Why I'm Not Applying for the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card

When Tangerine bank launched it's new Money-Back Credit Card earlier this fall the blogosphere was abuzz as everyone drooled over how much cashback they would make with a zero-fee credit card!   And it's true, at first glance the concept seems like a no-brainer.... plenty of cashback categories, free additional cards, and no fees.  I even signed up for the sneak preview and got my approval email yesterday.

But I'm not applying for Tangerine's new card.   Instead I will stick with my Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite that made its way into my wallet a year and a half ago.  Why?  Because the Scotia Visa gives me more cashback!

The Comparison

Assuming you want a credit card that will maximize your cashback (and I hope you do), you need to consider a few items:

1. The total value of your annual credit card purchases
2. How many people will use the account
3. What types of purchases you charge to your credit card (which stores/merchants/etc.)
4. How and when you want to receive your cashback
5. What other benefits are important

Total Purchases and Users (items 1-2)

My wife and I both use the same card (on the same account), and charge a combined dollar value of just over $30,000 per year.  Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite splits that up into 3 categories:

• Gas/Groceries  (4% cashback)
• Recurring Payments/Drugstore  (2% cashback)
• Everything Else  (1% cashback)

By contrast, Tangerine's new Money Back Mastercard has 10 spending categories, and allows you to pick 3 of them for 2% cashback.  Spending in any of the remaining 7 categories yields only 1% cashback:

• Grocery
• Eating Places
• Gas
• Drugstore
• Entertainment
• Furniture
• Hotel/motel
• Recurring Payments
• Home Improvement
• Public Transportation and Parking

Types of Purchases

The key to this whole process is understanding your spending patterns.  A financial budgeting and analysis tool like Mint.com really helps with this process (although I ended up sorting a lot of the raw data in a spreadsheet).  Our family's top 3 credit card spending categories are Recurring Bills (about 15%), Groceries (11%) and Gas (10%).  Eating Places is a close 4th at around 10%.  So obviously I would select those 3 categories as my 2% cashback options, electing to receive only 1% for remaining categories.   If you're paying attention you may have noticed that all those 3 categories fall in the Scotia Visa 4% or 2% cashback.  So instantly we see that I'm losing 2% in the Groceries and Gas bucket.  

The million-dollar question: is 2% enough to cover the fees associated with Scotia's Visa? Turns out in my case, it is.   I ran all the numbers in all 10 categories and my net cash back (that is, total cashback minus any fees associated with the credit card) was within $3 of each other, in Scotia Visa's favour!

Note Your numbers could be completely different, which is why you must run them and understand your spending habits to make an informed decision.  If your largest spending is in Hotels and Home Improvement, you would likely get better benefit from Tangerine's Mastercard.

The Rest of the Story (items 4-5)

Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite credits your cashback amount to your credit card statement each year in November no matter when you signed up (my Amazon.ca Rewards Visa, on the other hand, automatically provides a statement credit each time your cashback amounts to $20).  Scotia charges me $99 for the first card, and an additional $30 for a secondary card.  My total annual fees are $129, which were factored into the comparison earlier.  These fees are charged to the credit card every January.

I looked on the Tangerine site but didn't see the method or frequency of Tangerine's cashback procedure.  It is important to note that, for this card to make sense, you should deposit your cashback in aTangerine Savings account (if you elect not to do this, the amount of 2% cashback categories allowed drops from 3 to 2).  

Both cards provide some standard Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty, but Scotia's Visa gives me a number of insurance products, including: Travel Medical Insurance, Trip Interruption Insurance, Flight Delay, Lost Baggage, Travel Accident Insurance, and Collision/Loss Damage Insurance for rental cars!  The Scotia Visa has a high (but standard) foreign currency exchange rate of 2.5%... Tangerine's Mastercard is only 1.5%.  This category isn't important to me as I use the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa for all foreign currency transactions (it doesn't charge any exchange fee!).

The Winner

The winner for me is clearly the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite card.  It gives me the most net cashback (though only by a little), and it provides the highest cashback return on spending categories I know I will always have: Gas/Groceries, and Recurring Bills.  It also gives me a number of insurance benefits that I use regularly when travelling.  

That said, even though I won't be using Tangerine's Money Back Mastercard, it might be the right fit for you.  If you spend substantially less on a credit card in any given year, or if your spending categories are not mostly Gas, Groceries,and Recurring Bills, the Tangerine Mastercard may be a better overall choice.  Running the numbers is really the only way to tell!

How to Fix Netflix (Google) DNS on Roku Update

This post will show you how to fix the Netflix's hardcoded Google DNS on the Roku.

