Browse offers - FreeYoCash

Lifeline phone or internet discount in Alabama

$9

Universal Service Administrative Company

A federal benefit that takes up to $9.25 a month off a phone or internet bill for qualifying low-income households, delivered through participating providers.

The catch: One benefit per household, not per person - and household has a specific meaning that catches roommates and multi-generational homes out. You must qualify by income or by participation in a qualifying programme, choose a participating provider, and recertify when required or the benefit stops. The discount is applied by the provider, so the provider is who you argue with when it does not appear.

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Free credit report - and the Alberta score catch

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Both national credit bureaus provide your credit report free. The score is a different product and the rule is provincial: Equifax provides it "free in all provinces and territories"; TransUnion provides it "free if you live in Quebec or Ontario (as part of your Consumer Disclosure)."

The catch: In Alberta that means the report is free from both bureaus and the score is free from Equifax only - the TransUnion score is a paid product here. Neither bureau volunteers the free route, and both sell a monitoring subscription alongside it that is easy to sign up for by accident while looking for the free disclosure.

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Free cashing of a Government of Canada cheque

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Verbatim: "You have the right to cash your Government of Canada cheque for free at a bank (including federal credit unions) and at an authorized foreign bank," and "You can cash your Government of Canada cheque at any branch of a bank in Canada that has tellers and that offers disburse cash services. You can do so even if you're not a customer of that bank."

The catch: Identification is the whole catch: "You must provide original ID, not photocopies," and the page lists conditions under which a bank may still refuse. A maximum free-cashing amount was not recorded from the page - confirm it before relying on this for a large cheque. This is the direct counter to cheque-cashing storefronts, which charge a percentage to do what any bank with tellers must do for nothing.

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No-cost bank account

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Verbatim: "No-cost accounts have the same features and services as low-cost accounts but with no monthly fee," and "Low-cost and no-cost accounts include at least 18 debit transactions per month." Eligible: a student, a senior receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement, an RDSP beneficiary, or a newcomer to Canada in their first year.

The catch: Nobody will offer it to you. It is a category entitlement rather than an income test, it is not advertised because no one earns anything by advertising it, and you have to ask for the account by name at a bank that is required to provide it. The eligibility list is exactly the population this catalog already routes: anyone sent here for an RDSP or the Guaranteed Income Supplement is very likely paying a monthly fee for an account they are entitled to hold for nothing.

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Free tax clinics (Community Volunteer Income Tax Program)

Canada Revenue Agency

Verbatim: "community organizations host free tax clinics where volunteers complete tax returns for people with a modest income and a simple tax situation." The delivery mechanism for most of the filing-gated benefits in this catalog, and for the ten-year reach-back on returns already filed.

The catch: Modest income and simple tax situation are both CRA definitions with their own exclusions, and neither definition was read - check both before counting on a clinic. Clinics are volunteer-run and mostly seasonal, so availability is local, finite and concentrated around the filing deadline.

Annual