Not nice of some of the big no-service banks to once again take advantage of us. Not nice – but expected. One of them is Scotiabank, who passed on 0.15% of the quarter point decrease last week. I just saw a number of line of credit statements…they’re not the only ones.
On a positive note, the Okanagan right now has some of the lowest mortgage rates in the country. Prospera Credit Union has a five year variable rate of 2.05%. If you want a fixed rate – and you should – it’s 2.65% posted rate, and profit sharing and rebate. Plus, you get to deal with a credit union and not the banks, and that’s the biggest bonus.
Over the past year there have to be about 50 million vehicle recalls of various sizes and degree of danger. That’s a staggering number, led by 30 million recalls for defective airbags, and tens of millions from General Motors.
The problem is that these recalls have to get to the vehicle owners and have to be fixed. Some are minor, but lots of others are safety issues that have caused a lot of fires and deaths. If you purchased a new vehicle, the manufacturer has your information and you’ll get a recall letter. That’s required by law. If you’ve moved, they do not have your address, so you’ll need to go to a dealer – any dealer – and get them to update your address.
If you purchased a used vehicle, they have no idea who you are, or how to reach you! You need to let your car’s manufacturer know that you own one of their vehicles. Whether it’s for a current recall or for one down the road! You can take your registration to a dealer and ask them to put it into the manufacturer’s system – NOT just into the dealer’s service department data base. And never give them your phone number or email address. You don’t want junk mail and solicitation – you want recall information. When you’re at the dealer they can also pull up any existing recalls right on the spot.
An alternate plan is to just do a google search for your manufacturer in Canada. That’ll give you their website and a customer contact phone number that should be able to do the same thing.
However, the most urgent thing you need to do is to check your vehicle for recalls – now! Here is the link to Transport Canada, or you can just search: “Transport Canada safety recall” and you’ll get to the website. The site doesn’t need a serial number, just the year, make and model.
Link to Transport Canada to search recalls