Credit Debt Banking News | CDBN

I know mobile phone companies are going paperless, setting off a lively debate here. But I didn’t know that Canada’s largest bank had done the same thing.

In May, RBC Royal Bank stopped sending paper statements to its personal banking clients. David, who wrote to me, doesn’t remember getting any notice.

I went through a lot of paperwork this past weekend and realized I hadn’t received a statement since April. The May and June statements I printed from the computer, assuming they were lost in the mail.

When I noticed I hadn’t received July’s statement either, I finally broke down and called the bank. It turns out they just decided not to send me statements any more.

The rep explained that it was my ..read more

Utilities are not known for great customer service. Since their prices are regulated, they’re always trying to cut costs.

Enbridge, a gas utility in Ontario, gets many complaints about recurring billing errors and difficulties in getting them corrected. I talk to their executives on a regular basis.

But the temperature is soaring this month because Enbridge bungled its budget billing plan (BBP), a popular option that lets you divide your payments into equal amounts throughout the year.

As I said in a recent column, Enbridge makes adjustments each July to account for lowball estimates. In most years, customers have a credit balance or only a small debit to pay in July.

This year, Enbridge set the amounts too low. It has a message here that admits to making the ..read more

I promised to update my blog more often, but life is getting busier again.

On Monday, I appeared before the task force on financial literacy in Toronto. The chair, Donald Stewart, blogged about it here and tweeted here.

On Tuesday night, there was a monthly meeting of Ellen’s Investment Club, which I wrote about here last year. We talked about favourite retail stocks and about options trading, something only two members were doing and the rest of us wanted to try.

On Wednesday night, I taught my continuing education class, The Facts of Life about Your Finances, at the University of Toronto. In this third meeting of a six-week course, the topic was the value of a principal residence, a hot topic in an overheated housing market.

Tonight, ..read more

This is a guest post by Jarie Bolander, author of Frustration Free Technical Management and a moderator at Answers OnStartups.

It’d be wonderful if you could run a business without interacting with anyone else — never relying on others to deliver quality work on time and never having to “be salesy” on the phone.

Yeah, but unfortunately you do have to rely on others to respond to emails and phone calls. This reliance can be a constant source of heartburn. So you can either take some Tagamet or learn how to get permission to follow-up with people.

Or both.

You Are Not Alone

Most people dread following up with ..read more

What if your company were allowed only one advantage over the competition?

What would a sales call look like, starting with your 30-second pitch, then dealing with skeptical questions, trying to earn this potential customer’s interest, respect, and eventually money, all with only one advantage?

Impossible, or just pointless?  Neither!

You should go through this exercise because this skill is valuable in every sales call. Sometimes you’re defending the few advantages you have over a specific competitor. Sometimes you’re arguing the virtues of small businesses over large ones. Sometimes you’re defending your product against what the potential customer perceives as a glaring lack of functionality.

Hanging your hat on just one advantage that ..read more