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Timing Between Acceptance And Proof Of Enrollment


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For those of you having gone through the process of beginning meds--I'm trying to get a feel for timing. I've accepted my offer to UofC, but am now trying to plan selling my place, and securing a line of credit before the start of classes in July.

 

How soon after you have accepted your offer is the proof of enrollment issued so that you're able to secure a line of credit and other financing options?

 

Also, I feel like I've narrowed down my preferred institutions for my LOC; however, I'm curious about people's experience in their first year where I would assume most upfront costs are incurred. Scotia offers $275k through residency @ 2.85% (current prime) with $50k access maximums per year. TD offers $250k through residency @ 2.85% with $85k access first year. Thoughts on this?

 

Thanks!

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The offer of admission was all my bank needed, then they contacted the school directly for confirmation.

 

Also, I haven't heard of $50k/y being a problem for anyone. I think Scotiabank would work with you on changing the allocation schedule if you had a unique need for it.

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Regardless, you won't need even close to all of that money - and nor should you use anywhere close to all of it. Unless you have a family and were the sole provider before or something like that..

 

My situation will, unfortunately, be somewhat complicated for at least a year after I start. I'll basically be needing to carry a portion of a mortgage/expenses in one province while paying for my education and living expenses in another. I'll also be needing to travel frequently by air while studying in Calgary. These are expenses that will definitely add up.

 

All I'm trying to sort out now is how soon I can feasibly approach financial institutions. I have been speaking with the major banks to get a sense of their LOC options, but the next steps seem to require either my personal timetable or other proof of enrollment.

 

I mailed my deposit to Calgary today. I'm just unsure about timing about receiving confirmation/proof of enrollment at this point. The guide UofC has provided suggests waiting until orientation before arranging any agreements for funding, but this will definitely not be feasible given my situation. The sooner arrangements can be made, the better.

 

Appreciate the insights.

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Can we use that 250K for investment? 

 

cause like if you use that money for investment I can say you can make a lot in like 4 years haha

 

The bank assumes that you're a big boy/girl and that you know what you're doing, and it doesn't ask a lot of questions.  You could spend it all on cocaine and hookers if you really wanted to, and the bank would be none the wiser (at least until you dropped out of medical school and couldn't pay them back).  Now that would be a profoundly stupid thing to do, but you could do it.

 

Similarly there's nothing stopping you from investing a portion of your LOC in whatever you choose to.   But it really, really sucks to lose borrowed money. 

 

Suggest you consider your brain and education as your 'investment', and the pay-back to be the staffman salary you will make at the end of your training.   If you're going to play around with financial investments, at the very least wait until you're a resident and have some sort of income.

 

Speaking of thinking of your brain as an investment...strongly consider getting life and disability insurance.

 

Usual disclaimer:  Although she knows CPR, I wouldn't let my accountant run an in-hospital cardiac arrest.  Similarly, take what I say about money with a grain of salt.

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The bank assumes that you're a big boy/girl and that you know what you're doing, and it doesn't ask a lot of questions.  You could spend it all on cocaine and hookers if you really wanted to, and the bank would be none the wiser (at least until you dropped out of medical school and couldn't pay them back).  Now that would be a profoundly stupid thing to do, but you could do it.

 

Similarly there's nothing stopping you from investing a portion of your LOC in whatever you choose to.   But it really, really sucks to lose borrowed money. 

 

Suggest you consider your brain and education as your 'investment', and the pay-back to be the staffman salary you will make at the end of your training.   If you're going to play around with financial investments, at the very least wait until you're a resident and have some sort of income.

 

Speaking of thinking of your brain as an investment...strongly consider getting life and disability insurance.

 

Usual disclaimer:  Although she knows CPR, I wouldn't let my accountant run an in-hospital cardiac arrest.  Similarly, take what I say about money with a grain of salt.

Thanks for the info :) 

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For those of you having gone through the process of beginning meds--I'm trying to get a feel for timing. I've accepted my offer to UofC, but am now trying to plan selling my place, and securing a line of credit before the start of classes in July.

 

How soon after you have accepted your offer is the proof of enrollment issued so that you're able to secure a line of credit and other financing options?

 

Also, I feel like I've narrowed down my preferred institutions for my LOC; however, I'm curious about people's experience in their first year where I would assume most upfront costs are incurred. Scotia offers $275k through residency @ 2.85% (current prime) with $50k access maximums per year. TD offers $250k through residency @ 2.85% with $85k access first year. Thoughts on this?

 

Thanks!

Email the school and they will give you a letter as soon as your deposit is processed. It's not actually proof of enrolment but it's good enough for the bank.

