Your mortgage is paid? Beware of mortgage fraudsters….
“You’ve worked hard all your life… your house is finally paid off. You decide to it’s time to get a smaller house, maybe a condo or you just want travel. Does this sound like someone you know? You sell your home but discover that someone has registered a mortgage on your house without you knowing it. Sound impossible? Guess again… this is Mortgage Fraud and it’s happening now.”
I wrote that back in 2006. Since then we have seen some provincial governments step in with laws to protect unsuspecting homeowners…. You can also purchase Title insurance to protect you as well. But once you have been victimized by the crooks, you still need to make a claim and go through the hassle of clearing things up…. Who wants to go through making a claim? This takes time and can be a big paid in the rear.
What if there was a way to make yourself less of a target? The good news is there is a better way to protect yourself….. The criminals go after homes that have no mortgage. This is PUBLIC information. Anyone can find out if you have a mortgage just by going to the Land Registry Office and doing a search. So what should you do?
The solution is to register a mortgage on your home. This doesn’t mean you need to borrow money. By getting a secured line of credit you will have a collateral mortgage registered. The criminals will not know if you have a balance on that mortgage or if it’s $0. And they will probably go searching for the next home that has no mortgage.
What makes this product unique is that it is available to both salaried and self-employed individuals that cannot prove their income. If you don’t use it, it doesn’t cost you anything.
Let me know if you would like more details about this.
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Steve Garganis View All
As an industry insider, Steve will share info that the BANKS don't want you to know. Steve has appeared on TV's Global Morning News, CBC's "Our Toronto" and The Real Life TV show. He's also been quoted in several newspapers such as the Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Vancouver Sun, The Star Phoenix, etc.
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I have been in the banking industry for 15 years and I could count on both my hands how many times a customer borrowed the equity from their homes to purchase another property or make investments. The consumer today is borrowing the equity in their homes to pay down credit cards, unsecured line of credits and other personal loans they may have. That is just a fact! The government needed to wake up and change the debt service ratio’s because the borrowing is out of control. 30 years ago folks were in a different position. That is olden days controls. Today we need more control on how much consumers can borrow. 35% debt service ratio is way way to high for the consumer today! Wake up and help Canadians get control of their spending. This living pay to pay and using credit to pay credit has got to stop. We need to borrow less and save more for the next generation of retirees’s………..
Hi Amanda,
Great to get feedback from someone in the banking community…
But why does the govt feel it so necessary to implement the biggest changes in mortgage lending ever? I’ve been in this industry for 23 yrs and if we research historical lending policies, we can’t find the restrictions they are proposing today….
Would the govt not be better served to put some restrictions or rules on unsecured borrowing? Paying off higher interest Credit cards, unsecured lines of credit, loans, etc, with a low rate mortgage or secured line of credit seems to be smart way to borrow…. Paying less interest is a good thing…. The new changes proposed by OSFI will only force borrowers into higher interest debts like Credit cards, unsecured lines of credit, etc…
That said, I should also point out that a great number of my clients borrow to invest… studies show that Canadians are the biggest foreign buyers of real estate in Florida and Arizona…. not bad for a country of 35million… we have also just seen a recent study by CIBC which stated that 49% of Canadians have made at least one lump sum prepayment to reduce their debt faster…
Steve