In This Issue:

🛫 Fly High With Aeroplan: Everything You Need To Know About Your Points

🌅 The Best Aeroplan Cards That Will Help Fuel Your Next Trip

🏠 Building Credit On Rent Payments? Tenants Take Action.

🛫 Plan Your Next Trip With Aeroplan

In today's adventure, we're taking a deep dive into the fascinating world of Aeroplan points. These versatile rewards are a Canadian traveler's best friend, whether you're racking them up with Air Canada Aeroplan credit cards or via American Express Membership Rewards. Let's unravel the secrets to unlock their full potential!

Navigating the Aeroplan Points Landscape

Aeroplan operates on a variable value system, meaning the points needed for your dream flight can vary based on a few factors:

• Carrier Type: Are you flying with Air Canada or one of its partner airlines? Each comes with its own set of rules and quirks.

• Flight Distance: As a general rule, longer journeys demand more points. We've got the chart to help you decode this puzzle!

Air Canada vs. Partner Airlines: The Ultimate Showdown

Choosing between booking directly with Air Canada or opting for a partner airline is a decision that can make or break your travel plans. Here's the lowdown:

1. Air Canada's Dynamic Pricing: Air Canada keeps us on our toes with its dynamic pricing model. Points can fluctuate, so be prepared for peak travel times to require a bit more from your points stash. But during off-peak periods, you might just snag a sweet deal. It's flexible, but it keeps us guessing!

2. The Partner Airlines Advantage: Partner airlines like ANA, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, or United Airlines offer a different game:

• Fixed Pricing: No surprises here! You find a seat, and you're guaranteed the lowest point price.

• Consistent Availability: Some partner airlines, like ANA, have predictable seat releases. For example, ANA's Vancouver to Tokyo route releases two business class seats daily, a year in advance. Plus, during quieter seasons, they're known to drop a bunch of last-minute business-class seats.

Stretching Your Points for Luxe Travel

Business class flights often come with eye-watering price tags, sometimes four times more than economy. But in the Aeroplan realm, that gap narrows significantly.

Picture this:

A business class ticket to Asia might cost you a cool $4000, while an economy seat hovers around $1000. That's a 4x difference in price. However, with Aeroplan points, the same business class experience from Vancouver to Tokyo on partner ANA is just 55,000 points, compared to 35,000 for economy. It's like unlocking a treasure chest of luxury without the hefty bill.

In Conclusion

Aeroplan points hold incredible promise for Canadian travelers. Whether you’re planning a local adventure or a world tour, unlocking the full potential of your points can transform your travel adventures. Keep an eye out as we delve deeper into the strategies for maximizing your Aeroplan points and we hope you have the best travel experience possible.

Best Aeroplan Card Deals Currently

As a reminder, here are some of the best Aeroplan cards currently in the market that are well-paired with Chexy:

1. Amex Aeroplan Reserve Card

   • Welcome Bonus: Up to 90k points ($2,230 Value)

   • Annual Fee: $599

2. TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite 

   • Welcome Bonus: Up to 50k points ($1,400 Value)

   • Annual Fee: $139 (first year $0 if you sign up before Jan 3rd, 2024)

3. Amex Aeroplan Card

   • Welcome Bonus: Up to 40k points ($1,279 Value)

   • Annual Fee: $120

Conservative Party 🤝 Rent Payments in Mortgage Qualification

In last week’s newsletter, I did a short piece of analysis on how the current interest rate environment makes it almost impossible to qualify for a good mortgage (recall the example of a friend with $100k salary and $200k in savings, only qualifying for a $600k place which affords you very little in Vancouver nowadays).

Well this week I came across something very interesting: The Conservative Party of Canada will encourage financial institutions to develop a framework that allows for the consideration of a potential homeowner's previous rental payment history when applying for a mortgage.

This came in response to the City of Calgary’s Housing Needs Assessment report which showed that:

• Calgarians now need an annual income of $84,000 to afford average market rent, a significant spike from $67,000 in just a year.

• Additionally, the median cost of purchasing a detached home in Calgary skyrocketed by a staggering 37% over three years.

So even in Calgary, which has long been considered the last stronghold of affordable housing in the country, people are feeling the effects of the housing shortage.

The whole policy movement came from the Calgary constituency office of Michell Rempel Garner, where Jaxson Owchar, a 23-year-old recent education graduate, highlighted that the struggle with achieving homeownership lies in that fact that the combination of high rent and soaring grocery costs makes it difficult to pool the necessary down payment and establish the positive credit history required for a mortgage qualification.

We hear you Jaxson, we are all in the same boat here. 🚣 

In addition to that, Jaxson brought forth a thought-provoking notion. With monthly rent costs approaching the level of mortgage payments, why couldn't a history of timely rent payments serve as proof of one's ability to handle a mortgage of a similar amount?

This is obviously something we have long been trying to change with Chexy and the ability for tenants to report rent payments (s/o our Credit Builder product) and frankly we are not alone! The pioneer in the space has been the Landlord Credit Bureau which was originally started to benefit landlords and allowed them to enroll tenants without consent, before the Privacy Commissioner said “I don’t think so”. With Chexy we of course want to help those tenants who want to build credit history or improve their credit, but we do see this as being a no-brainer for the landlord as well.

While having rent included in your credit history can influence your borrowing capacity and mortgage eligibility, it doesn't address the challenging stress test criteria, which is increasingly stringent to meet. 

I am excited to see Jaxson spearhead the policy proposal to encourage financial institutions to develop a framework that allows for the consideration of rent payments in mortgage qualifications. This policy, crafted with input from their riding association, will be deliberated at the National Convention in Quebec City this weekend.

This isn't an entirely new concept, both the American Federal Housing Administration and the British Tories have recently suggested similar measures to support first-time homebuyers and we at Chexy are excited to see Canada finally follow suit. After all, it is this innovative thinking to the housing crisis that may ultimately help the dwindling hopes of many Canadians striving for homeownership.