Category Archives: Money Tips

How to Download Your Transaction History for an ING Direct Bank Account to a Spreadsheet

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Many people keep track of their finances using a program like Quicken. Others, like me, who are incredibly cheap, er, frugal use a spreadsheet. Either way, it’s a bit easier and often more accurate to download the info directly from your bank than to type it in line by line. Here’s how you can download what’s been happening in your Tangerine, formerly called ING Direct, bank account.

Copying your Tangerine Bank Account Transaction History Onto Your Computer

To Login to your Tangerine account/s

  1. Go to: http://www.tangerine.ca/en/
  2. Click on I’m a Client, Let Me In!.
  3. Enter your Client Number, banking Card Number or Username in the Log me in box.
    Click on the Go button.
  4. If necessary, in the Your Secret Question: box, type the Answer: to the question.
    Click on the Next button.
  5. If the Your Picture and the Your Phrase fields are correct, if applicable, in the Your PIN box, type your personal identification number.
    Click on the Go button.

To  Download Your Transaction History

  1. Click on the View My Accounts link.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom of that screen.
    Click on the Download Transactions button.
  3. From the drop-down list select the account for which you wish to download the history.
  4. In the Download Information section, select either
    • Get all from last download (which presumably translated from the Dutch-English means “Get all the data since the last download”; or
    • Get all for the following date range:
      If you choose a period, from the drop-down lists select the start date and end date day, month and year.
  5. In the Available Download Formats section, from the drop-down list select
    • QFX Quicken
    • Microsoft Money; or
    • Excel/Other software, CSV

    Yes, just like PC Financial they support downloading to Microsoft Money even though Microsoft no longer supports Money itself.
    CSV means comma separated values. In other words, they will put a comma between each entire number. So the two numbers one hundred thousand and the number ten would be sent as: 100000,10

  6. Click the Next button
  7. Review the information on the screen called Here is the information you selected for Download
    If it looks correct, click on the Download button.
  8. In the SomeName.CSV window, select either
    • Open with; or
    1. If you select Open, you must also select a program from the drop-down list.
    • Save File
    1. Click on the OK button.
    2. If applicable, select where you want to save the file.
    3. Click on the Save button.
  9. When you are finished using Tangerine click on the Log Me Out button.
    For increased security, close your browser session.

In my case the saved file was called Chequing.CSV.

CSV means comma separated text. If you open the file in a spreadsheet it will put one line of data on one line of the spreadsheet. It will put the data after each comma into a new column.

You will likely find some columns are full of ######s when you open your file in a spreadsheet. This is because the information is too large to fit the width of the column. To correct this, hover the mouse over the small vertical line between the Letter Names at the top of the column. Click and holding the mouse key down, drag the line to widen the column.

What is Reported for my Tangerine Transaction History

Cool! The info is different than that reported by PC Financial.

The columns reported are

  • The Date
  • The type of transaction
  • Name; a description of what happened. For example Bill Payment AMEX
  • Memo; another description of what happened
  • Amount; the dollars that moved in or out of the account

The types of Transactions are

The types of Memos showing up for my account include

  • Transferred
    This is used when I transfer money between accounts.
  • BILLPO
    This just means I paid a bill, not that I am P.O.d about it, though it does make me smile to think that might be what they meant. I wonder who programmed that?
  • Cheque Order Fee
    This was 0 because I only ordered the free first cheques. I use PC Financial to get as many free cheques as I need.
  • There may be other codes that were not applicable to me.

How Accurate is the Transaction History Information?

I found the way PC Financial reported my credit card transactions resulted in the numbers being in the wrong column.

The Tangerine information, however, is all lining up properly.

How Risky Is It to Download and Store This Information on my PC?

The file does not include any of my credit card numbers, or the account numbers for businesses I paid bills for online. For example, it does not list my Cable TV account number.

The file did not include any information about my bank account number or my bank balance.

This information, therefore, is not very risky to store on my home computer. However, I would suggest storing it instead on a DVD or USB stick and that storing that somewhere safe. No sense in making it too easy for financial crooks, er, criminals.

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Do you download your bank info from Tangerine to a money management program or a spreadsheet? Have you ever had any hiccups? Please share your experiences with a comment.

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Why Do You Need a Credit Card?

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I’m serious. I understand the many varied reasons why people WANT a credit card. What I’m more curious about is why people feel they NEED a credit card. Are they just confusing wants and needs? Or are there times when you really do need a credit card.

Like Guns, in the Hands of the Untrained and Impulsive, Credit Cards are Dangerous

Some friends of ours are poster children for how to use a credit card properly. They only buy things if they already have the money in the bank waiting to pay for them. They read their statement carefully looking for fraud and errors. They pay off their balance in full each month. They even take advantage of a few discounts by using a card (gasoline) and get a few points once in a while (Air Miles.) I’m quite sure VISA hates them.

But credit cards can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. If a person lacks self control, even once, they can end up buying something they can’t pay for when the statement arrives. Then the evil interest starts accumulating. The interest rates on credit cards are outrageous. At a time when you are lucky to get 1.5% on your cash investments, credit cards are charging 5-20% interest! It’s easy for a purchase to end up costing twice what it cost when it was rung up at the till.

Credit cards are also dangerous in a more subtle way. Apparently people are more likely to buy more items and spend more per item if they shop with a credit card than if they shop with cash.  There’s no physical, tangible pang of loss when handing over a credit card like there is when handing over a crisp new $20. In fact when using a credit card you often don’t hand over anything: the card never leaves your hand.

Why Do People Want Credit Cards?

There’s quite a variety of reasons people want credit cards:

  • They want to be like their friends.
  • They don’t like to carry cash
    • …because of germs
    • …because they can’t get to the bank easily
    • …because it’s bulky
    • …because it can get lost easily
    • …because it can get stolen
  • They need to buy items online and the vendor asks for a credit card.
  • They want to rent a car and the auto company doesn’t want to rent if they don’t have a credit card.
  • They want to buy something that requires on-going payments and the service provider wants to bill it to a credit card.
  • They want to collect reward points or miles.
  • They want to earn “cash back.”

When Do You Actually NEED a Credit Card?

Of all these wants, there are only a few situations when you actually need a credit card.

  • buying airline tickets
  • renting a car
  • booking a hotel room
  • paying for work-related expenses where you have to wait to be reimbursed and yet you don’t have the cash to cover the costs until then

I’d argue that in most of those cases you could still work around it through a combination of debit or cash deposits. People who cannot get a credit card manage, although it is probably difficult, embarrassing and time-consuming.

But Do You Need a CREDIT Card or Just a Delayed-Payment Card?

When you mention cards and plastic, you usually think of a credit card like VISA or MasterCard. There is a second type of card, though. The most common brand-name is AMEX, American Express. These cards allow you to delay paying your bill until the end of the billing month. You can’t carry a balance past that same month, however. Payment in full is due when the bill arrives.

These delayed-payment cards, or charge cards, may be the answer for some people who need the convenience of a credit card but who don’t want to risk over-spending.

Pre-Paid Credit Cards

Another option that might work for some people are cards where you load money on the card and you can use it to spend until the money is gone. Personally, I don’t see many advantages for these cards over debit cards. You’d have to check for fees and transaction fees before getting one. If they are like the VISA and MasterCard “gift” cards of a few years ago the fees might be a problem.

So Do You Need a Credit Card?

Do you really NEED a credit card or just want one? Or are these cards just so common now that you figure you should have one like everyone else does? What do you think? Please share your views with a comment.

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Please share your opinions on the ever-controversial topic of credit cards with a comment.