Roku rolled out an update sometime in the last week in which the Netflix application switched from using global DNS settings to hardcoded 8.8.8.8 Google DNS settings.  I have nothing against Google DNS, but I need to use custom settings because I use Unblock-Us to trick Netflix into giving me USA content....and I'm in Canada.   My Roku is currently on version 5.4 build 3340.

Now, Roku is the only network device in my home that does not allow custom DNS settings.... but that's a different complaint for a different post.  Suffice to say that to trick any application on the Roku, custom DNS must be configured at the router level.

I'm going to outline 2 different router-level methods for fixing the Netflix hardcoded DNS: (1) Rerouting 8.8.8.8 to your gateway, and (2) outright blocking any communication with 8.8.8.8

Method 1 - Rerouting to your Gateway

The first step is to log in to your router.  If you don't know how to do that, stop reading and call your go-to tech support family member.  If you're feeling adventurous, see How to Find Your Router's IP Address.  Save the router's address for the configuration we're doing below.

In this example I'm using an old TRENDNET TEW-432BRP with local ip 192.168.10.1

Find your Routing Table settings.  In mine, it's under Routing > Static.  We're going to create a new static route so that every time the Roku (or any network device) looks for 8.8.8.8, it will be automatically directed to the 192.168.10.1 router ip.  As long as the 192.168.10.1 router is configured for custom DNS, it's bye-bye 8.8.8.8.  Enter the following settings:

Network Address: 8.8.8.8
Network Mask: 255.255.255.255
Gateway Address: 192.168.10.1 (router IP)
Interface: LAN
Metric: 2

Make sure you add & enable the route and that's it.

Method 2 - Blocking Google DNS

Get to your router's configuration page as per Method 1, and find your IP Filter configuration settings. On my TRENDNET, it's under Access > Filter > IP Filter.  Now, simply add the range 8.8.8.8 to 8.8.8.8 (the lone IP address) and enable the filter.  Now, all traffic trying to reach 8.8.8.8 will be blocked and timeout.  In the case of Roku's Netflix, it will timeout and default to the global DNS settings.

The BlackBerry Helmet

As I start to use my BlackBerry more and more it seems that I might be in need of a few accessories to help me out...

Finally, the perfect BlackBerry accessory! Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present to you... the BlackBerry Helmet:

another one bites the dust

A few days ago I read that american-owned tech giant IBM purchased Cognos (http://tinyurl.com/3y8hfd) for $5 billion.

Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? *sigh* no.

It seems that every time I look at the financial section of the papers or read the news feeds or blogs another Canadian company has been swallowed up by a US corporate conglomerate. Cognos, for those of you unfamiliar with the name, was an Ottawa-based technology company employing thousands of individuals in the city's hi-tech sector. Their specialty has always been business intelligence and performance management technologies, and they pull in just under $1 billion in annual revenue. Cognos was a solid Canadian corporation which, sadly, is now part of IBM, Inc. a corporate owned by our friendly neighbours to the south, doing just over $90 billion in annual revenue.

Week after week, month after month, and year after year solid Canadian corporations are being steadily acquired by larger, more ruthless american companies with deeper pockets larger spending budgets....let's talk a (somewhat depressing) walk down memory lane:

Remember Eatons? They were once the biggest and the best dept. store in Canada - selling everything from socks to stovetops. They were acquired just a few years back by Sears, and I haven't heard of them since...have you?

Those of us in Ottawa remember how the current Scotiabank Place used to be known as the Corel Centre (or even earlier, the Paladium). Corel was purchased back in 2003 by Venture Capital, a company whose name exists solely to acquire coroporations.

Want something a bit more recent? I can think of Stelco, the last Canadian independent steel manufacturer (all previous steel producers have already been sold out) acquired by US firm United States Steel just this year; or PrimeWest Energy out in Alberta who was acquired by Taqa (Abu Dhabi National Energy) just a couple months ago. Granted this last company wasn't american, but that's not the main point. The main point is that Canadian business owners are giving control of our most basic industries away to foreign individuals or governments.

Even the companies that instill a sense of national pride are no longer Canadian companies.

Hockey equipment manufacturers Bauer and Cooper were both acquired by Nike in 1994, with CCM bought out by Reebok a decade later. Even the Montreal Canadiens (habs) are now owned by Mr. George Gillett Jr., an american businessman.

At least we still have our trustworthy Canadian breweries...Labatt & Molson ("I am Canadian" marketing slogan). Sorry to disappoint, but Labatt was purchased a Belgian brewery over a decade ago, and Molson "Canadian" was recently acquired by US-based Coors in 2005!

