Aug 8 Update: One day left for a CIBC response to Aeroplan/TD, 4x MileagePlus miles with Avis, next Volia Hotel Rewards systemwide bonus + MORE Aug 9th

When travelling outside Canada, it pays to think about how you’ll access your money. Even on short excursions, foreign transaction fees and exchange rates can provide nasty surprises on your bank statements. But for those travelling regularly, particularly snowbirds spending months outside our borders, such surcharges can easily amount to hundreds of dollars. Thankfully, these expenses are sometimes avoidable or can at least be reduced provided you do a little pre-vacation homework, says Rewards Canada’s founder and CEO Patrick Sojka.

Press play below to hear more on this topic from David Hodges and 680 News’ Mike Eppel:

Debit and credit are best
It wasn’t so long ago that globe-trotting necessitated carrying large amounts of cash or traveller’s cheques. Thankfully those days are over. Travellers can now use their debit and credit cards in most destinations, “even in third-world countries and the oddest places,” says Sojka. In addition to their convenience and safety, debit and credit almost always provide the most competitive exchanges rates…

While it usually pays to be an informed shopper who seeks out the lowest interest rates, a new credit scam is targeting savvy deal hunting Canadians. For a fee, these fraudsters are promising unaware customers low interest credit card rates, while at the same time collecting highly sensitive personal data. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is warning Canadians to be cautious when giving out sensitive information over the phone or online. A major red flag is the fee charged for these interest rates; no legitimate institution would charge you for a low interest card.
Be Wary Of Interest Rate Offers
To set up the scam the fraudster calls or sends an email to a possible victim promising to secure them a credit card with an interest rate lower than they could get at a bank or financial institution. For their service they charge a fee. If the person falls victim they have lost out twice – first, by giving away sensitive information to a person who is going to use it for no good and secondly for paying a fee for a false service…

Another day of adding lots of new bonus offers! News, Tips & TricksI am starting to get a few phone calls from the media and other inquiries regarding the potential split of CIBC and Aeroplan as the deadline for CIBC to respond to the Aeroplan and TD agreement is tomorrow. While I don’t have a crystal ball as to what is going to happen I am going to wager a guess that the split will happen. CIBC is investing heavily in a new credit card product to come out later this year or early next year and would have to put up even more cash to match the Aeroplan/TD agreement. That is a lot of capital to outlay even though CIBC could afford it but why would they want to further dilute their credit card portfolio by keeping Aeroplan and adding a new card to the mix? That is unless the new card being planned replaced the current Aventura cards. Ultimately we will have to wait until tomorrow or even early next week to see what transpires unless one of our Aimia/Aeroplan contacts/readers wants to share the details sooner…