CategoryMortgage News

Posted January 13, 2014 Consumer Debt

TD car loan rates at 25%!! Over 4000 comments!

Last week, CBC’s Kathy Tomlinson made national headlines with her breaking story about TD charging car loan interest rates of 25%. Wow! Are you kidding me? The reaction was incredible and went viral. Over 4000 comments in just a few days.

Now, this doesn’t have anything to do directly with mortgages, but it’s relevant news given that TD is one of the largest BANKs in Canada. It also shows our Federal Govt’s lack of focus when it comes to different types of consumer debt. This should serve as a reminder that a BANK is a business. They aren’t your best friend. They want to maximize profits and are accountable to its shareholders.

The article reports that TD has approximately $14.3billion of indirect loans on its books brokered by dealers. With an estimated 25% of these loans being priced at subprime rates (subprime means higher rates for riskier borrowers), that would work out to around $500million in interest costs being collected by TD each and every year! Continue reading “TD car loan rates at 25%!! Over 4000 comments!”

Posted January 9, 2014 Mortgage News

New threat of Rate hikes… it’s called Finance Minister Flaherty.

The Federal govt of Canada and the Bank of Canada are supposed to operate independently. The Minister of Finance gives the Bank of Canada its objectives or its mandate. And the Bank of Canada is supposed to carry out that mandate. The dotted line is supposed to allow the Bank of Canada Governor to exercise his/her powers without fear of political influence.

THE COMMENT

But our current Finance Minister, Mr. Flaherty, doesn’t seem to like those rules. He has repeatedly opened his mouth at inopportune times. Take last year, for example, when he publicly criticized Manulife Bank and BMO for advertising a 2.99% 5 yr fixed rate. He actually asked them to pull those ads! Not that they were the lowest 5 yr fixed rates at the time, but they were the lowest advertised rates by a major BANK. (as my regular readers know, mortgage brokers had lower rates… as they usually do). Continue reading “New threat of Rate hikes… it’s called Finance Minister Flaherty.”

Posted December 19, 20132 Comments Mortgage News

Winter Home maintenance tips

They say Christmas can be one of the most stressful times of year. Well, your house couldn’t agree more. With snow on the ground since November, it looks like we are in for long hard winter.

Your house is an important investment that you want to keep in tip top shape, especially if you are planning to be there for the foreseeable future. It’s also your home, which means regular maintenance is necessary to ensure your family’s safety and ongoing enjoyment.

CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) has compiled this general maintenance checklist to help you keep your home in top shape: Continue reading “Winter Home maintenance tips”

Posted December 13, 2013 Mortgage News

CMHC’s Ontario Housing conference 2014 highlights: the news is good!

A few weeks ago, I attended CMHC’s Ontario Housing Market Outlook conference. This annual conference provides Financial experts with an insight into some of the best data available. Now, in case you didn’t know it, CMHC probably has the largest database of information in Canada. So when they publish stats and make forecasts, we need to listen.

This year’s speakers included Ted Tsiakopoulos, Regional Economist CMHC, Ed Heese, Senior Market Analyst CMHC, Dave McLean, President Mattamy Homes (Canada’s largest home builder) and Peter Zimmerman, Director of Development Freed Developments (highrise condo builders). I really enjoyed hearing Ted speak. His presentation was backed up by a wealth of stats. Let’s see if you agree about the forecast. Continue reading “CMHC’s Ontario Housing conference 2014 highlights: the news is good!”

Posted November 13, 2013 Mortgage News

Federal Govt’s rrsp Home Buyer’s plan nets this couple a $15,000 tax refund.

Around 20 years ago, the Federal govt introduced the RRSP Home Buyer’s Plan. The goal was to stimulate a depressed housing market in the early ’90s. The plan is really quite simple. First time homebuyers could borrow up to $20,000 from their RRSP to be used towards the purchase of a home. Buy with a spouse or your common-law spouse and you’ve doubled the amount to $40,000.

There really is no catch. You simply have to pay it back to your RRSP plan over a 15 year period. The minimum payment is 1/15th of the amount that you withdrew payable each year. That’s it.

Today, the plan still exists with a slightly higher limit and more flexibility. You can now withdraw up to $25,000 per person… still capped at 2 people max per purchase (married or common-law spouse). You can also participate in the Home Buyer’s plan if you haven’t owned a home in the last 5 years. This can work to your advantage if you previously owned but sold. click here for the full guidelines and qualifications. Continue reading “Federal Govt’s rrsp Home Buyer’s plan nets this couple a $15,000 tax refund.”