New Brim Credit Cards Bring New Perspectives

Brim Credit Cards Canada

Brim Financial is launching new credit cards on the Canadian market that will change the credit card game. These cards have features and flexibilities never seen before in Canada. Today, I will touch base on some of the features. Please visit my video on this as well to learn more.

Rewards Structure – There are no limits on how or when you can redeem. Also, there are no specific categories to earn accelerated points. If you shop more at the same stores, the earn rate increases.

Installment Payment Options – Brim will offer the ability to set up install payments towards a purchase that can be paid in installments at a set lower interest rate (they call it one time installment fee) without affecting the rest of the credit limit. 

Free Boingo Global Wi-Fi – Access to 1 million Boingo Wi-Fi hotspots across the globe. A neat perk that would come in handy when you travel.

0% Foreign Transaction Fee – This is one of the most sought after features on Canadian credit cards. Especially since the Marriott Rewards & Amazon credit cards offered by Chase (that provided no foreign currency fee) are no longer available in Canada.

Travel Insurances Provided by Reputable Canadian Provider – Another feature, which is my favourite, is that the Brim World Elite MasterCard offers full travel insurances (Trip Cancellation, Hotel/Motel Burglary, Travel Medical, etc.) by a reputable Canadian insurance provider. This is unlike Scotia Amex Gold and many other Canadian travel cards serviced by the same insurance company where the provider has bad ratings when it comes to fulfill claims.

Lounge Access – Brim’s higher-end cards will provide lounge access through Lounge Key. However, it is not clear how many visits will be included or it’s just the membership they will offer.

And packed with much more features (including real-time payment clearing to open up available credit limit without waiting 2-3 days), it may sound like that these new Brim Credit Cards are too good to be true. We will need to wait and see when the cards come out.

Brim’s website (https://brimfinancial.com) is accepting applications, so when I applied it told me that they will contact me once they start processing my application. I do have a video on Brim and here is the link you can follow to watch: 

How To Market Your Business On The Cheap

Marketing Your Business Cheap

As an entrepreneur, you are under the gun to succeed because you have put not only your reputation, but your financial future on the line. As a result, you need to find a way to reach customers without spending too much. You don’t have the marketing budget of Coca-Cola, so don’t try to market like them. You need to find a way to market yourself a at low cost, so you can maximize your profits. Getting the most customers, for the lowest amount, is the goal you should set for yourself. So, what do you need to do to market yourself to your customers?

• Provide excellent service and encourage word-of-mouth advertising. When you do this, you are using the best form of advertising, which is word-of-mouth. People trust their friends and family and if those people tell them that you do great work or sell excellent products, that can mean more than a $2 million Super Bowl commercial. Offer your customers deals on future purchases for the business they bring in from their friends and family and always be there for your customers with great service. 
• Forget about newspaper advertising and television advertising, it is too expensive and it doesn’t always work that well. Instead, advertise with promotional gifts. This way you are giving your customers something they can use and wear, while they advertise your company. It works like this, your customer buys something and you give them a free t-shirt with your company name on it. They wear that shirt when they are out and they are a walking billboard for you. People see your company name and logo and the more they see it, the greater the brand awareness is. 
• Go out and find your customers. You don’t need to wait for your customers to come to you, so why not go to them? Bring brochures about your business and go door-to-door if you have to. That shows your customers you are willing to do the leg work for their business and that will earn you respect, which is vitally important. 
• Find ways to out-do your competitors through sponsorship. Show your customers that you care about the people in the community by sponsoring charitable events and offering money or your services to help. You can provide money to churches, charities, schools, animal shelters and community events. That not only gets your name out there, but the more people see it, the more they will recognize you and that will help you make more money from your customers.

