this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
539 points (98.4% liked)

Buy Canadian

1571 readers
753 users here now

A community dedicated to buying Canadian products.

Une communauté dédiée à l'achat de produits Canadiens.


Rules:

1. Posts must be related to buying Canadian-made goods and / or using Canadian-owned services

2. Absolutely no bigotry will be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.

3. AI Content Policy

Not allowed: AI-generated images or articles

Tolerated: AI-generated post summaries

4. Only content in French and English is permitted

5. Declare all self-promotion

Users are encouraged to report any content that violates our community guidelines


Règlements :

1. Les poteaux doivent être en lien avec l'achat de produits et / ou de services opérés par des canadiens

2. Aucune bigoterie ne sera tolérée. Ça comprend, mais sans se limiter à, le racisme, le sexisme, l’homophobie, la transphobie, etc.

3. Politique sur le contenu IA

Non permis : Images ou articles générés par l'IA

Toléré : Résumés IA de publications

4. Seul le contenu en français et en anglais n'est toléré

5. Déclarez toute auto-promotion

Les utilisateurs sont encouragés à signaler tout contenu qui ne respecte pas nos directives communautaires


Related communities: Communautés connexes :

!buyeuropean@feddit.uk !buyafrican@baraza.africa !boycottus@lemmy.ca !canada@lemmy.ca !canada@lemmy.ml ___

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Visa and Mastercard are American companies, and they essentially tax everybody by taking a percentage of purchase prices for themselves. Not exactly a small percentage either, 1.2% to 2.65%. Ever wonder why so many merchants say they don't accept American Express? That's because they charge quite a bit more to merchantes, 50% more than Visa or Mastercard. Anyway, we're letting American companies tax us and we love them because we get rewards when we use cards. But it's just a shell game because we pay more up front because businesses need to charge more to make up for payment processing charges. They get to sit in the middle and rake in the money.

Now the alternative in Canada is Interac. Interac charges a set amount per transcation. How much? 2 to 5.5 cents. Unless you're going through Apple or Google Pay, and then it's a percentage again.

Interac is also Canadian.

Want to stick it to Trump? Stop using credit cards (and Google Pay or Apple Pay) and switch to Interac. Want to make Canada better? Stop using credit cards and switch to Interac. Is it going to be inconvenient? Yes. Online shopping will be much harder but I have seen online Interac payments before and we can ask our favourite Canadian merchants to accept Interac online.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] aquafunk@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 day ago (3 children)

You can get a line of credit from your local bank, tranfser the available funds into your checking account on demand, then use your Interac card. The amount and rates are variable, so you can start with a small amount with a high rate (like starter credit cards), and as you build a reputation, you can be loaned larger amounts at a better rate. No third party credit card company required.

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is definitely one of the biggest hurdles with getting rid of credit cards, the lack of easy credit history.

Going the line of credit route is ok, but there's no grace period before interest is charged, unlike most credit cards. So it's something to be aware of.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Part of the problem for me is that paying interest to RBC, BMO, Scotiabank, TD, CIBC, BN in place of American payment networks when they aren't really hurting for money, is not really helpful or impactful for anyone except for me in a negative way.

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

Credit unions do exist, and they keep money in the community much better than the big banks do.

The main reason to ditch Visa and Mastercard is hopefully if they get hit hard enough they'll lean on Trump to shut up about annexing Canada. Greenland and Panama too.

[–] Banana@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago

There's absolutely a way, for sure, I just mean it's gonna be difficult to get most people on board until there is an option just as or more convenient than the current one.

[–] moonbunny@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Mileage may vary, but in my experience in attempting to get a line of credit, theres a lot more information that needs to be not only shared (for the banks and credit unions I’ve tried applying to, both and credit card statements for the last 3 months needed to be shared, along with a written explanation on what I’d need a line of credit for).

The barrier to approval is rather high as well, especially if you don’t have any assets to provide as collateral (for a secured line of credit at least.)

It’s doubly a challenge if you don’t have a “good enough” net worth as well which if you’re out of school and had to take out student loans, then you’re already starting out with negative net worth.

In comparison, I was blanketly approved for multiple credit cards and all I had to provide was the necessary identifying information and a salary.

It sounds like I’m shooting down the option of getting a line of credit, but it can be a very difficult process to obtain one unless you can get a guarantor to co-sign, or you happen to be in a financially secured position to begin with, which isn’t the case for a lot of people, but still a very good option to attempt at getting.