Canadians are walking around with a whack of credit cards in their wallets. With more than 74 million MasterCard and Visa cards in circulation, every Tom, Dick and Harriet now has a card or four. Hey, a credit card is great if you're using it for convenience and to build a credit history. But make these common mistakes and you could find yourself out of pocket and with a bruised credit score:
Minimum Payment Mistake
Perhaps the biggest mistake cardholders make is looking only at the minimum payment box and thinking that's fine and dandy if they just pay that. Hey, if all you're after is a great credit score, this is one way to do it, but you'll pay dearly. On a card with a 19.9% interest rate, a small balance - let's say $500 - looks like nothing much with a $10 minimum payment. But if you only pay the minimum, it'd take you nine years to get that puppy paid off. And by then, you'll have paid more than your original balance in interest.
3 credit card mistakes that cost
PICTURE: Scarlett Johansson Steps Out With New French Boyfriend Romain Dauriac
Ooh la la!
Barely a month has passed since Scarlett Johansson split from her advertising executive boyfriend Nate Naylor, but the Hitchcock star, 27, is already moving on with a new man: French journalist Romain Dauriac.
Amarige for Women by Givenchy
Amarige For Women By Givenchy
Amarige By Givenchy For Women. Eau D…
With its lush plum, floral and citrus aroma, Amarige for Women by Givenchy packs a serious punch. Amarige blasted onto the scene in the 1990’s, and its scent is reminiscent of that time; the birth of the supermodel with oversized, luscious hair, plump lips and dangerous curves.
Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, Models For Guess Jeans (Poll)
Guess has just released photos of their new children's clothing model, none other than Anna Nicole Smith’s adorable 6-year-old daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead.
Dannielynn is following in her mother’s footsteps: Smith was initially hired as a relative unknown by the clothing brand in 1993. While appearing in their iconic Hollywood-bombshell ad campaigns, the voluptuous 26-year-old ex-Playboy model became famous for marrying 89-year-old oil magnate J. Howard Marshall.
Best Cyber Monday Deals For 2012
Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is one of the busiest online shopping days of the year, and 2012 will be no exception. Retailers are offering up major deals for online shoppers, some rivaling those offered on Black Friday. While many ads are being kept secret until the Black Friday madness is over, some retailers are giving consumers a sneak peek at their outstanding deals. Here is a look at some of the very best deals of Cyber Monday 2012, and how you can get your hands on the merchandise you want most.
Making SenseOf All the NewLaptop Flavors
Just when you thought it was safe to shop for a new laptop, a fresh problem stands in the way of laptop buyers: confusion. The shelves are now filled with shiny new PCs and Macs running revamped operating systems, but it's suddenly more complicated to choose a new laptop, especially for Windows shoppers.
So, for this year's fall laptop buyer's guide, I'll focus on sorting out some of the muddle. As always, this guide is for consumers doing the most common tasks. It isn't meant for corporate buyers or for hard-core gamers or serious media producers.
The End Of The Smartphone Era Is Coming
You've heard that Google is working on computerized glasses. They're called Google Glass, and developers can already buy them.
It turns out Microsoft is working on something similar. It filed some patents on the project and Unwired View dug them up.
Live in Madonna’s material world for $23.5 million
Click the photo to go to a slideshow of Madonna's home for sale.Superstar Madonna may be on a world tour, but that doesn't mean she can't conduct a little business on the side.
She's just listed her Central Park West duplex for $23.5 million, our friends at Curbed report. Maybe the paperwork delayed her concert Monday night in Miami? Fans certainly weren't happy that Madonna was hours late, but your faithful Yahoo! Homes correspondent can attest to how long it can take to sign aaaaaaall. Of. Those. Papersssszzzzz. Uh? Oh, sorry, fell into a bored snooze for a second. Anyway, we're inclined to cut her some slack (even if superstars don't really sign their own papers).
Oprah tweets love of Microsoft Surface tablet from her iPad
We told you earlier this month how talk show queen Oprah Winfrey decided to feature the Microsoft Surface tablet as one of her 'Favourite Things' in the latest issue of her magazine. It looks like Oprah is continuing to extol its virtues — but just can't quit her love for Apple technology.
Box Office Report: 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2' Bites Off $340.9 Million Worldwide Opening
Summit Entertainment's Twilight vampire series -- proving that females can fuel an event franchise -- is going out in high style.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2 topped the worldwide weekend box office with a sizeable $340.9 million opening, including $141.3 million domestically from 4,070 theaters and $199.6 million internationally from 61 markets.
Why the Hottest Gift of 2012 Is a Gift Card
Gift cards will be more popular than ever this year, thanks largely to rule changes that make them more consumer-friendly. Still, gift givers, and recipients, should be aware of some key differences between various types of cards.
[Read: Why Holiday Shoppers Are Starting Early This Year.]
The National Retail Federation reports that just over 8 in 10 shoppers will buy one or more gift cards this year, and on average, shoppers will spend $156.86 on cards--the highest amount ever recorded by NRF's survey. That makes gift cards a $28.79 billion industry. The majority of people surveyed (about 6 in 10) say they're happy to receive gift cards, too. The most popular gift cards are for coffee shops, department stores, book stores, and restaurants.
