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

[Eudaimonia]

43 minutes ago, heydere said:

I was reading the Gold Amex (https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/credit-cards/american-express/gold-card.html) and Passport infinite (https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/credit-cards/visa/passport-infinite-card.html) descriptions. Regrading reward points earned, both mention eligible "eligible grocery stores, dining, entertainment purchases"

Does anyone know what counts as eligible? Cant find the info anywhere.

 

These concern the MCC codes for Visa (Mastercard MCC codes can differ). Basically, each merchant has a code for the main type of product/service they sell. There are some short lists available online but they're for stores that are pretty obvious to you anyway. Best way to find out would be to spend money at the store and then see what it classifies as in your Scotiaonline account. 

[xiphoid]

Was just informed that Scotiabank's new LOC is a $300,000 limit.

[casajayo]

On 6/29/2018 at 9:12 PM, medhopeful2 said:

Hey guys,

 

For those who got the visa infinite cards from Scotia, were you able to use the promotion for 25k points after spending $1000 the first 3 months? I was told no because the card is free for med students. 

 

Thanks!

I can confirm that I got both cards (the Gold Amex and Passport Visa) and have already earned both bonuses, so your advisor was ill-informed

[GTA Med Advisor]

Changes are live - $300K limit is now available

[ArchEnemy]

8 minutes ago, GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor said:

Changes are live - $300K limit is now available

Will we still have full access to $300k LOC even after finishing residency? 

[GTA Med Advisor]

29 minutes ago, ArchEnemy said:

Will we still have full access to $300k LOC even after finishing residency? 

You have the option to keep it as a student LOC and still have access to it for 24 months after finishing residency/fellowships, or you can convert it to a professional LOC within 12 months of finishing residency/fellowship and have access to it indefinitely.

[NeuroD]

On 7/3/2018 at 11:56 AM, xiphoid said:

Was just informed that Scotiabank's new LOC is a $300,000 limit.

I don't get why people are excited about this change....very few of us hit the upper limit anyways. Not many people will really benefit from this.

[la marzocco]

30 minutes ago, PhD2MD said:

I don't get why people are excited about this change....very few of us hit the upper limit anyways. Not many people will really benefit from this.

I don't think it was necessarily this change that people were fixated on in particular. I think they were hoping there would be other changes. For example, whether the $500 credit that MD Financial is offering for its LOC is available? Since Scotia acquired MD Financial, it seems illogical for MD Financial to offer its LOC through National Bank. Another area was whether there would be any other incentives (such as iPad to match RBC or other credit card offerings, etc.)

[GTA Med Advisor]

1 minute ago, la marzocco said:

I don't think it was necessarily this change that people were fixated on in particular. I think they were hoping there would be other changes. For example, whether the $500 credit that MD Financial is offering for its LOC is available? Since Scotia acquired MD Financial, it seems illogical for MD Financial to offer its LOC through National Bank. Another area was whether there would be any other incentives (such as iPad to match RBC or other credit card offerings, etc.)

This acquisition is not complete as of yet so I wouldn't expect any changes until everything is approved/completed. It will likely be another couple of months until that is all said and done.

[la marzocco]

2 minutes ago, GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor said:

This acquisition is not complete as of yet so I wouldn't expect any changes until everything is approved/completed. It will likely be another couple of months until that is all said and done.

Fair enough. I guess the sole announced change being the increase in the limit comes in as a bit underwhelming for some ha.

[brady23]

Scotia is the only bank that waives credit card/banking fees for residency correct?

I think RBC only does it for 4 years

[Organeer]

34 minutes ago, GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor said:

This acquisition is not complete as of yet so I wouldn't expect any changes until everything is approved/completed. It will likely be another couple of months until that is all said and done.

Would you say there are additional incentives coming in said another couple of months after everything is approved/completed?

[GTA Med Advisor]

15 minutes ago, Organeer said:

Would you say there are additional incentives coming in said another couple of months after everything is approved/completed?

We don't have any information on anything like that right now, unless maybe @ScotiabankMedsAdvisor knows something I don't. 

[ArchEnemy]

1 hour ago, GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor said:

You have the option to keep it as a student LOC and still have access to it for 24 months after finishing residency/fellowships, or you can convert it to a professional LOC within 12 months of finishing residency/fellowship and have access to it indefinitely.

If we convert the Student LOC to a professional LOC, would the interest rate remain at Prime - 0.25%?

