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Posted 1 Comment on Scotiabank closes ING Direct mortgage broker division… but who cares? Mortgage News

Scotiabank closes ING Direct mortgage broker division… but who cares?

Scotia and ING In an email sent to Mortgage Brokers today, ING announced they will close the Mortgage Broker division February 16, 2013.   My first reaction was one of sadness.  In the mid 2000’s, ING was a strong Lender and partner with Mortgage Brokers.   They offered some great products, competitive pricing, a fair prepayment penalty calculation and had an excellent team of employees, including their senior management.

Yes, I was sad to hear they would close the Broker division… But then I asked myself how much would this affect me?  my clients? How much business was I referring to ING these days?  The answer soon made me realize that there isn’t any reason for sadness.    I soon realized that since they made the switch to registering all their mortgages as a collateral mortgage charge, back in December 2011, I all but completely stopped recommending them to my clients. Continue reading “Scotiabank closes ING Direct mortgage broker division… but who cares?”

Posted Mortgage News

Genworth Financial $50billion increase is good for Consumers

Genworth Financial CanadaThe Federal govt controls hi-ratio mortgage lending…. (mortgages that are greater than 80% loan to value)…  There is a $600 billion limit for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC… a federal corp).   And a $250 billion limit for Genworth Financial Canada (a private corp).

Last year, the govt reported CMHC was fast approaching it’s $600 billion limit and that it had no intentions of increasing that limit.  Then last month, the federal govt announced they would increase Genworth’s limit to $300 billon.  This gives Canada’s mortgage lenders some breathing room as it now appears as though there is enough room to cover mortgages for a few years…

WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION Continue reading “Genworth Financial $50billion increase is good for Consumers”

Posted 1 Comment on Personal Debt levels and Mortgage Debt levels Interest rates

Personal Debt levels and Mortgage Debt levels

debt amination Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4 years, it’s impossible to not know the Federal govt’s concern about Canada’s Personal Debt level.   The media has covered this topic extensively.  After all, bad news sells more than good news…..

Here’s some current stats from Statistics Canada that really gets my blood boiling!….  We now carry a total debt load equal to around 164% of our annual household income.  That’s at an all-time high….  The govt is convinced that we are spending too much or our income towards real estate…   They have made numerous changes to mortgage lending rules that make it much tougher to qualify for a mortgage.  If there really is a problem, why is the govt focusing on low-interest rate products like mortgages?

Current mortgage rates are at around 3.00%.    Current credit card rates range from 9.99% to 19.99%….personal loan and car loan rates range from 6.00% to 9.00% and up.   Aren’t low-interest rate products better than high-interest rate products?   We have not seen any changes to these non-mortgage debt products….   Who benefits from higher rates?  Yup, your banker!… Continue reading “Personal Debt levels and Mortgage Debt levels”

Posted 2 Comments on Fed govt, BIG SIX BANK’s pushed us into Fixed rates!…part 2 of 2. Case study

Fed govt, BIG SIX BANK’s pushed us into Fixed rates!…part 2 of 2.

Flaherty and Harper

IT’S NO COINCIDENCE THAT THE BIG SIX BANKS CONTINUE TO REPORT RECORD PROFITS.

The Bankers were onto something.  Now if they could only keep Variable rate pricing higher or make itMark Carney tougher to get a Variable rate mortgage…. In 2010, the Fed govt would help increase those Bank profits…All new Variable rate mortgage borrowers would need to qualify at the Bank posted 5 year fixed rate.   The Feds said they had to tighten Mortgage Lending Rules… They had to make it tougher to qualify for a mortgage with fluctuating interest rates to ensure we would not have a ‘housing bubble’ and a ‘mortgage default problem’…  This pushed out 5% more borrowers from qualifying for, and benefiting from Variable rates.  And by the way, at that time, Variable rates ranged anywhere from 1.50% to 1.95% compared with the best discounted 5 yr fixed rate of 3.89%…..!  Anyone seeing a pattern here?   (Some stats to remember…Mortgage defaults have been under 0.50% for over 15 years are currently at around 0.33%… this is at or near record lows!!… so where’s the problem??)

