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Posted Interest rates

2.89% 5yr fixed rates are available… but are those offers legit…?

You’ve heard the saying, “there are no free lunches”…. or “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is”.…  I’m not sure how these sayings got started but they probably came from a bad experience…  My favorite is, “the problem with things that are free, is that they cost too much”.…   These sayings can be applied to most things in life…   including your mortgage.

Recently, I’ve seen a growing number of websites and radio ads offering these so-called “great mortgage products” at 2.99% and now 2.89% for 5 yrs… A number of readers have asked me if these offers are legit?  Here’s what I tell them…. Hope you find this useful…

In short, the rates are real but the product offerings come with too many strings attached for my liking….. things like the rates are for CMHC insured mortgages only… or the rates are only held for 30 or 60 days….you can’t pay the mortgage off for the first 3 years…. limited prepayment privileges…..prepayment penalties are far higher than other mortgages….you lose your ability to negotiate a rate if you have to refinance the mortgage.

These product have, and can, end up costing you more in the end.   This is why you won’t see me promoting or advertising these rates.

A CLOSER LOOK AT WHAT THESE PRODUCTS ARE ABOUT

In trying to capture market share, some Lenders have created products with slightly lower rates… Ok, I like that part of it…. BUT, they come with inferior terms and restrictions…… and this is where you could end up paying big time, on the back-end of these mortgages.    You’ve seen my previous articles about $20k, $25k, and $30k in mortgage penalties….. This is what makes these products and other NO FRILLS mortgages a bad option…and why I refuse to endorse them.

Let’s face it, the first thing most of us look at is the price… If I said you can buy and iPad for $200, or a 65″ Plasma TV for $500, you would keep listening… In the case of mortgages, we look at rate… 2.89%….  But hopefully, you keep asking questions.  9 times out of 10, you would probably find out there is a catch….. Maybe you have to buy something else, or the make and model is older or of a very poor quality, or the sale was only for a limited time, or it’s a refurbished model, etc….  You get the picture…

In most cases, those offers are just bogus.   The headlines are there to catch our attention… They want to entice you…to get you in the front door or to make that phone call, or to click that link on your computer….The seller is hoping that either 1 out of 10 will not ask too many questions and take the product… or they will shift you into another product… The old bait and switch….  That’s how most of this type of advertising works.  It’s a numbers game…

And it isn’t any different with mortgages.  But the problem with mortgages is that we are talking about a very complex financial product.  A mortgage is a loan agreement, a legal contract that will bind you for 5 years, in most cases.   The loan is secured by your house.  Think about that… You are putting up your home as security… you better understand all the terms, obligations, limitations, restrictions, privileges….. most importantly, look at how much it will cost you to exit this product.

Here’s where I have a BIG problem with these flashy ads….  in most cases, the borrower doesn’t even know what questions to ask…  They can’t get all the required info in order to make an informed decision.     We saw a great example of this earlier this year when BMO offered their 2.99% NO FRILLS mortgage… only, they didn’t market it that way… they called it a Low-rate mortgage…   Quite a play on words.  They made it sound like they were doing us a favour by pushing people into these mortgages… but as my readers know, the limitations to this product can and will prove costly for a large number of borrowers….  which is why I gave that product a huge thumbs down.

For those seeking my opinion and advice, I suggest you take a good hard look at these offers…. ask questions…. you’ll probably end up being part of the “9 out of 10 group” that asked too many questions and saved themselves from a mortgage disaster.

Should you need my help or advice, feel free to contact me anytime.   steve@mortgagenow.ca or 416 224 0114.

Steve

Posted Interest rates

Wanna know where rates are going? Look at 2 yr bond yields.

Probably the most popular question asked is, “where are rates heading?”  Or “when will they go up?”   Let’s face it, if you have a mortgage or are invested in real estate, then you better know the answer or understand what affects rates.  After all, interest rates can make or break a housing market.

We decided to take a few minutes to explain how you can follow the indicators that affect interest rate movement….  We won’t make you a Financial Expert, but you will gain a better understanding of what affects rate movements…

My first suggestion is to stop paying so much attention to the news or TV… (apologies to my media friends)… but the wild headlines are there to grab your attention…  it’s not that difficult to understand…

Last week, the Bank of Canada met for the 5th time in 2012.   There are 8 scheduled meetings each year… (and by the way, this helps to keep rate movement and monetary policy more predictable…. the more predictable a Govt is, the more stable it’s economy is.)   The Key Rate is set during these meetings… this rate directly affects Variable rate mortgages…. No surprise, the Bank of Canada Governor, Mark Carney, kept the rate unchanged.