[la marzocco]

7 minutes ago, ArchEnemy said:

If we convert the Student LOC to a professional LOC, would the interest rate remain at Prime - 0.25%?

I think it goes to just prime.

[GTA Med Advisor]

1 hour ago, ArchEnemy said:

If we convert the Student LOC to a professional LOC, would the interest rate remain at Prime - 0.25%?

 

53 minutes ago, la marzocco said:

I think it goes to just prime.

It would go to Prime before changes were made today, and I don't see any changes to that mentioned so I assume that remains.

[ScotiabankMedsAdvisor]

2 hours ago, GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor said:

We don't have any information on anything like that right now, unless maybe @ScotiabankMedsAdvisor knows something I don't. 

I do not know of any additional changes coming.  As it stands today the plan is follows.

-300,000 max limit available entirely at setup

-free unlimited chequing account for school, residency/fellowship,  grace period

-Passport Infinite & Gold Amex with fees waived for duration of school, residency/fellowship & grace period

-Fees on personal account and credit cards continue to be waived afterwards if you setup the professional plan

-2 year grace period

-Option to convert to professional line.  To my knowledge we are the only bank that has this option.

For any dental students reading the thread the max limit for dental school has increased to 350,000.

[ArchEnemy]

@ScotiabankMedsAdvisor @GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor

Why does Scotiabank offer ScotiaOne checking account with the Professional Student LOC, rather than the Student Banking Advantage Plan? The latter seems like a better banking account.

The latter has unlimited Interac e-transfers, which is more popular amongst students than actual cheques.

[insomnias]

4 minutes ago, ArchEnemy said:

@ScotiabankMedsAdvisor @GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor

Why does Scotiabank offer ScotiaOne checking account with the Professional Student LOC, rather than the Student Banking Advantage Plan? The latter seems like a better banking account.

The latter has unlimited Interac e-transfers, which is more popular amongst students than actual cheques.

Can't any student get the student banking advantage plan? It's what I've had for the past few years as a non-med student.

In other words: what's stopping you from double-dipping and just setting up two chequing accounts (one ScotiaOne with the LOC; one SBAP)?

Edit: Ah, well I suppose if you're in residency, you can't really keep the SBAP.

[ScotiabankMedsAdvisor]

10 minutes ago, insomnias said:

Can't any student get the student banking advantage plan? It's what I've had for the past few years as a non-med student.

In other words: what's stopping you from double-dipping and just setting up two chequing accounts (one ScotiaOne with the LOC; one SBAP)?

Edit: Ah, well I suppose if you're in residency, you can't really keep the SBAP.

I personally always set up the student account now as it allows unlimited e-transfers.

[Organeer]

Can a Scotia advisor confirm whether or not we will get the points bonus on our credit card (e.g. if we spend $1k in 3 months or whatever case it is)

[brady23]

7 minutes ago, Organeer said:

Can a Scotia advisor confirm whether or not we will get the points bonus on our credit card (e.g. if we spend $1k in 3 months or whatever case it is)

My advisor also said that we wouldn't get the points, but I saw the bonus points 3 months later!

[NeuroD]

50 minutes ago, Organeer said:

Can a Scotia advisor confirm whether or not we will get the points bonus on our credit card (e.g. if we spend $1k in 3 months or whatever case it is)

Mine offered it up front. I don't think there were different categories.

[SunAndMoon]

3 hours ago, ScotiabankMedsAdvisor said:

I do not know of any additional changes coming.  As it stands today the plan is follows.

-300,000 max limit available entirely at setup

-free unlimited chequing account for school, residency/fellowship,  grace period

-Passport Infinite & Gold Amex with fees waived for duration of school, residency/fellowship & grace period

-Fees on personal account and credit cards continue to be waived afterwards if you setup the professional plan

-2 year grace period

-Option to convert to professional line.  To my knowledge we are the only bank that has this option.

For any dental students reading the thread the max limit for dental school has increased to 350,000.

I was told the grace period was 12 months by the advisor I spoke to a few weeks ago. Is this a recent change?

[ScotiabankMedsAdvisor]

4 minutes ago, SunAndMoon said:

I was told the grace period was 12 months by the advisor I spoke to a few weeks ago. Is this a recent change?

 

4 minutes ago, SunAndMoon said:

I was told the grace period was 12 months by the advisor I spoke to a few weeks ago. Is this a recent change?

No it’s been that way for about a year.  Wasn’t well documented within the policy until this week.  You are still eligible for it regardless as long as you haven’t already gone into repayment.