This is also when the BIG SIX BANK’S inflated, and unfair mortgage penalty calculation came to light.   The lower rates became, the higher mortgage penalties climbed…  $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 in mortgage prepayment penalty charges were popping up in mortgage blogs and news sites.   Even the media had to jump in and cover some of this…  And when Canadians needed a break in their mortgage payments, they were left out in the cold.   These inflated penalties made it impossible to get out of their higher Fixed rate mortgages without paying an enormous penalty. Continue reading “Fed govt, BIG SIX BANK’s pushed us into Fixed rates!…part 2 of 2.”

Posted Case study

Fed govt, BIG SIX BANK’s pushed us into Fixed rates!…part 1 of 2.

Mark CarneyVARIABLE RATE MORTGAGES WERE THE BEST OPTION

For years, I’ve promoted the merits of Variable rate greedy bankermortgages vs Fixed rates.   To me, it was a no-brainer.  Historical stats showed that you would save over 1.00% on your mortgage, per year, every year (some years had savings of over 3.00%!).   Do the math…  That works out to $1,000 to $3,000 per year for every $100,000 of mortgage.

And for years, the BIG SIX BANKS, the Bank of Canada, the Federal govt and other fear-mongers pointed out that Variable rates fluctuated and your rates would change and possibly go up…

If  you were able to block out these warnings, do a little research, then you may have been lucky enough to enjoy the huge savings that Variable rates gave us over the last 15 years…  Fortunately, over 80% of my clients listened to my advice and chose Variable rate.  But even at the height of Variable rate popularity,  just 45% of Canadians were ever in a Variable rate product at any one time. Today, it’s less than 15%.

In 2008, the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis hit.   Financial markets were in turmoil.  New Variable rate mortgages were either pulled from the shelf or were priced so high as to make them an unattractive option (prime plus 1.00% with some Banks).

BEGINNING OF THE BANKS HIGHER PROFITS

The Banks actually liked this.   After all, the most profitable mortgage product is the 5 year Fixed rate.  Not hard to figure out.   The lower the interest rate, the less the Bank’s make.   This became a great opportunity for the Banks to reduce their Variable rate exposure…  And so began the great campaign to force us into 5 year fixed rate mortgages.  (by the way, these inflated Variable rate prices only lasted around 6 months…we’re not back to the good old days of Prime less 0.90% but anything at Prime less 0.50% or better is worth a look….it’s worth noting for the record that I still didn’t recommend 5 year fixed rates to my clients during this time… I recommended shorter term fixed rates ranging from 6 months to 3 years and then went back to Variable rate… history has shown that this was the right strategy).

Flaherty and HarperStarting in late 2008, and continuing today, Bankers would call, email or write letters to their Variable rate mortgage clients to warn against higher rates coming…  and they should consider locking into a 5 year fixed rate mortgage.   There were many reasons given… a bad economy… uncertainty in the financial markets… or my favorite, a special rate offer (it was special alright! Lol!!)… And the media jumped in too.  TV, radio, newspapers, major news websites…how many times have you have heard the warnings about rising mortgage rates??…or record personal debt levels??   This created an even higher level of uncertainty and fear… Mr. Potter would be proud!

Think about it… The Banks were strongly recommending that Variable rate clients go from a rate of 3.25% or better, and into a 5 year fixed rate of 5.50%!!? (November 2008).   And the worst part about all this is that hundreds of borrowers listened and did it… and have regretted it ever since!!!  Where’s your Banker now?…

watch for part 2 of 2… FED GOVT, BIG SIX BANK’S pushed us into Fixed rates!… tomorrow!

Getting a mortgage today?  Speak with a Mortgage Broker…and think twice about sticking with your BANK…. you could just save yourself $thousands.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions.  Let me know if I can help.

Steve Garganis 416 224 0114 steve@mortgagenow.ca