trying to use gas to draw you in. Safeway is a pretty good bet, so is Loblaws. There’s no Safeway in my town, so I guess I’m stuck getting approximately $3.50 in free groceries every week. Not bad for doing something I needed to do anyway.

Ah, who am I kidding? I’d probably spend it all on chips.

Like a full 98.2% of the people reading this blog, I enjoy myself some freebies. The other 1.8% of the people reading this are so damn rich that they literally have an army of people to do their every bidding. Hey, this blog is big in North Korea, which I’d like to point out is a socialist paradise which doesn’t ever arrest people for no reason or let its people starve. You gotta give the people what they want.

Anyway, a situation has come up where I’m free to fill up my work truck wherever I want, using the company’s credit card. This means that I’m free to collect the rewards that’ll accumulate at a pretty good clip, since the chip truck burns through about 100 liters of fuel per week.

For my American readers, 100 liters works out to… you know what? Screw it. Figure it out yourselves. The metric system is pretty awesome. You should convert to it. Let’s just say it’s a lot of fuel, and I can easily accumulate a decent amount of rewards. But which Canadian retailer has the best rewards program? Come on, you know you’re just a little bit curious. Let’s do this thing.

Today, I’m looking at actual gas stations. Next Monday, I’ll look at grocery stores that also happen to sell gas.

Husky

Let’s start things off with the oil company that is either named after a cute dog or an overweight guy.

Husky is one of the largest gas chains in Canada, as well as operating all sorts of truck stops, which are usually pretty solid places to get a nice meal (and a hooker, if you’re so inclined). They’ve partnered up with the Canadian Auto Association, which may have sold you roadside protection for about a hundred bucks a year.

If you present your CAA card, you get 1.5 cents per liter, up to 125 liters per month. If you go above 125, the rewards get upped to 2 cents a liter. The chip truck would easily surpass 125 liters per month, so I’d be looking at 2 cents per liter. If I fill up an average of 100 liters a week, that’s 2 bucks a week, about a hundred bucks a year. Not bad, except my CAA membership is actually a Christmas gift every year. I probably wouldn’t have it if I had to pay for it.

Overall Grade: B

Esso

Esso is the retail arm of Imperial Oil, a big Canadian oil company which is more concentrated in the eastern part of the country. Their stations boast such amenities as car washes and pay at the pump, which apparently are worthy of being mentioned at their website. Esso has two reward programs, I’m thinking specifically to get more space in this blog post. Bastards.

The first reward program is their Esso Extra card, which gives a base rate of a point for every dollar you spend, with some products giving you extra points. You can supercharge your points by signing up for a RBC Esso Visa card, but this isn’t a credit card discussion, so don’t do that. So if you spend $1800, you’ll earn enough to get to get a $10 gas voucher. That’s a little over 0.5%, which is hardly enough to get me hard in the pants.

Esso also partners with Aeroplan, where you can earn 1 Aeroplan mile for every $3 you spend at Esso. It costs 15,000 miles for a flight from Toronto to New York, a flight that has an approximate retail value of $125. Assuming you were using your Aeroplan card only at Esso, it would take you $45,000 worth of gas for a $125 flight. That’s just a little over a 0.25% return. That’s uglier than your sister.

Overall grade: D

Shell

True story: if you put a Shell pump next to your ear while pumping your gas, you’ll hear the ocean.

Shell’s big giveaway is Air Miles, and I’d just like to thank them for keeping it a whole hell of a lot simpler than our pals from Esso. Air Miles have a retail value of 29.5 cents per mile, at least that’s what the folks at the local Century 21 here pay.

You earn one reward mile for your first $20, and then an additional mile for every $30 you spend. If I got 100 liters at a time, I’d probably be able to get 4 Air Miles per shot. If I want to redeem my air miles, I can soon redeem 95 for $10 worth of cash. That works out to a little more than 10 cents per mile, or 50 cents for approximately $110 worth of gas. That’s about 0.5%, which is about as exciting as a vanilla milkshake.

Overall Grade: C

Petro Canada

Petro Canada was swallowed by oil giant Suncor back in 2009. The combined company still kept the Petro Canada branding on their retail stations, since they’re kind of a big deal.

They have their own rewards program, somewhat predictably called Petro Points. Regular fuel collects points at a rate of 5 per liter, meaning I’d earn approximately 500 points per week. It costs 40,000 points to get a $25 gift card to a decent selection of retailers. This means I’d need 8000 liters to get a $25 gift card. At a 100 liters per week, it would take me about a year and three quarters to get enough rewards to earn $25. But, in their defense, you do get 2500 points just for signing up, so I could probably earn $25 in my first year.

Overall Grade: C

Fas Gas

Fas Gas is big in the prairies, so all you Ontarians are screwed. Which is too bad, because they have easily the best rewards program. It’s just not really applicable for me.

You get 3 cents back per liter, once you get to 240 liters. You have to get 20 liters at a time, or else your purchase doesn’t count, at least for the reward program. Your $7 or so is taken off your bill once you qualify. That’s it. What a great program.

Except for me, since all that would happen is the company would save money on gas. I’m not really too excited about that. Still, for most of you reading, this is by far the best reward program I could find, at least for traditional gas stations.

Overall Grade: A

That’s all the gas stations I could think of. If any readers know any other ones, like maybe regional chains from the eastern part of the country, feel free to add their details to the comments. Next week, I’ll take a look at grocery stores that sell gas. I’m thinking they might  do a little better.