That means Bank Prime is still 3.00%.   And with more negative economic news from Greece, Spain, other parts of Europe, the U.S, and now Canada, it’s safe to say rates should remain flat for some time……(remember, bad economic news usually means rates will drop or stay low).

So the Bank of Canada’s Key Rate (also known as Target Rate or Overnight rate) directly affects Variable rate mortgages… but indirectly, they also affect Fixed Rates.   A better short term indicator to watch is the 5 yr Govt of Cda bond yield.   We watch this to see where fixed rates are headed in the short term… say, over the next few days or or few weeks.   A good long term indicator for Fixed rates is the 2 yr Gov of Cda bond yields.   Financial Experts  pay very close attention to this index if they want to know where rates are going in 6 months or longer.  And at present, the 2 yr yields are very low…..

Bottom line, rates should remain low for some time…   Not so hard to follow, right?

And not to confuse you, but historically, Fixed rates usually go up ahead of Variable rates…. so we need to watch Bond yields together, with the Bank of Canada’s Key Rate to gauge where rates are going…

Hope this helps… and as always, feel free to call or email me…

Steve Garganis

416 224 0114

steve@mortgagenow.ca

Posted 2 Comments on New Mortgage rules start today… but BMO study says Canadians pay their mortgages in 15 yrs! Mortgage News

New Mortgage rules start today… but BMO study says Canadians pay their mortgages in 15 yrs!

  The govt’s new mortgage rules go into effect today… well, actually, most Lenders put them into effect a week ago to ensure they had enough time to process applications already in the pipeline.

The new rules are supposed to help us pay our mortgage off faster, make it tougher to borrow money and slow the housing market which in turn will save us from a housing bubble.   And this is also supposed to help lower our personal debt levels.   It all sounds great, but the govt has not provided us with any real data to suggest that we need saving from ourselves.

In fact, a new BMO study shows that Canadians are paying off their mortgages in 15 years or less.   Does that sound like a bunch of irresponsible borrowers?   And there is a lot more data out there that shows over 20% of us are making lump sum payments… and even more are accelerating their payment schedules by increasing their minimum mortgage payments..

If the govt did make a mistake and used a sledgehammer to kill a fly, then let’s hope they will act just as quickly to adjust the rules if their policies were too strong… Let’s hope they will put some sort of review procedure in place to measure the impact of these changes….We already have some pretty tough standards when it comes to borrowing for a house…. maybe we should bring in some rules for Credit Cards or personal loans…  seems like anyone with a pulse can get one of these….

Posted 1 Comment on Part 2 of OSFI’s new mortgage underwriting rules announced Mortgage News

Part 2 of OSFI’s new mortgage underwriting rules announced

Hot topics this week are all the govt changes to mortgage lending…  but before we get into the bad news, I thought I’d start with some positive news…  Interest rates are still at all time lows….  if you have a mortgage or will be getting one soon, today’s rates are lower than ever before…  That means more money in your pocket!   We don’t seem to hear enough about that…

Okay, now for the update…Remember, these changes will affect ALL Federally regulated financial institutions….BUT they won’t affect MOST CREDIT UNIONS and other Lenders..

Yesterday we got a double whammy…  First the Federal Department of Finance announced changes to CMHC insured mortgages.… And later that day, OSFI announced Part 2 of their changes to Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures, better known as RMUP… but I prefer RUMP because that’s exactly where most of us will be feeling the effects of these changes…

The timing of all this tightening puzzles most of us in the mortgage industry.   Canada has been the envy of the world when it comes to our mortgage underwriting practices… The govt seems to be getting more into credit underwriting and procedures than ever before… And yet they have not given us any true data or reason for these changes….