Chemicals in men’s grooming products linked with cancer, obesity
A number of men's grooming products have been shown to contain harmful chemicals in a recent study. (Thinkstoc …Every week it seems as though there's a new study detailing how everything we eat, drink, or inhale is colluding to make us ill and this week is no exception.
This week, a Toronto-based organization called Environmental Defence has released a Movember-timed report that targets men, and specifically, some of the grooming products they're likely to employ come December 1 to shave off that mo'stache.
Human Barbie Valeria Lukyanova Opens Up to V Magazine
photo courtesy of V MagazineLooking at the photograph of Valeria Lukyanova, left, you might wonder if this Ukrainian internet star really exists outside of the strange land of YouTube, where "living doll" beauty has become a trend. The picture, however, is from the new issue of V magazine, which flew Lukyanova, known as "the human Barbie," to New York for the shoot, proving her existence and giving us a glimpse into her bizarre brain. At Shine we've profiled many doll-like ladies, from 19-year-old Anime queen Anastasiya Shpagina, to 15-year-old London YouTube sensation Venus Palermo, to England-native Sarah Burge, who currently holds the world record for spending over $500,000 on cosmetic surgery. Even so, Lukyanova's story stands out.
The President and Michelle Obama: The Story Behind the Most-Liked Photo of All Time
This photo of the President and Mrs. Obama quickly became the most popular social media image of all time. (Photo: …It was an intimate snapshot of a sweet celebration: Minutes after the networks called the 2012 presidential election for Barack Obama on Tuesday night, the Obama for America campaign posted a picture of him hugging his wife along with a simple message: "Four more years." Within minutes, it became the most popular post in the history of Twitter and the most-liked image in the history of Facebook, shared more than 804,000 times and marked as a favorite by more than 289,500 Twitter users, and "liked" by more than 3.2 million Facebook friends.
Holiday Movies: Five gems you shouldn’t miss
'Silver Linings Playbook' by The Weinstein Company
Sometimes it feels like the year's very best films all come out at once in November and December. Looking at these five gems, including a violent noir starring Brad Pitt and a crowd-pleasing comedy from Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, there might be some truth to that theory.
Top 10 list of most-stolen vehicles filled with foreign sedans, American pickups
As it has for several years, the 1994 Honda Accord retained its title in 2011 as the nation's most-stolen vehicle in the National Insurance Crime Bureau rankings. The rest of the top 10 looked familiar as well, with crooks maintaining their preference for imported sedans, Detroit pickups and the occasional minivan. Yet this year's list comes with a warning: After a decade of losing targets to electronic deterrents, thieves are getting smarter.
Britney Spears vs. Khloe Kardashian
Khloe Kardashian is the new girl on "The X Factor," but she's already making a play to become the best-dressed woman on the show! On Monday night, she and one of the show's judges, Britney Spears, donned strikingly similar frocks when they attended the bash for the singing competition's finalists at The Bazaar restaurant inside the SLS Hotel in L.A. Both ladies chose a simple LBD with minimal accessories as they mingled with other personalities from the show, such as Mario Lopez, L.A. Reid, and Demi Lovato, who wisely sported red for the occasion. It's time for a special "X Factor" edition of ... who wore it best?!
Pippa Middleton’s new book Celebrate gets panned by critics
Pippa Middleton's new party planning book has been slammed by critics. (Amazon.co.uk)The kid sister of Kate the Great has been having a rough go of it lately. It seems Pippa Middleton is finally getting her moment in the spotlight, and thanks to a round of rather scathing reviews of her new guide to entertaining, Celebrate: A Year of British Festivities for Family and Friends, she's tasting firsthand just how unkind life in the public eye can be.
The 10 Most Common Lies in Online Dating Profiles
woman at home on computerBy Kristi Dosh
Think his online dating profile sounds too good to be true? There's reason to be suspect: Most people are dishonest on dating sites. In fact, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cornell University found that 80% of online daters lie about their height, weight or age. The older you are, though, the less likely you are to fib, according to a study commissioned by BeautifulPeople.com, an online dating site where users are voted into the community. Here, we examine the most frequent fabrications, how to spot them in others' profiles and why they're not worth including in yours. Photo by Thinkstock
Talking elephant learns to say five words in Korean
An elephant in South Korea has learned to say five words in Korean. For those counting, that's five more words than I can say in Korean.
Using behaviour researchers haven't seen before, Koshik puts the tip of his trunk into this mouth to produce a higher pitch humans can hear. The trunk acted similar to our lips. Elephants usually produce much deeper sounds. Sometimes so low, that it's outside our frequency range.
Paralympian Josh Sundquist has best Halloween costume ever
Josh Sundquist's leg was amputated when he was 10 because of cancer. When he was found to be cancer free at 13, he tried skiing and made it to the U.S. Paralympic team. He represented the United States in the 2006 Paralympics. Since then, he's become a motivational speaker and a master of Halloween costumes. Sundquist uses his disability to come up with some pretty hilarious costumes.
This year, he dressed as the famous lamp from the movie "A Christmas Story."
Paulina Gretzky’s sexy Halloween; no Winter Classic, no NHL season?
Paulina Gretzky• Thank the gods someone is monitoring the Paulina Gretzky sexy Halloween outfit beat during the NHL work stoppage. From Busted Coverage and The Big Lead, one of a few costumes The Greatest One has tweeted.
