Loan calculators

By Natasha A loan is something that is borrowed, usually a sum of money, that is expected to be paid back with interest. Loan calculators help determine the monthly payments on a loan that need to be paid. Loan calculators can also be used for mortgage, auto, or other types of loans. The two loan calculators that I compared are Scotia bank and TD Canada trust.

Scotia bank:

-Scotia bank pros: •easy to understand labels •vast amount of options •very interactive •there is a therefore statement (a final statement that clarifies results) •no pop up ads •disclaimer that lets you know that the loan calculator may not be necessarily accurate -Scotia bank cons: •small print •no step by step instructions •the calculations may not be accurate Overall a good calculator, easy to understand labels and a therefore statement that makes the answer clear but this loan calculator does have small print therefore making it a little harder to read the labels making it harder to use the calculator.

TD Canada trust:

-TD Canada trust pros: •step by step instructions •useful links •disclaimer that lets you know that the loan calculator may not be necessarily accurate -TD Canada trust cons: •not many options for payments •no therefore statement (a final statement that clarifies results) •more difficult to understand •pop up ads Overall a good calculator, step by step instructions but this loan calculator is hard to use and is confusing therefore not easy for beginners to use. Both calculators are good and bad in different ways but personally I think overall the Scotia bank calculator is a better loan calculator. https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/loanpaymentcalc.form

Mortgage Calculator App

by Carol-Anne

I chose to conduct my comparison on two mortgage calculator apps.  The first app I looked at was called, ”Canadian Mortgage app”.  I mainly chose this one because it had a five-star rating.  The only one.  Most of the other ones had low or no ratings at all!  The second app I looked at was called, ”Mortgage calculator for iPhone -calc Pro”. 

    The calculator for iPhone -calc pro was exceptionally difficult to navigate.  I believe this is due to the fact that in the review for the app, it says it has a calculator for everything.  This makes it incredibly frustrating to try and figure it out. It would be easier if the app was organized better. However, I discovered that the app does have an entire section dedicated to financial aid.  The Financial Calculator contains 10 powerful calculator worksheets to help solve common financial problems.  Five display options: normal, scientific, fractions, engineering, and allow up to 2-10 decimal places.  Five calculator modes: simple, algebraic,
direct algebraic, expression, and RPN. Advanced graphing functions:
simultaneous graphs, find points on the
graph and show tangents, and allows you to copy or email them.  Supported Languages: English, German,
Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian,
Dutch, Japanese, Simplified & Traditional
Chinese, Korean, and Russian.

However, the Candadian Mortgage app is currently featured by Apple, the Canadian
Mortgage App has been used over 4+
million times and ranks as Canada's #1
mortgage app.  The app allows you, the user, to easily calculate your total home
ownership cost, the stress test, compare
rates by national and regional lenders and
brokers, calculate land transfer taxes and
determine your affordability to the penny.  The app was very easy to navigate as well. Some simple features that made it easier would be:

. All Possible Payment Frequencies
. 2018 Stress Test Rules
. Minimum Down Pavment Calculator
Total Monthly Ownership Calculator
. Closing Cost Calculator
. Affordability Calculator
. Extra Payments Calculator
. Load and Save Multiple Scenarios
. Scenario Comparison (side by side)

. Real-time Mortgage Rates
And it even allows you the aability to apply with an expert on the app.  The calculations have also been
vigorously tested both mathematically
and physically against almost all available
mortgage calculators. It calculates at an
extended number of decimal places,
and uses specialized rounding as suggested by the European Commission. 

In my opinion, with the comparing of the two apps, I feel as though the Canadian Mortgage App was the best option overall. This is due to the fact that I found it easier to navigate and understand.  I like the fact that it has a lot of options with layouts. However, I don't like how they crammed so much into the app.  This applies to both of the apps that I looked at.  It felt too overwhelming and confusing. But if I needed to calculate mortgage, I would definitely recommend and use the Canadian Mortgage app.

 Calculator for iPhone - Calc Pro by Panoramic Software Inc.

Canadian Mortgage App by Bendigi Tech Inc

Hardbacon

by Riley

Hardbacon is app for buying and managing stocks. I don’t know how common buying stocks is with people now a days but the app seems simple and easy to use it is an apple devices only app right now. The app is very advanced and claim that it can set you up with something called a robo-adviser I’m not sure how helpful that may be compared to an actual person helping you. I think this app isn’t going to last it may be easily accessible and always with you but I think buying stocks is just too complicated for an app to handle. It is just smarted for people to do this kind of stuff face to face with someone. 

https://hardbacon.ca/

Honey Money app

by Katara

                 This app is an app that talks about how to improve relationship with money (having too much or to less money). It’s about a woman that talks about things in front of a camera (or with other victims of money issues, or in a page written document) and teaches you how to use your money and to respect your money, you can tell her your money problems and they could be helped by her with a guide or a miracle.

 

what should they do to change the app?

              I think she could instead of making the videos and you have to press next I think it should be a scrollable page down. Also maybe have a comment section in the description to make it easy for people to have conversations with you about problems or make the email option more obvious like at the end of the video or in the description, plus put all of your stuff on the app.

"Bank Budget apps"

By David

Spending

I started to use an app called TD myspend that went with my online banking. The app is separate from the regular online banking app; this app tracks how much you spend each month and puts them into different categories: Needs and wants. In “wants” it shows how much cash you have taken out, how much money you spent on eating out, shopping, entertainment, travel, and fees. In “needs” it shows: how much money you spend on your home (or how much you spent at any hardware store in that month all combined), Groceries (or how much you spent at any grocery store for that month all combined), Transportation, Education, Utilities, and health. It also shows your typical spending for each thing in both categories if you spend above your typical it will notify you and the notification will show up red, if you spend close to your typical spending it will show up yellow and if you spend decently lower than your typical it will show up green. Also if you click on the all categories button it shows all your transactions for that month.

 Helping you save

The whole point of the app is to help you try to spend less and save more. I personally need to really work on my spending and try to bring it down; I thought I was doing pretty well until I saw the numbers of how much I spent on “wants” on my screen.  It also has line graphs that show you how much you spent over the month and it has an area to show you what date it spiked up and how much it spiked by/how much you spent to make it spike and it also shows a line of your typical spending on the graph to show you how much more or how much less you spend than your typical spending.