Nevertheless, it’s important to keep up to date as these changes will affect us all.  Part 1 of changes were announced earlier this month through a Draft update on June 6th..   And here are the details of the final changes which come into effect later this year… there is a lot of text in the final draft but we are only focusing on the changes that will have the greatest impact on us:

  • Credit checks should be done more often.. minimum credit scores should not solely relied up to determine a borrower’s credit worthiness.
  • Home Equity Lines of Credit will be limited to 65% loan to value, down from the current 80% loan to value. (still not sure if there will be any grandfathering of existing lines but my guess is no)
  • there is more wording with regards to Lender’s Senior Management having more minimum reporting… (this looked like make-work stuff to me as most Lenders have tons of reporting).
  • Cash-back mortgages are gone (no big deal here…. very few of these products were ever used by us ‘irresponsible Canadians’… )
  • Self-employed individuals will be required to provide and pass an ‘income reasonability’ test… (these already exist with most Lenders)
  • Lenders should use the 5 yr fixed contract rate or the Bank Posted rate when qualifying for Variable rate products…even conventional mortgages… (again, nothing new here.. most Lenders are doing this already….yawn)

Who can blame you if you if you’re having trouble keeping up with all these changes to mortgage rules and lending policies.  We must question the purpose of these changes… little to no proof has been presented with regards to why the govt feels these changes are needed… and the timing may come back to bite them in the RUMP!   Some experts are making the argument that the govt’s attempt to avert a major housing downturn, could actually be the cause of it…..let’s hope not.. only time will tell.

I question why the govt is so focused on the estimated $1trillion residential mortgage market, when we have little or no rules when it comes to the other $500billion of non-real estate debt such as credit cards, loans and lines of credit.   Why is it okay to buy a car with $0 money down or okay to make NO payments for 6 months or 1 year, with interest rates of 8%, 18% and 28%, but if you want to buy or refinance your home, you better be prepared to jump through several hoops?   Can you say, ‘I need to refocus my energy and efforts’?

THE GOOD NEWS

Mortgage Brokers will be much busier with these new changes.   Your traditional Bank and ‘A’ Lender WILL NOT be able to provide the same financing as before…. BUT there are several other Lenders that are ready to fill the gap… including Credit Unions and other non-bank Lenders…..   We could see the small Lenders grow with these changes…  As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need clarification.

Steve Garganis

Posted Mortgage News

Fed govt tightens mortgage rules again… 4th time in 4 years.

The Harper govt and the Minister of Finance are making it even harder to qualify for a mortgage..  they are also cutting back on how much you can refinance your mortgage.   With the 4th set of major rule changes in as many years, the govt is acting like a big brother, looking over your shoulder when it comes to borrowing on a mortgage.   Yet, they don’t seem too concerned with Credit Card rules or unsecured lines of credit or other higher interest loans that are very easy to qualify for…

In fact, it’s common knowledge in credit and collections, that most defaults and losses occur on unsecured debts and credit cards.   That’s really easy to understand…  these debts carry 18% and 20% interest rates… they have little or no qualifying rules, and little or no security…. (we get in that in more detail further in this article).

So we must ask why the govt feels is necessary to impose so many changes and restrictions when it comes to borrowing for the roof over our heads?

THESE CHANGES ONLY AFFECT HI-RATIO MORTGAGES, FOR NOW…..OR THOSE MORTGAGES THAT ARE GREATER THAN 80% LOAN TO VALUE AND REQUIRE CMHC INSURANCE.   (Although these changes are specifically for hi-ratio insured mortgages, we know that historically, Banks and other Lenders have followed these rules for all mortgages… even for those that are less than 80% loan to value….  No word yet, if and when, the Banks will embrace these changes and make them standard practice for all mortgages…:

  1. The maximum amortization for insured mortgages or those with less than 20% down payment will be 25 years.
  2. Refinancing your mortgage just got a little tougher… the govt has cut back the maximum loan to value from 85% to 80%.  In other others, the govt is out of the insurance business when it comes to refinances sine you you can get a conventional mortgage up to 80% with no insurance.
  3. Fixed the qualifying Gross Debt Service Ratio (GDSR) to 39% and the Total Debt Service Ratio (TDSR) to 44%… no real changes here since very few lenders allowed anyone to go above 35% on the GDSR…
  4. Limit the maximum home value to $1million.   This one will affect very few of use since most home buyers in this price range have adequate resources to qualify.

Here’s a link to the Department of Finance website which announces the changes in more detail with a little political spin to make you feel good about the changes.