Hudsons Bay Company ("the Bay"), Canada's -- no, North America's -- oldest retailer and a symbol of Canadian entreprenurial ability was purchased by Mr. Jerry Zucker, a US investor, back in 2006.

Good grief even Tim Hortons was acquired by american fast-food chain Wendy's back in 1995 (didn't you notice the doughnuts getting smaller?).

My point is this: it's not good enough for Canada to achieve social independence from our overly-friendly neighbours to the south. We may be more pleasant, more polite, better at hockey, and more diplomatic with the rest of the world, BUT they are looking at Canada's vast resources with dollar signs in their pupils. Canada needs to stick up for itself and take some pride in our nationality. This means economically just as much as anything else.

The noblest motive is the public good - William Kirby

The CUPE Strike at Carleton University: A Student's View

If you ask an honest student, they will tell you they don't enjoy school very much. Homework, tests, assignments, presentations, final exams...and I have to PAY for it? Nevertheless we all grit our teeth, drain our wallets, and study our brains out because we know our schooling is only a temporary displeasure that will help us significantly in the long run. A temporary displeasure that is, until CUPE 2424 started their strike on the 5th of Sept last week.

On this day school turned from a temporary displeasure into a throbbing headache. Simple services taken for granted such as IT support, librarians, lab workers, admin/office assistants, and TAs have been suspended indefinitely pending a favouring outcome in the bargaining process. Although the absence of these services has not been extremely detrimental to the student body as a whole, our tuition (which was required paid by the first day of classes) should ensure these facilities are available. It would be nice, for instance, to have TAs (teaching assistants), librarians, or tech support. CUPE 2424 states that its staff touch almost every part of a student's day on the university campus, and I wholeheartedly agree. I cannot begin to describe how painful it is to call the Registrar with an important question or academic alteration only to find out the entire support staff is on strike, leaving one manager to service the entire undergraduate population; or to email tech support asking for assistance...the printer in the Library still won't print the research data for my 1^st presentation.

I know also I am not the only student affected by this strike. While standing in line for some time this morning for a new student ID card (the length of lines on campus now call to mind images of former USSR citizens waiting to buy bread) I was approached by a member of CUSA (Carleton University Student's Association). She was systematically traversing the line, handing out information pamphlets, and ensuring each individual in the line understood the position of CUPE 2424 and the purpose of the strike. When she came to me I mentioned I was surprised to see a student so cheerfully siding with the support staff who deserted students during the second most important time of the year (the first being final exams).

This CUSA member explained to me that she sided with CUPE mainly because, by not adhering to the union's demands and forcing its members to strike, the Carleton University administration was denying student's access to services our tuition has already paid for. She went on (and on) about how the professors and other employees had received 4%, 4% and 4% wage increase over 3 years and the CUPE workers were only offered 3%, 3% and 3%. “This is not about money,” she insisted, “it's about respect, and about Carleton University ensuring that students are provided with the services they have paid for.” She went on to say how Carleton University's employment offer even withheld vacation pay from the workers!

Surely this is a catastrophe! I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at her. I had no idea that the Carleton Administration had threatened to break the law and defy the ESA and the Ontario government by withholding vacation pay to their employees (last time I checked, CUPE members are not Crown workers, farmers, or fishermen). Upon questioning her further, I was astonished to see how vehemently she defended the actions of a group she evidently knew very little about.

Upon visiting cupe.ca I learned that the rally on campus this morning was attended by over 200 people – including 100 students! I am again astonished by the support of students in this strike and upon questioning them further I can only conclude they have notions of “sticking it to the man” and “defying the establishment.” This attitude closely resembles the tactics the striking CUPE members have been taking over the past week – schoolyard bullying. Under the guise of presenting both sides fairly, CUPE members have been bullying the student population into supporting their cause.

Their tactics, which include everything from underhanded internet posts to the disruption of traffic along both the Colonel By Pkwy and Bronson Ave are nothing more than a pathetic attempt to gain support for a lost cause. Susan Arab, CUPE national representative puts it best when she says “We regret the inconvenience to students and the campus community, and encourage students and their families to put pressure on the university administration to return to the table with an equitable contract offer, so we can resolve this conflict.”

This method of bargaining was called bullying back when I was in elementary school, and I fail to see how it can be called anything else at the present time.

CUPE 2424 lost my support the moment they added 40 minutes to my daily driving time, and annoyed the heck out of me in hopes that I would cave and pressure the university to meet their demands. While I do sincerely hope that an agreement is reached soon and that services on campus are restored, this is one student from whom CUPE will never see support.