Lines of Credit for Medical Students (Scotia is the best option)

[w8list]

58 minutes ago, Premed_Girl said:

Did everybody receive the $300 bonus for opening up an account with Scotia? And also the bonus points for the credit cards if you spend a certain amount within the first 3 months?

the 300$ comes with conditions too, but not hard to meet:

Complete two (2) of the following three (3) activities in your Eligible Account within 60 days of opening: a. Set up an eligible recurring direct deposit (e.g., employer payroll, pension provider, or government) which will recur monthly for a minimum of three (3) consecutive months, or b. Set up a minimum of two (2) eligible separate recurring pre-authorized transactions (e.g., utility payments, property taxes, loan/mortgage payments) with a minimum value of at least $50 per transaction which will each recur monthly for a minimum of three (3) consecutive months, or c. Make at least one eligible online bill payment (e.g. utility bill, hydro bill, credit card payment, cable) of at least $50 through the Scotiabank Mobile App or through Scotia OnLine. 

[elephante]

1 hour ago, Premed_Girl said:

Did everybody receive the $300 bonus for opening up an account with Scotia? And also the bonus points for the credit cards if you spend a certain amount within the first 3 months?

The 300$ is given within 60 days with the condition that you have 2 authorized automatic bill payments in your account within that time. I set up the automatic bill payments but have not yet received the 300$. There is also some caveat with the credit card points where you have to spend a certain amount first before getting them, like you said, and I did not yet get them.

[elephante]

22 hours ago, Instagrammar said:

I think last year was when Scotia bought MD financial and so they ran the promotion to get new clients banking with them. I doubt they will offer the same promotion again.

My advisor said the $500 was just a one-time thing, and won’t be offered again.

[elephante]

On 5/29/2019 at 4:36 PM, allycm30 said:

Their mat leave benefit - no interest accrued or payments required for 1 year (can be residency or medical school).

Can you PM me your advisor’s name? My advisor had no idea about this when I asked her directly about the parental leave.

[vigilance]

23 hours ago, EG slayer said:

I see that MD Financial through Scotiabank offered this deal of $500 cash if you joined or switched to their LOC from this past Oct-April. I am currently looking at getting a LOC but now am thinking of waiting until October in the hopes of getting this deal. If I can finance my studies until October, are there any reasons not to wait until October other than the fact that I'd be missing on points from purchases until then?

 

Doesn't look like it...but TD has a better offer for a $500 Amazon Gift Card with Credit Cards and free financial planning for cash flow management.

https://www.td.com/ca/en/personal-banking/student-line-of-credit-offer-amazon-gift-card/

[anonymouspls]

1 minute ago, vigilance said:

Doesn't look like it...but TD has a better offer for a $500 Amazon Gift Card with Credit Cards and free financial planning for cash flow management.

https://www.td.com/ca/en/personal-banking/student-line-of-credit-offer-amazon-gift-card/

Thank you Mr. TD representative 

[Premed_Girl]

8 minutes ago, elephante said:

The 300$ is given within 60 days with the condition that you have 2 authorized automatic bill payments in your account within that time. I set up the automatic bill payments but have not yet received the 300$. There is also some caveat with the credit card points where you have to spend a certain amount first before getting them, like you said, and I did not yet get them.

Yes I understand, but my advisor said that I am not eligible for the $300 and the AMEX points because I'm opening an account through a "special" student account. I am just wondering if she is unaware and if others are receiving the $300 / AMEX points, so that I can go in and let them know.

[DoctorArts]

I didn't get the AmEx, but I already have my Visa points. Easy peasy.

[canadianguy7]

21 minutes ago, Premed_Girl said:

Yes I understand, but my advisor said that I am not eligible for the $300 and the AMEX points because I'm opening an account through a "special" student account. I am just wondering if she is unaware and if others are receiving the $300 / AMEX points, so that I can go in and let them know.

I just got it set up recently, and I agree its $600 total ($300 for completing the Scotio One cheqing account https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/bank-accounts/chequing-accounts/scotiaone-chequing-account.html and $300 for completing the Infinite Passport Visa card https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/credit-cards/visa/passport-infinite-card.html#modal-a55fb01c-9059-429e-9247-1579c5fe1d79)

[Premed_Girl]

4 minutes ago, canadianguy7 said:

I just got it set up recently, and I agree its $600 total ($300 for completing the Scotio One cheqing account https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/bank-accounts/chequing-accounts/scotiaone-chequing-account.html and $300 for completing the Infinite Passport Visa card https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/credit-cards/visa/passport-infinite-card.html#modal-a55fb01c-9059-429e-9247-1579c5fe1d79)

Thanks! Just to be clear, you did get the $300 for opening the chequin account (once you follow the instructions etc.) and the visa passport points, but not the AMEX gold points?  

[elephante]

31 minutes ago, Premed_Girl said:

Yes I understand, but my advisor said that I am not eligible for the $300 and the AMEX points because I'm opening an account through a "special" student account. I am just wondering if she is unaware and if others are receiving the $300 / AMEX points, so that I can go in and let them know.

You’re eligible for the 300$ and the Amex points (I got both and all I have with Scotia is the special student account). 

[DoctorArts]

I had to ask to get the ScotiaOne account to be eligible for the $300. Originally my advisor was going to set me up with the student account so I'd have unlimited e-transfers, which I don't care about. 

[canadianguy7]

6 hours ago, Premed_Girl said:

Thanks! Just to be clear, you did get the $300 for opening the chequin account (once you follow the instructions etc.) and the visa passport points, but not the AMEX gold points?  

They told me that only the Passport Infinite has the promotion (30,000 points = $300 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months), but you have to activate the card ASAP before July 1 for this promotion. They said I wouldn't get the AMEX promotion (15,000 points =$150 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months) since they cant stack promotions from multiple credit cards.