THE GOVT HAS IT WRONG

One of my client’s is also an executive with a Major Cable provider.  He encourages his staff to buy a home and get a mortgage.   His motives are simple.   If you own a house and have a mortgage, you will be motivated to work hard and perform.   You have more to lose.   This philosophy has served his staff well.  He tells me that those with more financial responsibility are also the ones that perform best.

If the govt is really concerned that we are getting in over our heads, because of the low interest rates… and they are truly concerned that we are taking on too much mortgage debt… and they don’t want us to suffer from interest rate shock, if and when interest rates do rise, then why not just make qualifying for a mortgage more difficult?   Why not make the qualifying rate as the Bank Posted rate for a 5 yr fixed rate product?    Today, that rate would be 5.24%… that’s a full 2.00% higher than the contract rate of a 5 yr fixed rate mortgage… If you can qualify for a mortgage that is 2.00% higher, then isn’t your risk of interest rate shock less?   Wouldn’t that solve the problem?  By the way, we already have to qualify at Bank Posted if you take a Variable rate or a Fixed rate if the term is shorter than 5 yrs.

Not high enough?  Make it Bank Posted plus 1.00%… That would resolve all concerns about interest rate shock…   but it would also allow qualified borrowers to leverage and take advantage of these historical low rates….  There are a great number of articles lately, being written by those with huge exposure in the stock market or mutual funds or pension funds, that want to see more money diverted back into the stock markets to protect their investments…

I’m not interested in building a stock portfolio…  I’m interested in building my own pension plan… my own investment and income stream… Real Estate is a proven winner.  It’s where the richest of the rich, make their fortunes… Even today, you will see pro athletes, rock stars, movie stars, or other wealthy individuals buy real estate… That’s because it’s regarded as a safe, long term investment…   We seem to be losing sight of that fact..

THE REAL IMPACT OF THESE CHANGES

The Fed govt wants us to believe they are looking out for our best interests… they have repeatedly said we aren’t managing our finances properly… we need big brother to watch over us….does anyone really believe this?   Their actions aren’t helping us benefit from the lowest interest rates in history… and I have a problem with this… paying less interest is a good thing to me… paying less to own my home is a good thing…

The govt seems to be grouping all of us together…  It’s like throwing out the bath water with baby….. their concerns are with a small percentage of us.. the data doesn’t back up their claims...  the stats show our mortgage arrears are lower than ever.. affordability is as high as it’s ever been (yes, low interest rates are a huge reason why)….we are spending our money wisely, on investments, not just buying TVs or new cars…. and we are paying our mortgages off faster than ever before with a large percentage of us  (we can thank low interest rates)… 23% of us are making more than the minimum payment… 19% of us are making lump sum payments towards our mortgage…. Does this sounds like a nation in trouble?

The govt changes are only doing 2 things here… they are pushing us into higher interest rate products such as unsecured lines of credit or credit cards… and they are making it harder for us to access the capital in our homes..  The HELOC limit from 80% to 65% loan to value was probably the most ridiculous change ever… No data was given to back up this move…  It was already to tough to qualify for a HELOC… this was just unnecessary.

TALK ABOUT BAD TIMING

We need to question the timing of these changes… there really hasn’t been enough time to see what the true impact of all  will be… If you’re one of those people that fully trust our govt’s decision, then I only need point you to 2002 when the govt prematurely raised rates, only to slow the economy and reduce them just months later… it was a huge miscalculation.   We ended up lowering rates for several years to come…

By making it harder to qualify for a mortgage and by reducing how much we can leverage our homes for (HELOC’s to 65% maximum loan to value), we are taking money out of the market… out of the economy… I just don’t get it…

I for one, am fed up with all this negative news coming from the media.. the fear mongering has to end!   I keep seeing prudent and responsible people wanting to enter the housing market.   They want to invest in homes…..they don’t want to ride the stock market roller coaster.    We should support this segment of the population, not punish them.

WATCH HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

We will keep you up to date with how this unfolds… and what options you will have in the future…   My sources tell me that some Lenders are already coming up with some options to assist responsible borrowers with some new products…. stay tuned for more info..

As always, I welcome your inquiries… We’re here to help… Feel free to contact me anytime.

Steve Garganis