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


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I, for one, am glad it's not yet centralized! Else I'm sure every bank will deny the LOC until Sept if you go to UT.

 

 

 

Moving costs, repaying OSAP, consolidating outstanding debts into a line with the best possible interest rate etc etc

 

Why would anybody pay OSAP at this point when you will have another 4 yeras of interest-free status (3 years for Mac)?

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Why would anybody pay OSAP at this point when you will have another 4 yeras of interest-free status (3 years for Mac)?

 

I've been out of school for 12 months. I've been repaying since November 2012. I'm trying to get them to suspend my payments from June 2013 onwards since I just re applied but I'm not sure if it will go through until the paperwork for the application all gets completed.

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Why would anybody pay OSAP at this point when you will have another 4 yeras of interest-free status (3 years for Mac)?

 

They wouldn't unless they enjoyed paying interest for no reason (ok, unless they have actually exceeded the max number of weeks for OSAP allowed - under the new rules payment may not be required at that point as you are still a student BUT interest does begin accruing).

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I've been out of school for 12 months. I've been repaying since November 2012. I'm trying to get them to suspend my payments from June 2013 onwards since I just re applied but I'm not sure if it will go through until the paperwork for the application all gets completed.

 

you won't be replaying OSAP though, just reentering non payment status? :)

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I've been out of school for 12 months. I've been repaying since November 2012. I'm trying to get them to suspend my payments from June 2013 onwards since I just re applied but I'm not sure if it will go through until the paperwork for the application all gets completed.

 

I see... Good luck, but I am pretty sure they don't put you on interest free status until the start of your new study period (I have been out of school for 2 years now and thus have been paying my OSAP and just reapplied as well).

 

By paying off OSAP I thought you meant paying the entire thing on your LOC as many people do before the start of residency. This wouldn't make sense to do this before the end of med school.

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you won't be replaying OSAP though, just reentering non payment status? :)

 

I'm repaying at the moment but hope to enter non payment status from June 2013 onwards (for the next 4 years).

 

I see... Good luck, but I am pretty sure they don't put you on interest free status until the start of your new study period (I have been out of school for 2 years now and thus have been paying my OSAP and just reapplied as well).

 

By paying off OSAP I thought you meant paying the entire thing on your LOC as many people do before the start of residency. This wouldn't make sense to do this before the end of med school.

 

Oh no, that would be so much unnecessary interest. I think OSAP will continue to demand its monthly installment until Sept 2013, so I need funds to pay that back as I'm not working this summer. I'll be consolidating OSAP into my LOC after graduating in 2017.

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I think you guys should all go for Scotia.

 

Scotia's visa points are just slightly lower than RBCs in dollar amount (Scotia 3125 pts per $25 vs. RBCs 3000 pts per $25) but Scotia does not charge an annual $120 premium.

 

RBC's special "100,000 pts for any round trip around the world up to $2000" may seem good at first but when I looked into it, they exclude surcharges and taxes, which add up to $400-500. I have close to 100,000 RBC pts after 4 years. I looked up a trip that I would've paid $1200 for on Expedia and it would cost me 100,000 RBC points + $450. Had I redeemed those 100,000 points straight up I would've gotten $825.

 

Scotia's debit card even gives you rewards too (in Scene pts), while RBCs gives nothing.

 

Scotia has a higher max at $275,000, RBCs is $225,000, maybe $250,000.

 

Seems to me like Scotia is a clear winner unless you guys can see a mistake.

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I think you guys should all go for Scotia.

 

Scotia's visa points are just slightly lower than RBCs in dollar amount (Scotia 3125 pts per $25 vs. RBCs 3000 pts per $25) but Scotia does not charge an annual $120 premium.

 

RBC's special "100,000 pts for any round trip around the world up to $2000" may seem good at first but when I looked into it, they exclude surcharges and taxes, which add up to $400-500. I have close to 100,000 RBC pts after 4 years. I looked up a trip that I would've paid $1200 for on Expedia and it would cost me 100,000 RBC points + $450. Had I redeemed those 100,000 points straight up I would've gotten $825.

 

Scotia's debit card even gives you rewards too (in Scene pts), while RBCs gives nothing.

 

Scotia has a higher max at $275,000, RBCs is $225,000, maybe $250,000.

 

Seems to me like Scotia is a clear winner unless you guys can see a mistake.

 

I am just shopping at this point but it's nice to know that RBC gives $250K up front and money shouldn't be as much of an issue during residency so I think it's better for Scotia to give $275K up front. The only reason they don't is because it affects the already minimal return they get from medical LOCs. The visa points is also great and it's fee has been waived by some during negotiations.

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The visa points is also great and it's fee has been waived by some during negotiations.

 

My guess is this was possible years ago but it seems RBC has a pretty firm stance on their premiums now. By all means talk to someone at RBC and try to get the fee waived for as long as you're holding the LOC. If you get no more than 1 year waived, go with Scotia.

