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Posted Consumer Debt

Govt to cut Secured lines of credit to 65% loan to value…

Thursday’s speech by OSFI head, Julie Dickson, at the Toronto Board of Trade, indicates it’s a done deal.  Secured lines of Credit will be capped to a maximum 65% of the value of your home.  “…the guideline does set out some firm rules that all institutions will need to adhere to – specifically that home equity lines of credit – or HELOCS – can have a loan to value ratio no greater than 65%….”

WE’RE MAKING SOME CHANGES…. I MEAN, WE ARE PROPOSING SOME CHANGES…

It was only a few weeks ago that OSFI issued a Draft B-20 guideline, a guideline that is filled with radical changes to mortgage lending rules and policies.    It was supposed to be up for discussion, with a May 1st deadline…. So much for discussion…. it appears the decision was made already according to Ms. Dickson’s speech today…. here’s a copy of that speech… April 5 2012 remarks by Julie Dickson.

90%, 80% AND NOW 65%???… WHEN DOES IT END?

Remember 2007?  It was just a few years ago that CMHC was offering 100% loan to value, interest only payment mortgages.  Back then it was good to borrow at these levels…. And HELOC’s could be had for up to 90% LTV.  Over the past few years, the govt has tightened up mortgage rules in an attempt to reduce access to credit.    Mortgages were amortized for 40 years, then cut back to 35 and now 30 years..  But now the govt believes they need to step in again and limit access to your equity by reducing the Loan to Value limit to just 65%….   I looked back to some historical lending policies and couldn’t find a time when the govt ever imposed a limit of just 65%.   It is unheard of! And it’s going to have a big effect.

SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

OSFI is finding a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.   I don’t think they realize that Banks have pushed borrowers into lines of credit for years now, as a way of providing easier access to the equity in their homes.    Canadians aren’t buying new TVs or new cars or other luxury items… they are using the equity to improve their net worth by buying investments.   Why is this a bad thing?   Are our defaults up?  NO!  Then what is the problem….?

WHO WILL THIS AFFECT AND HOW?

If you are a self-employed person and ever tried to get a business loan from the Bank, then you know how difficult it can be to get an approval… but even if you do, the repayment terms and interest costs could be a hard stop.   End result is that business idea could remain just that… an idea that never got launched.   One of the more popular alternatives was to access cheap money by borrowing, against the equity in your home.  Mortgages can be great but if you need to borrow, repay and borrow again, then a mortgage can have costly registration fees and penalties.  But through a HELOC,  the repayment terms are great and it’s also a much lower rate of interest than any business credit facility.

Borrowing to invest isn’t anything new.  A HELOC allows you to access YOUR equity at preferred rates.   How about buying a second home or a rental property?  You could use the equity in your home to help with the purchase and HELOCs give a separate accounting which makes reporting to Revcan much easier.

How about borrowing for your child’s education?   Are we going to force Canadians to refinance their mortgages in order access cheap money?   I’m sure the BIG SIX Banks will love to see you break your mortgage and pay their infamous penalties.

END RESULT

Get ready, because you are about to see us pushed into higher interest, unsecured lines of credit (oh yeah, there wasn’t any mention of reviewing these lending policies… that’s because NONE exist!).

Which debt would you pay last…. a mortgage, a secured line of credit or a credit card or unsecured line of credit?    Obviously, it’s the unsecured debts would be last on our list… we will always pay for the roof over our heads…. which is why the defaults are still very low and within very acceptable levels.

We are going to see many Canadians discouraged from investing.. they won’t want to go through the trouble of borrowing with a mortgage…  Congratulations OSFI, you’ve made borrowing more expensive….you’ve made investing for our future tougher than it has to be.

The WINNERS… the BANK…. The LOSERS… you and me, the average Canadian…!

Posted Interest rates

Mortgage wars end?…only for the BIG SIX Banks…

March 29th, 2012 is going to be remembered as the day when the BIG SIX Banks ended their Mortgage War.   Well, at least for now.  Rates are up around 0.50% at Retail Branches of the BIG SIX  Banks.  (don’t worry, Mortgage Broker rates haven’t gone up that much and are lower than any of the so-called discounted or special rates advertised by the BIG SIX Banks.)

