Glossary
A payday loan is a short-term loan (usually 3 weeks or less) that has a very high interest rate. The interest rate on a payday loan is usually much higher than the interest rates charged by credit cards or bank loans. You cannot get a payday loan for more than $1,500. You will usually have to give the payday lender post-dated cheques that they can cash on the loan due date to repay the loan and the interest.
A pension is a type of regular payment a person gets. Usually, someone gets a pension because they are retired or disabled. Pensions are paid by organizations like the government, a person’s previous employer, or from personal investments. Pensions are a type of income.
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Personal information is any facts about you that identify you as a unique individual. Examples of personal information are your name, contact information, social insurance number, birth date, and address. It also includes facts about your race, religion, beliefs, age, sex, marital status, health or criminal history, education, and more.
Phishing is when an identity thief pretends to be your bank, your employer, a business, or somebody else, and tries to trick you into giving them your personal information. An identity thief may use phone calls, emails, regular mail, or fake websites to get your information.
Postpaid services are cellphone services that you pay for after you use the service. You pay for the amount of service that you used since your last payment. Most monthly cellphone contracts are postpaid. If you have a monthly plan that you pay for after you use the services, you are using postpaid services.
Some prepaid services also have monthly contracts.
A preauthorized debit is when you give permission to your bank to automatically pay a person or business out of your account on a certain date. For example, you might pay your phone bill or car loan through a preauthorized debit. A preauthorized debit is sometimes called a preauthorized payment. It can also be used to refer to post-dated cheques you give someone to cash on a future date.
Prepaid services are cellphone services that you pay for before you use the service. They include prepaid cards or accounts for a fixed amount of service or a fixed cost. Some contracts also cover prepaid services.
This is different from a postpaid service, where you pay for your usage at the end of the month.
Public records are documents or information that anyone can search for and find.
For example, when you file for bankruptcy, this information becomes a “public record”. Consumer reporting agencies, like Equifax and TransUnion, get this information. And anyone else can pay a small fee and do a search to find bankruptcy records.