 

Not even the RBC Healthcare "specialist" Edyta Deering posting in this thread knows what she's talking about. She was flat out wrong about the $39 off the premium. Now she quietly edited that part out of her post. RBC may be running a gong show. I'm sadly with RBC now and am going to see about switching to Scotia.

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I just went in today (Scotia)..and unless you guys somehow have a crazy good credit score and are planning to work during your education, they won't give you that money "up front". Mine is approved for a 200K limit, but split into 50K every year. As for the Visa Gold (5K), they waive a $100 annual fee for you to have the card, and they give you a pass on banking fees for debit as well (and a $5000 overdraft protection).

 

The OSAP (or any provincial loan for that matter) can only be put back into interst-free/payment-free status within 30 days of the start of your study period. For most of us this will be end of August, so the educational institutions won't sign it until late July at most.

 

Hope this helps.

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I contacted Scotia and I pretty much got the same as you ^

 

But I mean I knew in advance that Scotia doesn't give out the full loan right away. And that is no big deal to me, I would rather take that + a free credit card than no card.

 

The only surprising thing I found was that during residency I get an additional $20k per year up to a maximum of $60k, so loan in the end becomes $260k. I expected $15k per year up to a maximum of $75k.

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I just went in today (Scotia)..and unless you guys somehow have a crazy good credit score and are planning to work during your education, they won't give you that money "up front". Mine is approved for a 200K limit, but split into 50K every year. As for the Visa Gold (5K), they waive a $100 annual fee for you to have the card, and they give you a pass on banking fees for debit as well (and a $5000 overdraft protection).

 

The OSAP (or any provincial loan for that matter) can only be put back into interst-free/payment-free status within 30 days of the start of your study period. For most of us this will be end of August, so the educational institutions won't sign it until late July at most.

 

Hope this helps.

 

The 50K should be available to you right now. The next 50K releases in approximately August 2014 or whenever your school provides confirmation you are enrolled in second year. The 50K limit has little to do with an individual medical student's credit report- it's Scotia's universal policy to release the money in 4 chunks over 4 years no matter how good your credit score is. Did the rep imply your score affects this? If so, I think they might be misinformed...

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The only surprising thing I found was that during residency I get an additional $20k per year up to a maximum of $60k, so loan in the end becomes $260k. I expected $15k per year up to a maximum of $75k.

 

It used to be 15K upto 275K but 2 weeks ago they changed it to 20K per year of residency (though they still said upto a maximum of 275K so I'm assuming, 200K,220K,240K,260K and 275K are the annual increases). It was funny because when I was talking to a rep at the time she said she literally got the update the day I went in!

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It used to be 15K upto 275K but 2 weeks ago they changed it to 20K per year of residency (though they still said upto a maximum of 275K so I'm assuming, 200K,220K,240K,260K and 275K are the annual increases). It was funny because when I was talking to a rep at the time she said she literally got the update the day I went in!

 

Question, do people plan on actually using 275 000 on their line of credit? I don't see how I could possibly spend that much without just buying a LOT of things I don't need. I'm highly doubting I'll hit 200 000. If so, why does a limit of 250 vs 225 vs 275 matter? I'm asking cause the LoC I'm applying for comes standard with a 225 limit and I want to know if I should really be asking them to raise this..

 

I'll be going to Queens and sharing an apt with my long-term gf btw, so I'll be paying abound $650 in rent.

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Question, do people plan on actually using 275 000 on their line of credit? I don't see how I could possibly spend that much without just buying a LOT of things I don't need. I'm highly doubting I'll hit 200 000. If so, why does a limit of 250 vs 225 vs 275 matter? I'm asking cause the LoC I'm applying for comes standard with a 225 limit and I want to know if I should really be asking them to raise this..

 

I'll be going to Queens and sharing an apt with my long-term gf btw, so I'll be paying abound $650 in rent.

 

For most people, the LOC is a convenient source of funds later on. Personally, I'll be consolidating over 50K in OSAP debt to my LOC later. It's hard to say how much the next 4 years will cost me but I need at least 50K free to consolidate OSAP. And then some people invest their LOC credit into property to reduce mortgage and interest payments........it really depends on many factors and you never know what mortgage rates will be in 4+ years......My logic for requesting the max possible is- I just don't see any losses in having that potential loan available at such a low rate.

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Question, do people plan on actually using 275 000 on their line of credit? I don't see how I could possibly spend that much without just buying a LOT of things I don't need. I'm highly doubting I'll hit 200 000. If so, why does a limit of 250 vs 225 vs 275 matter? I'm asking cause the LoC I'm applying for comes standard with a 225 limit and I want to know if I should really be asking them to raise this..

 

I'll be going to Queens and sharing an apt with my long-term gf btw, so I'll be paying abound $650 in rent.

 

Most of us use absolutely no where near the full amount. I laugh and laugh at how much we get at times.

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Question, do people plan on actually using 275 000 on their line of credit? I don't see how I could possibly spend that much without just buying a LOT of things I don't need. I'm highly doubting I'll hit 200 000. If so, why does a limit of 250 vs 225 vs 275 matter? I'm asking cause the LoC I'm applying for comes standard with a 225 limit and I want to know if I should really be asking them to raise this..