Marketing yourself and your business is not always cheap or easy, but by using these methods you can save money and gain customers. You want to get loyal customers because a loyal customer can be worth as many as 10 non-loyal customer. Even if the loyal customer does not spend as much each visit, they will keep coming back and keep recommending your business to others. So market your company properly, get loyal customers and move into the future with your business.
First Published: EntrepreneurJourney.com Published on: Oct 30, 2010

CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Card Ends Manufactured Spending

CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Card Ends 

Manufactured spending is one of the vehicles travel hackers use to generate points. This is simply manufacturing credit card spending, instead of real spending to create transactions that generates points and later on to deposit the money back into the account.

I am not going into the detail of manufactured spending. The CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Visa Prepaid Card was one of the easiest ways to create manufactured spending in Canada.

The AC Conversion card had a feature that let you load Canadian dollars from other credit cards and unload Canadian dollars from CIBC bank machines at no cost. This would create transactions on the credit cards you are loading from to generate points.

Initially the limit was $3,000 a day, then it was reduced to $2,000 a day. When card management found out what’s going on, they reduced it $100 per day because they were bleeding money paying other credit card fees.

In the interim, many people got points and miles millionaires utilizing the loophole. It was like a dream come true for travel hackers to easily generate points using the AC Conversion card.

However, now CIBC Air Canada AC Conversion Card has decided that they still can’t afford to give away $100 per days as they can’t recoup the expenses and they are closing the loophole beginning April 13, 2018. After this date, Canadian currencies are no longer allowed to load and unload. You can load other supported currencies, however. If you try to load other currencies and unload Canadian dollars, the machines will dispense US$. So it will no longer make sense to use this card to create manufactured spending and the loophole that existed for many years will be sealed.

If you would like to watch my video on this, click on this link.

CIBC AC Air Canada Credit Card Ends

On my YouTube channel, you will find more videos like this.

Where Is My CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Card?

My CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Card?

Today I will talk about my experience applying for a CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite credit card. What could have possibly gone wrong went wrong with the process and that’s what I will share.

On Jan 13, 2018, I called in to apply for a CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite card and an American Express AeroplanPlus Gold credit card. Within a week, by the following Friday, my Amex AeroplanPlus Card arrived, but there was no news from CIBC.

After around 10 days, I received a call from CIBC asking to call them back for further information. When I called back, the guy asked me what credit limit I wanted. For example, $5,000 or $10,000, or something else. I mentioned that $5,000 would just fine. He said I should be receiving my card shortly.

3 weeks passed and nothing arrived, so I called them again. They had difficulty tracking my application, but finally they were able to find it. I was told that the last person I talked to did not do his job or he forgot and no credit card was mailed out. They said it would be mailed out shortly. I was still calm and accepted CIBC’s poor service.

The next day, on Feb 5, 2018, I received another email from CIBC asking to call them again for information verification. It was like deja vu. So I called back as I got irritated. The rep was apologetic and mentioned that it was their back office that caused all these delays and assured me this time it would be OK.

Finally, nearly after one month, I received my card in the mail. I never had this type of issue with anyone else before. My credit score is usually above 800 and I get whatever credit card I apply for right away. So this was a lesson for me on how disorganised and inefficient CIBC’s back office is.

Another thing I found out is that CIBC’s regular credit card customer service (not the lost or emergency line) is not open 24 hours. It is very important to have a credit card that offers 24-hour customer service. You just never know when you need to call them. For example, you are travelling and your card is declined or you just have a question and you can’t get a hold of anyone due to a time difference.

I have a few CIBC credit cards, but none of them are my primary credit cards. And due to poor customer service, I intend to keep it that way.

Scenic Caves Entrance Area

Scenic Caves Ontario Canada

First Published on: Aug 22, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

This is one of my Blue Mountain Trip video clips. On a recent trip, I visited scenic caves and suspension footbridge in Blue Mountain. I will be posting video clips of these shortly. This is a clip showing the entrance area of Scenic Caves. This is where you can sit back and relax by the water just before climb through blue mountain Scenic Caves. You will find gemstone mining, a pond, Muskoka chairs, lots of seagulls, gift shop, eco log cabin and much more here.