Financial Product Reviews

Monitoring your credit score is increasingly important these days. With fraud and scams ever on the rise, keeping an eye on your credit score will alert you to any potential issues, such as identity theft or credit card fraud. Your credit score is also important because most lenders will approve or deny your credit applications based on it.

Blue Cross has been providing health insurance plans and coverage for Canadians for over 70 years. With flexible packages for both individuals and employer benefit plans, Blue Cross health insurance has an array of options available. Some options include prescription drug, vision, and hospital benefits, out-of-province emergency medical care, critical illness coverage, and short or long term disability coverage.

Manulife offers a variety of supplemental health insurance options for individuals and employers, including health, dental, disability, critical illness, and more. Health insurance can be expensive, but the added peace of mind it provides is usually worth it, as you'll know you're covered in the event that some catastrophe occurs.

Xoom is an international money transfer service by PayPal, offering quick and easy money transfers for some surprisingly high fees in some cases. Payment options are flexible, with the option of transferring money from your PayPal account or bank account, or using your debit or credit card to pay. Of course, the recipient will also have to pay a fee on pickup as well, which makes Xoom an expensive option on both ends.

The best time to check your credit score is always now, and with Credit Karma, the price is right at $0. This free credit score service gives you access to your credit score and report, provides weekly updates, and even sends alerts whenever there are notable changes to your file. Credit Karma pulls data from TransUnion and Equifax, giving you a reliable snapshot of where you stand. Plus, you’ll also get access to identity monitoring for extra peace of mind.

A Desjardins RRSP can be a smart choice for Desjardins clients trying to plan for their future. As with all Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), this account offers a tax-free home for any retirement savings, with room and opportunity to add several types of investments – as long as it stays within the government-set annual contribution limits.

An open variable mortgage gives you complete control over how and when you pay off your mortgage, allowing prepayments or even full repayment at any time with no penalty fees. You'll pay for this flexibility, of course, in that you'll pay a higher mortgage rate, but for many, the flexibility is worth it.

IPVanish provides secure, encrypted, and private access to the internet, regardless of where you are or what device you’re using. One common use of a VPN service like this is to unblock American Netflix and streaming services not normally available in Canada. For the most part, IPVanish fits the bill, though there have been complaints about streaming being a bit slow through this service.

NordVPN has virtual private network servers around the world, giving you access to internet content no matter where you (or it) happens to be. With one NordVPN account you can connect up to 10 devices using all major operating systems, including Linux. And if you're particularly security-minded, you can combine NordVPN with The Onion Router (TOR) to give you added anonymity.

Open variable mortgages generally have limited terms – usually a single option of either 3 or 5 years – and a middling mortgage rate that isn't terrible, but also isn't great. These sorts of mortgages are pretty niche and only of interest to people who have a specific and somewhat complicated mortgage situation on their hands, in that they need a mortgage, but they also want to be able to pay it off in full any time they want, without paying any extra penalties.