In This Issue:

💳 American Express has passed a new increase in annual fees for both personal and business Platinum cards. Read our take on how that impacts the card attractiveness.

🧾 “Rental Wages” continue to climb across Canada. Now, in provinces like BC and Ontario, tenants need to earn a minimum wage of over $25 to afford a one-bedroom rental.

🏠 The Chexy Credit Builder rollout and our partnership with Milesopedia.

^{Platinum Card Updates}

💳️ American Express Platinum

• Annual Fee: Increases from $699 to $799.

• New Dining Credit: $200, but it’s a one-time statement credit at eligible restaurants. Use it all in one go! 🍴

• Earning Rate on Dining: Drops from 3x to 2x points.

• Best for Dining Points: If maximizing dining points is your goal, consider the Amex Cobalt which offers 5x points (referral link).

🤔 My Perspective: The changes seem neutral at first glance. The new dining credit does a decent job offsetting the increased annual fee, and with a plethora of eligible restaurants, seasoned travelers and foodies won't find it hard to utilize. The dip in dining points is a bummer, but the Amex Cobalt remains the champ for dining rewards. Click here to check out the eligible restaurants (select “Canada” as the country)

🔔 Take Advantage: If you're eyeing the American Express Platinum card (referral link), now's the time to act! To dodge the upcoming annual fee hike, ensure you receive the card and have the fee posted before the change on Sept. 26th. My advice? Get on it this week if you want it! And for a cherry on top, if you are a renter - use it with Chexy to hit those MSRs without breaking a sweat!

💳️ American Express Business Platinum Update

• Annual Fee: Jumps from $499 to $799

• New Credits:

  • $200 annual travel credit 🌍

  • $100 Nexus statement credit 🛂

  • $120 mobile wireless statement credit 🛂

  • Up to $200 with Dell (enrolment needed) 💻

  • Up to $300 with Indeed (enrolment needed) 💼

🤔 My Two Cents: While Amex is dishing out more credits, they might not resonate with every business owner. The value of these credits really depends on individual business needs. Personally, I view this as a bit of a downgrade overall. However, for entrepreneurs eyeing those top-tier travel perks, this card still holds its weight in gold. Just ensure those credits align with your business expenses!

^{Over $25 Minimum Wage Required in ON & BC to Afford Rentals}

A recent report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that the rental wage is considerably higher than the minimum wage across all Canadian provinces and most cities, with the worst affordability in BC and Ontario.

🏙️ If you are a Vancouver or Toronto renter, this is hardly news. The study found that even two full-time minimum wage heroes can't score a one-bedroom pad without dropping more than 30% of their income on rent 🤯 With an average one-bedroom rental going for $2,500 in Toronto and a whopping $2,800 in Vancouver, it’s not only low-income workers who are struggling with this high cost of living. Using the 30% of gross income spend on housing benchmark, workers in those cities need to earn $100K and $112K respectively to not be considered “house-poor”.

Picture this: You work your tail off on a 9-to-5 grind, finally getting to that coveted 6-figure status 😎…get a mansion? No, just a 500 sq.ft.box in the sky!

Underlying Causes: When addressing the housing affordability crisis, the mismatch between supply and demand is often blamed as the key reason but the study found that several other factors contribute to the crisis. Those include wage suppression policies, lack of purpose-built rental housing, and slow decisions on zoning & density, all contributing to the problem.

Where's the Good News? Well, if you're in Québec, you've got a slight edge. Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, and Saguenay are giving us a thumbs-up, with rents that don't totally break the bank. 👍 But, hold up, even there, rental affordability is doing a little disappearing act 👻

📈 Introducing the Chexy Credit Builder: Introducing a monumental leap toward reshaping the way you build credit. If you're a Canadian who pays rent via Taxi, you're about to witness a game-changer. Through our partnership with Equifax, your timely rent payments will now radiate on your credit reports like constellations, painting a picture of your responsible credit journey. Elevate your credit trajectory and embark on the voyage of a lifetime. Get started on your credit-boosting journey here.

🎁 Milesopedia X Chexy: Thanks to the awesome folks at Milesopedia, we’ve teamed up to supercharge your savings and earnings, highlighting the best credit cards to be combined with Chexy for rent. Check out the biggest point earners here. 

Cheers,

The team at Chexy