Tax rebate cheques for low income Canadians to be sent automatically + MORE Feb 11th

Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty as he enters the House of Commons to table the budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
Budget 2014 tabled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Tuesday didn’t contain much in the way of broad-based changes that are expected to significantly alter the state of Canadian household balance sheets but it did contain a handful of smaller, more targeted measures to help reduce red tape, close tax loopholes and introduce new consumer protections.
Among the more significant changes is a plan to streamline how GST-HST credits are sent to low-income Canadians. Essentially, taxpayers will no longer have to apply for a GST-HST credit on their tax return. Instead, the Canada Revenue Agency will make the calculation automatically. All eligible Canadians will be notified starting this year and cheques could be in the mail as early as this spring.
“They’re going to issue a notice of determination which will basically inform you if you qualify,” Paul Woolford, a partner with our KPMG Enterprise group, told MoneySense…

OTTAWA – Tuesday’s federal budget left a handful of Canadians with modest smiles and a lot of others with big frowns. Here’s a brief roster of stakeholders mentioned in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s fiscal blueprint and their likely facial expressions:
SMILING
— Low-income veterans and their families, who saw another $108 million put into a fund to help cover funeral costs;
— Veterans released from the military for medical reasons, because they get a hiring priority for public service jobs;
— Adoptive families, who get a higher tax credit for adoption costs;
— World-class amateur athletes, who get a break on their available RRSP room;
— Search and rescue volunteers, who get a tax credit similar to the one extended to volunteer firefighters in 2011;
— Students with cars who are seeking Canada Student Loans; the value of their vehicles will no longer affect their “needs assessment”;
— The Conservative base of support, because the budget is on the verge of balance and is forecast to be in surplus in 2015…

Fitch Ratings downgraded Puerto Rico’s debt by two notches to junk status on Tuesday, following similar moves last week by credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

It’s no secret that not having a great credit history can be costly. But, even if they do get a loan, most people don’t realize how much more they’ll pay based on their poor credit past, warns Geoff Williams, the author of Living Well with Bad Credit.
First off, just because it may be possible to buy something on bad credit, doesn’t mean you should do it, he says. But, if you do decide to go ahead with a purchase, expect to pay more for the privilege.
If you’re planning on buying a car, for instance, it’s going to be tough to secure a decent financing loan if you’re saddled with a poor credit score – although that’s not the only factor at work. Your rate will also vary depending on the amount borrowed, the length of the loan and whether you’re looking at a new or used vehicle.
Subprime Lenders An Expensive Route
The trouble is, as one beleaguered B.C. couple found out recently, even if you can get a loan from a subprime lender, your interest rate – they ended up paying a startling 25 per cent – could be easily double what you’d pay if you had a halfway decent credit history…

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador Finance Minister Charlene Johnson says the good news about Tuesday’s federal budget is there’s no bad news.
“In terms of an impact on the revenues for the province, there’s no negative impact,” she told reporters outside the legislature.
“In fact, there’s a slight positive impact to the tune of about $1.9 million.”
Johnson cited what she called “a good sprinkling of nice initiatives” in the federal government’s deficit-fighting spending blueprint. They include a tax credit for search and rescue volunteers similar to one already offered volunteer firefighters, $40 million over two years for up to 3,000 interns training in “high-demand fields” and $15 million over three years to help people with developmental disabilities land jobs.
Another $11.4 over four years is aimed at enhanced training programs for people with autism.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget all but balances the books this fiscal year, leaving a $2…