How Does the Home Capital Crisis Affect Me? + MORE May 9th

As of late, Home Capital Group is dominating the headlines. To quickly summarize, on April 19, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) claimed that brokers had falsified information on mortgage applications submitted to Home Trust. As a result, shares in the company dropped while customers withdrew more than $1 billion in deposits from Home Capital Group subsidiaries. The sudden lack of deposits forced Home Capital to secure a loan with less-than-favourable terms.
Since we wrote a detailed post on what’s happening with Home Capital Group, the company has tapped $1.4 billion from their $2 billion credit line and suspended their dividend. But, many people want to know how this news affects them personally and if there will be any effect on the hot housing markets in Canada. Here are the answers to some of the most common questions people are asking.
Does this mean we’re in a housing bubble?
There’s no definite answer to this question, so we need to look at the information currently available to us…

Canadian North’s FFP Aurora Rewards is celebrating its 3rd Birthday! Happy Birthday to the program of the north from Rewards Canada! As part of the celebration all members can earn triple Aurora Rewards points for any bookings made between May 9 and May 15. Remember you’ll also earn Aeroplan miles on Canadian North flights in addition to your Aurora Rewards points.Offer details3x Aurora Rewards Points for flights on Canadian North systemwide. Full details. Book by May 15

News, Tips & Tricks Today is a no news is good news day! The two major pieces of news in the Canadian loyalty world have been covered in separate posts already so feel free to click on them below! Tip of the day: Check to see how your credit card awards points on non-whole dollar purchases to see if you are missing out on miles and points. Some cards round down and others round up. Tha means some won’t award points and miles on the cents portion of your purchase while others will round up if you hit the 50 cent mark. For example if you buy something for $28.79 some cards will only award you with whatever points or miles you are entitled to get for $28 while others will award you with points or miles for $29 since they round up at the 50 cent mark. Not a huge deal but I know when I’m buying gas on my American Express Gold Rewards card and the pump stops at $94.38 I’ll top off to just over $94.50 to get those extra two points. Posts since our last update: Happy Birthday Aurora Rewards! Celebrate with 3x Points for all Canadian North bookings until May 15 Canadian North’s FFP Aurora Rewards is celebrating its 3rd Birthday! Happy Birthday to the program of the north from…30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until June 8, 17  Many of you ask when this offer will return and as always we are proud to let you know the…Travel Deals British Airways has Toronto to Paris flights for as little as $798 for next fall and winter…

 Many of you ask when this offer will return and as always we are proud to let you know the much loved transfer bonus from RBC Rewards to British Airways Executive Club is back.  Bad news is the bonus is lower just like we saw last spring, only 30% versus the fall’s 50%. The bonus is harder to find after RBC changed their website and the only  indication of it is the BA banner stating ‘Bonus Offer’ After some digging on FlyerTalk we were able to find out the full details.The offer is for all of you RBC Avion cardholders (Infinite and Platinum) and runs until June 8th. Despite the BA devaluations and only being 30%, this promotion is still a decent deal as BA Avios are a great option for flights to Asia (via Cathay Pacific), short to medium haul within North America  (short haul offer is great on Alaska Airlines or American Airlines see this post here) and even though huge surcharges are added to their UK/Europe redemptions they can still be an alright value because of this bonus based on your spend with the credit card (see my post about Earn & Burn for an explanation)…