In what was an unprecedented, public fight for your mortgage, the BIG SIX Banks pulled down their pants and showed how low they can really go with their rates.   We saw BMO come out with their 2.99% NO FRILLS mortgage… ( a product we wouldn’t recommend to anyone due to it’s restrictions, limitations and penalty calculations).    Unfortunately, too many borrowers don’t look beyond the rate and have signed on for this product..   They will have to deal with the consequences in the years to come.

RBC fired back with a pretty good rate of 2.99% for 4 years… It didn’t have the restrictions or limitations but it still had that unfair penalty calculation.   RBC also took some public shots at the BMO product, through the media and their own website.   It was great to see some real competition take place among our BIG BANKS.    There is always a winner in this war.   You the borrower.

TD, Scotiabank, National Bank and CIBC all followed with a similar 4 year fixed rate at 2.99%.   But they still had that same penalty calculation formula I absolutely don’t like.

“Canadian lenders appear to be extremely slow to pass on changes in the Bank Rate to their customers.”  Anyone remember that quote?  That’s a direct quote from the Bank of Canada review entitled ‘Competition in the Canadian Mortgage Market’.

Here’s another one from the same report “borrowers who use a mortgage broker pay less, on average, than borrowers who negotiate with lenders directly”.

The good news about all this rate war stuff is that we saw even better mortgage products being offered through the Mortgage Broker channel.  Remember these quotes the next time you are shopping for a mortgage.

Posted Interest rates

The Star reports BMO suggests it’s time to lock into fixed rates…. well, maybe..

I had a discussion with The Toronto Star’s Susan Pigg about Fixed and Variable rates.  Click here to read my comments in this article.

In short, BMO Captial Markets says it’s time to lock into a Fixed rate…. Well maybe, but I would caution anyone that had a BMO variable rate mortgage to think twice about locking into BMO’s well publicized 2.99% 5 year NO FRILLS mortgage.   This product has limitations and restrictions that make it impossible to get out of the mortgage without selling your home.   There are better options out there…  you can get a great rate without sacrificing your options and privileges.

You also have to factor in the infamous BIG SIX BANK penalty calculation.  We’ve written about this before.  This could cost you dearly should you wish to refinance or have to pay the mortgage out before maturity.   We have seen numerous cases of Bank prepayment penalties adding up to 12, 14, 18 and 20 months worth on interest.  That’s right, 20 months worth of interest.   Don’t get held hostage by your mortgage provider.

If you have a Variable Rate mortgage that is price at Prime less 0.50% or lower, I would stick with it…  If you are higher than this or if you mortgage is coming up for renewal, then you should consider a Fixed Rate mortgage…  And the only reason to consider Fixed rates is because they are priced so close to what a Variable rate could be had for today…  Best Variable is around Prime less 0.25%… that’s 2.75%.  Best 5 yr Fixed  with ALL FRILLS is around 3.19%…

But before you make any decision, please speak with an unbiased advisor, like a mortgage broker…. Find out which product is right for you…  Everyone is different and we all have different needs.  There are so many unadvertised specials these days….  Your Mortgage Broker can access these products and  also help explain the differences in penalty calculations and why this should be looked at more closely, even it you don’t think penalties apply to you…

 

Posted 2 Comments on OSFI’s latest proposals will affect every mortgage and line of credit.. Consumer Debt

OSFI’s latest proposals will affect every mortgage and line of credit..

Earlier this week we saw a draft guidelines proposed by Brock Kruger from  The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.  Yes, more tightening of mortgage and secured real estate lending……  To put this in plain language, the proposal will affect almost everyone… it will change how mortgages and secured lines of credit are offered….. in shorty, I think this plan is trying put out a fire that doesn’t exist.  There is no need for the changes.

Draft B-20 just goes too far…..   they target mortgages but also Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC).    Most of the media coverage on this has been somewhat neutral.. but finally we have seen one reporter question these proposed changes.  This article by Peter Foster in the National Post was great…   He questions why we need any more changes when our mortgage and banking system is the envy of the world….  There is no emergency, no arrears problem, nothing to indicate our mortgage lending policies are overly generous.

It should be noted that non-bank lenders will not be affected by this… leaving them as a potential winner if these guidelines become policy…

Here’s a link to the entire 18 page draft.

SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES:

–Cash back mortgages could disappear.. currently, one could get a mortgage for 95% of the purchase price at Bank posted rates and then get a 5% cashback.  The cashback can be used as the down payment.  ( I don’t see many reasons for applicants to buy with no money down so this isn’t a big issue for me)

-homes would have to be appraised at renewal time… this is just crazy… can you imagine if your property value dropped and the bank asked you to pay down your mortgage at renewal time or even worse, call in your mortgage?  What’ s OSFI trying to do.. force everyone to take a 10 yer fixed rate mortgage?   They have already made Variable Rate mortgages harder to qualify for…. what’s the matter, they don’t want us to pay less interest?  

–HELOC’s would have to be amortized meaning NO MORE INTEREST ONLY PAYMENTS...  this one will affect more households and business owners than the OSFI probably realizes… businesses use their homes to finance businesses… that’s been going on for decades… but they aren’t borrowing with no assets.. remember, they are putting up their homes as collateral.. if we start to make it even more difficult for self-employed to obtain financing, this will affect the economy almost immediately.  But how about the 2nd or 3rd time buyer in their 30’s or 40’s that wants to tap into their equity for investments… ?  Are we going to eliminate all interest only payment facilities?  

-HELOC’s maximum would be reduced from 80% to 65% loan to value of your house…. and let’s not forget that just a few years ago we could have obtained up to 90% loan to value through CMHC insured products. Again, just another crazy idea and very radical change in just a few years… where is OSFI taking us?

–mortgages would require tighter debt servicing guidelines including fewer exception approvals by your lender…

Mr. Kruger, your intentions may be honorable, but you are not being practical or realistic.   Why have you introduced these proposals?   To reduce access to credit?   To make it more difficult for Canadians to tap into their home equity?   To make it tougher to buy a house?     Whatever you think these changes might do, I can tell you, as a 22 year mortgage industry veteran and industry insider, that these proposed changes will just shrink our economy, force us to take longer fixed rate products resulting in even higher mortgage penalties for the Banks…  It will force us to tap into our credit cards and unsecured, higher interest credit facilities.… It will force business owners to pay more for raising capital… it will discourage investors….

Give this one a rethink… you are searching for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Posted 1 Comment on When opportunity knocks…open the door. Interest rates

When opportunity knocks…open the door.

It’s March, 2012.   How will you look back at this month in 5 years time?    There are certain dates in history that stand out for all of us.   Some are more personal than others, like the birth of my son, the day I met my wife, my first trip overseas, NHL pro hockey camp, etc.

And then there are dates where I look back at missed opportunities.

-October 1984, I had a chance to buy a waterfront lot on Balsam Lake in Ontario’s cottage country, for $22,000…. now selling for $400,000.   There was a new condo in east Toronto for $82,000 in September 1987…. now selling for $392,000….(and yes, I think I was 5 years old…Lol!)..

-Or how about that semi-detached house at Danforth Ave and Woodbine, in Toronto, for $175,000 in 1990….now selling for $500,000.    More recently, I could have bought a house for $320,000 in 2005, near the water in Burlington, Ontario…..that same house sold for $800,000 last year.

The point it, I think we will look back at March 2012 as the month when the Banks declared mortgage war against each other…  Only in this war, there is a winner… YOU, the consumer, YOU the borrower, YOU the investor.   We are seeing record low mortgage rates.   And they won’t last forever.  In fact, this mortgage war is probably going to accelerate interest rate hikes…  almost like starting a campfire with gasoline soaked wood… It’s burning red hot but it won’t last for long.

With interest rates are record lows, isn’t this the time to borrow?    A $300,000 mortgage will carry for $1196/mth.. and that’s with a 5 year fixed rate term.  Bond yields are climbing… 5 yr bond yields are up to 1.71%.. that’s up 30bps in less than a month… 5 year fixed rates follow bond movement… i think it’s safe to say, we should expect rates to climb in the near future… and the reason they haven’t moved yet is because of the Mortgage wars…

We are hearing the cries by the govt and some bankers, telling us not to borrow too much.  Personal Debt level concerns are plastered all over the internet and media.   But we aren’t seeing many articles telling us how to borrow and invest wisely…. borrow when rates are low instead of borrowing when rates are high… borrow when you qualify instead of borrowing when you don’t… borrow when you don’t need the money…   Isn’t that when Banks want to lend you the money?

We have just seen a draft guideline, Bill B-20,  entered in for review with a May 1st decision date.   These new regulations are aimed at tightening lending rules even further.. and this time it’s targeting Home Equity Lines of Credit..   That’s right, they want to make it even harder to qualify for these products and possibly make the repayment terms more strict…

Opportunity is knocking… answer the door..