Don’t get trapped with dumb Bank ads…

Watching the Olympics the past few weeks meant I had to endure watching tons of RBC commercials… I normally reach for the clicker and change channels but gave up after they kept popping up every 10 mins.

One commercial in particular really bugged me… have you seen this one? The young couple are looking at a house with an old kitchen.  And then their RBC Mobile Mortgage Specialist suggests they split their mortgage … “part variable and part fixed…  to save money.”

Ok, can anyone tell me what that means?  ‘…To save money'”.   So splitting your mortgage will save you money?  Really? How? Who says?  Show me statistical data to support such a claim…

I remember that when these split mortgages became available at the TD Bank (I worked there in the 90’s), it was great idea to reduce how much business would leave the banks… Ask anyone that has been in a split mortgage what happened when it came time to renew the 2 split portions…you lose your leverage to negotiate the rate because you cannot transfer your mortgage out until both maturities match….

The result….you get whatever rate the Bank wants to offer at maturity….  BEWARE…. this is bank Kool-aid again… I don’t drink it…

Here’s another recent article about Bank commercials from Ellen Roseman of The Star.  This ties in with the bank ads portraying many of us idiots…