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Posted 2 Comments on RBC Boycott has gone viral with Facebook and twitter. Bank News

RBC Boycott has gone viral with Facebook and twitter.

RBC-Bank It’s official.  Canadians are outraged over RBC replacing Canadian workers with foreign workers. The story broke this weekend from CBC and it’s not going away anytime soon.greedy banker

Over 5,000 comments were posted before the comments section was closed.   And now a Facebook page called ‘Boycott Royal Bank of Canada” and several twitter hashtags have popped up creating quite a buzz amongst Canadians.

RBC executives are trying to put a positive spin by saying they are trying to ‘redeploy the affected employees’.  Come on RBC, we all know what’s happening.  So let’s be very clear.  RBC is replacing current Canadian jobs with cheaper foreign labor.   The current jobs are being shipped overseas to India where labor is less expensive.   End result is a higher net profit for the RBC shareholder.   I guess 2012’s record $7billion profit just isn’t enough! Continue reading “RBC Boycott has gone viral with Facebook and twitter.”

Posted 1 Comment on RBC accused of terminating Canadian workers in place of cheaper, foreign labor. Bank News

RBC accused of terminating Canadian workers in place of cheaper, foreign labor.

RBC-Bank RBC reported a record $7.5billion profit in 2012.  big newsThat was up by 17% from 2011.  Not bad.  In fact, all the BIG SIX BANKs had a great 2012… with a combined record profit of 30 billion!.   There’s nothing wrong with profit.  All businesses should expect to make a reasonable profit.   And a healthy and profitable banking system is important for Canadians.  Our Banks are so big that 5 of the top 8 most profitable corporations are now Banks.

But when is it enough?  And how far will the BIG SIX BANKs go to increase their profits?   Would you believe that Canadian Banks could or would outsource work to foreign countries to save a buck?!    CBC News reports that RBC is terminating 45 IT systems support jobs and replacing them with foreign workers.   iGATE corp. is an outsourcing corp from India with over 27,000 employees, according to their website. Continue reading “RBC accused of terminating Canadian workers in place of cheaper, foreign labor.”

Posted 3 Comments on Mortgage Penalties exposed… an in-depth study, part 2…the update. Debt

Mortgage Penalties exposed… an in-depth study, part 2…the update.

greedy banker Two years ago I published, what would become, my most widely read article.   Mortgage Penalties exposed…. an in-depth study reveals unjust penalties was written to show just how unfair penalties had become.   The surprising results showed that the BIG SIX BANKS were the leaders when it came to charging the highest penalties in Canada.   If you had a Fixed rate mortgage and thought your mortgage penalty could only be a 3 month interest charge, you were in for a huge shock.

Consumers were experiencing $10k, $15k, $20k and even $30k in prepayment penalties and more! Ridiculous amounts.   Put another way, these penalties equaled 12, 16, 20 months worth of interest and sometimes more!   But we also discovered some good news..   There are better alternatives to the BIG SIX BANKS.!  There are several other Lenders that don’t use the same inflated and unfair prepayment penalty calculation as the BIG SIX BANKS.   There are other Lenders with competitive, and often better, interest rates, and with much lower penalties.  That original study opened the eyes of Canadian borrowers. (another eye-opening stat…the BIG SIX BANKS reported a record $30billion in combined profits for 2012.)

Two years later, with more consumers being forced into Fixed Rate products, we thought it was time to revisit Mortgage Penalties and see what changes had been made, if any…

Continue reading “Mortgage Penalties exposed… an in-depth study, part 2…the update.”

Posted Consumer Debt

BMO caves in to Federal govt pressure and raises mortgage rate.

Bmo wide It was bound to happen.  BMO announced their so-called ‘low-rate’ (NO FRILLS) 5 yr fixed rate mortgage would be increasing to 3.09% from 2.99%.   This comes shortly after the Federal Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, said that he called BMO and asked them to pull their 2.99% ads.   Last week, the Minister’s office asked Manulife Bank to withdraw their recent ad promoting a similar low rate.  Flaherty i don't know

While, 2.99% isn’t the best rate today, it was the lowest advertised rate from the BIG SIX BANKs.    It was somewhat symbolic.    Of course, Mortgage Brokers have access to even lower rates through the wholesale mortgage market, but these lenders don’t have the deep advertising pockets that BMO or the other BIG SIX BANKs have.   So the publicity surrounding this rate and the increase will get much more air-time.   You can actually find full-featured 5 year mortgages at 2.89% today, through a good mortgage broker (a word of warning.. I’ve seen lower rates offered, and I have access to these products… but these products are not full-featured and come with some limitations that make them less attractive… just be careful when choosing your mortgage and your mortgage broker)… Continue reading “BMO caves in to Federal govt pressure and raises mortgage rate.”

Posted 3 Comments on Canadian Govt doesn’t want you to find the lowest mortgage rate. Consumer Debt

Canadian Govt doesn’t want you to find the lowest mortgage rate.

communism in canada Yesterday, we saw our Federal Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, admit to having his office phone up Manulife Financial and ask them to stop advertising their 2.89% 5 year fixed rate mortgage special.  An unprecedented move for a government official…  Yes, it’s true!  But wait, it gets better (or worse).  Flaherty admitted to calling up BMO personally,  to ask them to stop advertising their 2.99% 5 year fixed rate (NO FRILLS mortgage).  click here for the article.

Now, just a comment about these products and rates…. if you are a regular visitor to CanadaMortgageNews.ca then you’ll know the BMO low-rate (or NO FRILLS to be more accurate) is a terrible product with too many restrictions and limitations…  Manulife has a decent product….rate is competitive, however, like most other Bank’s, there is some mystery about what their best rates really are…  so once again, you can’t rely on a website or bank advertising when it comes to finding the best mortgage…a mortgage broker is the best way to get unbiased advice with access to dozens of Lenders. Continue reading “Canadian Govt doesn’t want you to find the lowest mortgage rate.”