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CategoryMortgage News

Posted Mortgage News

Are you one of these people?

Was reading this survey about First Time Home Buyers that TD Canada Trust did recently...

Thought the most interesting stat was that 3/4 of the people surveyed were opting for a Fixed Rate mortgage.   And in the same paragraph, the TD rep acknowledged that Variable Rate mortgages performed better… Does any of this sound familiar?

Here’s some more good news.. well, actually it’s bad news for the Stock Market and investor confidence but it’s good news for interest rates… The 5 year Canada Bond has dropped significantly…  We were at 2.33% at one point today… meaning 5 year fixed mortgage rates should really be hovering around 3.80%… but instead we are seeing best rates at around 4.29%…   WHY?  Pure profit taking by the Banks…

But don’t fret…this uncertainty means there is less chance for rates to increase and less chance they will increase significantly…. And for those in a Variable rate, rates of 3.80% and 4.29% are still too high….  Variable rate mortgage clients are enjoying 2.00% or better…   Enjoy the summer!

Posted Mortgage News

More reckless Lending by BMO and RBC

There were 2 reports recently that made me kind of laugh…..  You may have seen the recent report about Bank of Montreal bringing formal charges for mortgage fraud against hundreds of people… including bank staff, appraisers, lawyers and mortgage brokers…

Well, last week there was a report about the BC government blasting RBC and BMO for their loose lending practices when it came to granting mortgages…they called them ‘willfully blind’ and ‘reckless’.

This week, we see a report about RBC receiving an award for Creditor of the Year award from the Credit Counselling Canada.  They won the award for ‘thinking outside the box’…  Well, they sure did think outside the box in BC…

Posted Mortgage News

2010 CMHC Survey shows Mortgage Broker share is stable

45% of First Time homebuyer’s said they would seek advice from a Mortgage Broker… according to the CMHC’s Mortgage Consumer Survey.

The study also found that internet usage was on the rise…no surprise there… 69% of First time buyers…

And 92% agree that Home ownership was a good, long-term investment.

68% of recent Homebuyer’s believe they will pay off their mortgage sooner than their current amortization.

All this adds up to a high level of confidence in our Housing market…   Enjoy those low interest rates…

Posted 5 Comments on Bank Complaints on the rise and Mortgage penalties are a big reason Mortgage News

Bank Complaints on the rise and Mortgage penalties are a big reason

A report just came out from the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments that shows complaints are on the rise…

The report shows Bank complaints were up 21%.  Many of the complaints had to do with Mortgage Prepayment Penalties and rates on Lines of Credit….. This shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone with a Bank Mortgage.

Last year was the start of record low interest rates… Mortgage rates were down below 4.00% for a 5 yr fixed and Variable rates were below 2.00%…  If you bought a new house or renewed your mortgage, it was great….you couldn’t have timed it better….

But what if you wanted to refinance your existing mortgage?  Could you do it?  If you were in a Variable rate mortgage, your penalty was probably 3 months interest or less…. That’s quite reasonable and manageable for most.. but if you were in a Fixed Rate Mortgage, then you were in for a surprise from the Big Banks… Enormous prepayment penalties….  Here are some real life examples… a $250k mortgage had a $13,000 penalty… a $275k mortgage had a $18,000 penalty…

These penalties equaled 8 and 10 months of interest.…How can this be?  Well, the Banks changed how they calculate prepayment penalties about 10 years ago… To sum it up, you have to pay for any ‘discount’ off the posted rate.  And you have to pay for that discount in full.. for the entire duration of the mortgage….Not fair?  I agree.. extremely unfair…

Is there a connection with $billion Bank profits and these prepayment penalties?

If you are unsatisfied with a prepayment penalty then make some noise.. I encourage you to contact me or the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments .

Posted Mortgage News

Expecting a June 1st rate hike

It seems like a rate hike is almost certain for tomorrow’s Bank of Canada meeting.. but we need to put this in perspective… The Bank of Canada has not raised rates since July 2007… and Mr. Carney has never raised the Target rate since he took his place as Governor…. (he should be a popular person among Canadian borrowers).

But let’s put it in perspective…even if the Variable rate doubles to 4.50% from it’s current 2.25%, we would still be in historically low interest rate territory when it comes to variable mortgage rates…

A 25bps or 50bps or even a 100bps increase should only slow the housing market and not kill it….. Remember, these are EMERGENCY RATES…. The Emergency is over.. and we should want it be over…  We should be happy that we’ve been able to enjoy these record low rates for so long…..  the sky isn’t falling…  we won’t be seeing rates of 9% or 10% or anything near that level…