The patterns that make a rewards card expensive, fraud and liability rules, credit score effects, complaints and where to check the official rules.
Most people who lose money on a rewards card do it in a handful of predictable ways: carrying a balance that costs more in interest than the card returns, taking a cash advance without realizing interest starts immediately, letting points expire or lose value, applying for several cards in quick succession, or missing a fraud alert. These guides describe those patterns and point to the official bodies that set and enforce the rules.
Start with common credit card mistakes and official sources. Then read about fraud and the $50 liability limit, how cards affect your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports, how to complain to your bank, OBSI and the FCAC, cash advances and credit card cheques and points expiry and program changes. Nothing here is financial or legal advice; each guide links to the official source to check.
Mistakes, Complaints and Official Sources
Why cash advances and credit card cheques usually cost interest from day one plus a fee, which transactions count as cash-like, the express consent rule for cheques and cheaper alternatives.
Mistakes, Complaints and Official Sources
The complaint route for credit card problems in Canada: the issuer's internal process, OBSI as the external body for banks since November 2024, the FCAC's role and Quebec and provincial routes.
Mistakes, Complaints and Official Sources
Your liability for unauthorized credit card charges under the Bank Act and Quebec law, how zero-liability policies work, how to dispute a charge and how to avoid common card scams.
Mistakes, Complaints and Official Sources
The common patterns that turn a rewards card into a cost, from carried balances and cash advances to expired points and scams, with the federal and provincial bodies that set the rules.
Mistakes, Complaints and Official Sources
How applying for, using, paying and closing credit cards shows up on your Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada credit reports, with utilization examples and steps to fix errors.
Mistakes, Complaints and Official Sources
How Canadian credit card points can expire, be forfeited on cancellation or lose value when programs change, what provincial rules may apply and how to protect what you have earned.