[xiphoid]

3 hours ago, canadianguy7 said:

They said I wouldn't get the AMEX promotion (15,000 points =$150 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months) since they cant stack promotions from multiple credit cards.

I was told the same thing last year but I got the 15k points.

[w8list]

11 hours ago, canadianguy7 said:

They told me that only the Passport Infinite has the promotion (30,000 points = $300 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months), but you have to activate the card ASAP before July 1 for this promotion. They said I wouldn't get the AMEX promotion (15,000 points =$150 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months) since they cant stack promotions from multiple credit cards.

I was just told by my advisor that I would get both credit card promos

[LostLamb]

15 hours ago, canadianguy7 said:

They told me that only the Passport Infinite has the promotion (30,000 points = $300 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months), but you have to activate the card ASAP before July 1 for this promotion. They said I wouldn't get the AMEX promotion (15,000 points =$150 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months) since they cant stack promotions from multiple credit cards.

They are already cutting the promos down. Last year, whilst a pgy5 I finally opened the visa and amex as part of the LOC (needed cards that had high enough limits to handle my RC related charges!) and the passport infinite promo was 40000 points for $1k spend in 3 months. Amex promo was same as now. There were no questions about "stacking" promos.

I will note that I got dinged on my credit score for the hard credit checks for the cards, but it'll recover soon enough

Lesson is...if you hear of the promo and like it, get it asap. If others are getting it and you aren't, find another bank employee or bank who will honour what others are getting. These things are ephemeral.

[Premed_Girl]

16 hours ago, canadianguy7 said:

They told me that only the Passport Infinite has the promotion (30,000 points = $300 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months), but you have to activate the card ASAP before July 1 for this promotion. They said I wouldn't get the AMEX promotion (15,000 points =$150 if I spend $1000 in the first 3 months) since they cant stack promotions from multiple credit cards.

My advisor told me the same thing, but I told them that other advisors are giving other medical students both promotions and made her double check, and she called me back 10 minutes later and told me that I will receive both promotions so maybe try doing the same thing!

[unduhkuvahbruddah]

Has anyone heard of the credit card promos being renewed after July 1st? I’m away on a trip and won’t be back until after July 1st to activate my cards. I swear I heard the scotia woman say that the deals will likely be renewed after July 1st. Anyone else heard if they run these promos later into the summer?

[Tyra]

So pardon my financial illiterateness in advance, I'm getting better I promise! 

But is it true that Scotia doesn't make you pay any interest throughout the duration of med school? On their site, it says "While in school, no principal interest payments are required." But that almost sounds too good to be true? What's the catch?

All the other banks seem to ask for monthly interest payments. Am I getting this right?

[distressedpremed]

36 minutes ago, Tyra said:

So pardon my financial illiterateness in advance, I'm getting better I promise! 

But is it true that Scotia doesn't make you pay any interest throughout the duration of med school? On their site, it says "While in school, no principal interest payments are required." But that almost sounds too good to be true? What's the catch?

All the other banks seem to ask for monthly interest payments. Am I getting this right?

The "principal" is the primary debt you're occuring. So you don't have to pay any of the money that you borrowed back, but you will accrue interest automatically. 

So if you borrowed $1000.00, you don't need to pay back any of that back during med school. However, you would need to accrue interest during that time on the 1K. That interest, given you probably don't have any cash or income, will simply accrue on top of that $1K. That is the "monthly interest payment" that you owe every month. 

 

[Tyra]

21 minutes ago, distressedpremed said:

The "principal" is the primary debt you're occuring. So you don't have to pay any of the money that you borrowed back, but you will accrue interest automatically. 

So if you borrowed $1000.00, you don't need to pay back any of that back during med school. However, you would need to accrue interest during that time on the 1K. That interest, given you probably don't have any cash or income, will simply accrue on top of that $1K. That is the "monthly interest payment" that you owe every month. 

  

Okay, that makes sense! Thank you @distressedpremed

So for example, TD says "interest-only payments while in school."

So with Scotia the interest payments are automatically charged to LOC vs. with TD you would actively have to make a payment?

[distressedpremed]

1 minute ago, Tyra said:

Okay, that makes sense! Thank you @distressedpremed

So for example, TD says "interest-only payments while in school."

So with Scotia the interest payments are automatically charged to LOC vs. with TD you would actively have to make a payment?

doesn't matter since either way the monthly interest payments have to come from somewhere...

When I was with RBC it was automatically charged, and even with scotiabank if you don't pay it off (i.e. don't have any income) it gets automatically charged

either way the bank gets his due

[EG slayer]

4 minutes ago, Tyra said:

Okay, that makes sense! Thank you @distressedpremed

So for example, TD says "interest-only payments while in school."

So with Scotia the interest payments are automatically charged to LOC vs. with TD you would actively have to make a payment?

exactly, with TD you have to take out money from your LOC, add it to your chequing account, and then pay off monthly interest. With Scotiabank, they automatically do that for you. At the end of the day you're paying the same interest to both banks but with Scotia you don't need to remember each month to do it!

[Tyra]

Okay, thank you so much for clarifying @distressedpremed and @EG slayer!!!

[EG slayer]

On 6/20/2019 at 5:12 PM, mothernature said:

Has anyone heard of the credit card promos being renewed after July 1st? I’m away on a trip and won’t be back until after July 1st to activate my cards. I swear I heard the scotia woman say that the deals will likely be renewed after July 1st. Anyone else heard if they run these promos later into the summer?

my advisor said that for med students Scotia will extend the existing credit card offers until July 31st since proof of enrolment can take a bit