 

The Scotia one is actually split over the three years so it's 67 000 first year. That's what I have, been very happy with it. Most people have either Scotia or RBC. Some people had some weird experiences with TD, like them asking for co signers and stuff like that. Just depends on who you talk to probably.

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Just a note that RBC give the entire $250K upfront...not schedule of release or anything. You can literally withdraw the full $250K the day you get your LOC. The rate is the same (currently 2.85%) and similar/same perks. 

 

I also echo others on the proof of enrollment...I didn't have mine when i got my RBC LOC. Just logged into my student account and showed my deposit and also had my letter of acceptance. 

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there are a few schools that held back in the past the enrolment confirmation a bit so you need to be a ware of that possibility. Really the banks don't stand too much in your way on this.

 

I personally wouldn't make too much out of the entire divided payments thing to be honest. For most there is pretty good logic in not going over 50K spending in the first year for instance (along with all the other money you would have access too).

 

as for investing - got to be really careful with that. Only thing I would consider personally is owning a house you live in for the medical school and even then that is pretty dicey. Investing time frames less than 5 years are dicey in general - plus you have no income, and no way of getting any additional resources if you run into trouble. Even if it works it is the cash flow issues in residency you will have that will nail you down the road.

 

Not to be all doom and gloom - ha, I am anything but that - but we are in year 7 of positive stock market returns which is an extremely long time historically. Eventually we are going to have another market revision - hard to imagine that would not happen at some point over the next 4-5 years.

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When I signed up Scotia had a better credit card deal but that may have changed.

 

side note - you know all the banks are pretty similar in LOCs when it keeps coming down to the credit card :) That being said their upgraded card you can get from scotia is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

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side note - you know all the banks are pretty similar in LOCs when it keeps coming down to the credit card :) That being said their upgraded card you can get from scotia is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Yah, I was actually going to say, but got lazy. They are honestly so similar that if you don't need 250 right off the bat (which most people won't), just pick the rep you like best or the one with a branch closer to your house, hahah.

There is a Scotia across the street from the med school here and a Scotia atm right outside the lecture theatre. The RBC ATM is all the way in the ED. The number of times I have to take cash out to sign up for things, my lazy self is glad I chose Scotia, haha.

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Yah, I was actually going to say, but got lazy. They are honestly so similar that if you don't need 250 right off the bat (which most people won't), just pick the rep you like best or the one with a branch closer to your house, hahah.

There is a Scotia across the street from the med school here and a Scotia atm right outside the lecture theatre. The RBC ATM is all the way in the ED. The number of times I have to take cash out to sign up for things, my lazy self is glad I chose Scotia, haha.

 

ha, it is amazing how often it comes down to something like that.

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I'm mid-process in applying for an LOC. The individual I'm liaising with is asking if I would provide my social insurance number. I would prefer not and have been advised that loan/LOC applications do not require that information. Is this typical?

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I'm mid-process in applying for an LOC. The individual I'm liaising with is asking if I would provide my social insurance number. I would prefer not and have been advised that loan/LOC applications do not require that information. Is this typical?

 

they don't require that.

 

I suppose they also aren't required to give you the loan either for that matter.

 

I can see why they would want it though. People's names for instance aren't exactly unique.

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Someone brought up credit cards earlier and I had a question.

 

Does anyone have experience with either the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card or the Scotiagold Passport Visa Card? By comparison, the Scotiabank AMEX card seems wayyyyy better but I could be missing something. I just used their travel rewards calculator online to compare the two (as well as looking at some of the perks of each) and it seems the AMEX is far and away the better card. 

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I have no personal experience with either card, but it's worth noting that many businesses and retailers don't accept Amex because their processing fees are so high. Therefore, even if the reward system may seem better, you may not capitalize on it because so few businesses use it compared to Visa.

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Someone brought up credit cards earlier and I had a question.

 

Does anyone have experience with either the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card or the Scotiagold Passport Visa Card? By comparison, the Scotiabank AMEX card seems wayyyyy better but I could be missing something. I just used their travel rewards calculator online to compare the two (as well as looking at some of the perks of each) and it seems the AMEX is far and away the better card.

Also I'm pretty sure they don't wave the fee for the Amex, and they wave the fee for the Scotia gold each year. So you have to take that into account.

 

I have the gold one and it's been good. Only used it for flights but you can book any flight as the points are just dollars, basically. Which is nice.

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I have both cards - the Amex is a new card that wasn't offered when I first signed up with Scotia.

 

Amex does get you more points especially with 4x on gas and groceries, which is why I signed up. A lot of the bigger chains take Amex nowadays but I kept my gold Visa as a backup. You are able to transfer points between cards via the ScotiaRewards website so I transfer points to and use my Gold Passport Visa to pay for trips as I get 5% cash back with it.

 

My branch waived all my credit card fees until the end of residency.

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