 

I'll be going to Queens and sharing an apt with my long-term gf btw, so I'll be paying abound $650 in rent.

 

650 doesn't get you anywhere within city limits in Vancouver, and I hear it's worse in Toronto. Also my RBC representative told me that they will be increasing their limit to 300k in a few years to several banks. Not sure if this is true, only a messenger.

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I think you guys should all go for Scotia.

 

Scotia's visa points are just slightly lower than RBCs in dollar amount (Scotia 3125 pts per $25 vs. RBCs 3000 pts per $25) but Scotia does not charge an annual $120 premium.

 

RBC's special "100,000 pts for any round trip around the world up to $2000" may seem good at first but when I looked into it, they exclude surcharges and taxes, which add up to $400-500. I have close to 100,000 RBC pts after 4 years. I looked up a trip that I would've paid $1200 for on Expedia and it would cost me 100,000 RBC points + $450. Had I redeemed those 100,000 points straight up I would've gotten $825.

 

Scotia's debit card even gives you rewards too (in Scene pts), while RBCs gives nothing.

 

Scotia has a higher max at $275,000, RBCs is $225,000, maybe $250,000.

 

Seems to me like Scotia is a clear winner unless you guys can see a mistake.

 

i concur. i'm going to be signing with scotia within the next couple of days.

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My guess is this was possible years ago but it seems RBC has a pretty firm stance on their premiums now. By all means talk to someone at RBC and try to get the fee waived for as long as you're holding the LOC. If you get no more than 1 year waived, go with Scotia.

 

Not even the RBC Healthcare "specialist" Edyta Deering posting in this thread knows what she's talking about. She was flat out wrong about the $39 off the premium. Now she quietly edited that part out of her post. RBC may be running a gong show. I'm sadly with RBC now and am going to see about switching to Scotia.

 

Scotia was MUCH more informed than anyone I talked to at RBC. This ultimately made my decision for me. I think RBC is losing out on the market simply by having uneducated individuals handling the LOCs. The person I talked to was advising me to buy a car with my LOC and spend the full $250k because it's "so easy" to pay back. That's just not sound financial advice!

 

Also, I'm personally happy Scotia gives just the $50k. My advisor likes to point out that they are not just a credit source but a financial institution and would like to help you plan for the future as well. They know we don't need the full $200k in 99% of cases, so they limit you to what you do need, thus incorporating some bit of budgeting into your future. The people at Scotia were overall great and I think they are the clear winners for any med student looking into an LOC!

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650 doesn't get you anywhere within city limits in Vancouver, and I hear it's worse in Toronto. Also my RBC representative told me that they will be increasing their limit to 300k in a few years to several banks. Not sure if this is true, only a messenger.

 

Remember I essentially have the option of renting a 1 bdrm place and splitting the rent in half with my gf. So that helps a LOT in getting a good place at an affordable price.

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Remember I essentially have the option of renting a 1 bdrm place and splitting the rent in half with my gf. So that helps a LOT in getting a good place at an affordable price.

 

Given your access to funding and your potential great financial future, perhaps you can co.nsider not requiring your g/f to contribute to rent so she can use this money for other important expenses. Just saying.... ;)

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650 doesn't get you anywhere within city limits in Vancouver, and I hear it's worse in Toronto. Also my RBC representative told me that they will be increasing their limit to 300k in a few years to several banks. Not sure if this is true, only a messenger.

 

If so the competition would result in other following suit pretty closely. The real danger is what happens when interest rate rise - we would need a higher limit in their just to do the same things as the interest will add up.

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Scotia was MUCH more informed than anyone I talked to at RBC. This ultimately made my decision for me. I think RBC is losing out on the market simply by having uneducated individuals handling the LOCs. The person I talked to was advising me to buy a car with my LOC and spend the full $250k because it's "so easy" to pay back. That's just not sound financial advice!

 

Also, I'm personally happy Scotia gives just the $50k. My advisor likes to point out that they are not just a credit source but a financial institution and would like to help you plan for the future as well. They know we don't need the full $200k in 99% of cases, so they limit you to what you do need, thus incorporating some bit of budgeting into your future. The people at Scotia were overall great and I think they are the clear winners for any med student looking into an LOC!

 

Oh man - that RBC advice was terrible. Terrible. Beyond terrible.....gah!

 

It is relatively easy to be pay it back but not "easy" and wasting it is stupid - and again we know interest rates are pretty much going in one direction only and that is up. It is tool to be used wisely. Life a reasonably good life of course but take it easy.

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Given your access to funding and your potential great financial future, perhaps you can co.nsider not requiring your g/f to contribute to rent so she can use this money for other important expenses. Just saying.... ;)

 

She would NEVER go for that, she won't even let me pay $700 while she pays $600 (because $600 was her initial budget but the place we are looking at is $1300). Anyway, she won't have it lol. We are both very financially responsible individuals (dating back to well before we met each other) and both want to contribute as we feel it is the most fair way to go and the best way to keep financial matters from causing problems.

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