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Posted 2 Comments on Mortgage penalty rules change… finally.. well, sort of… Mortgage News

Mortgage penalty rules change… finally.. well, sort of…

The Federal govt announced some changes to protect Canadian Consumers… including rule changes to credit cards and mortgage prepayment information.   Here’s a link to the entire news release.

For our purposes, we are focusing more on the mortgage prepayment announcement.   Here’s a link to that portion of the news release.

There are 5 Elements to the Code of Conduct for Federally regulated institutions.  The changes must be implemented within 6 to 12 months.   In short, the new Code of Conduct rules will require these lenders to provide clear disclosure on how penalties are calculated, along with online calculators and access to knowledgeable staff that can be contacted through a toll-free phone. Continue reading “Mortgage penalty rules change… finally.. well, sort of…”

Posted 2 Comments on Banks are at it again… calling mortgage clients before maturity.. Money saving tips

Banks are at it again… calling mortgage clients before maturity..

With all the recent talk in the media about ‘rate wars’ and ‘mortgage market share’, it was only a matter of time before we saw this happening.  Yes, the Banksters are at it again.

We’re getting reports that Banks are contacting borrowers 4, 5 and even 6 months prior to maturity.   Supposedly, they are calling to ‘offer a great rate, if you sign now!’   Hey, that sounds great.  Except the interest rates that we see being offered aren’t really that great. In fact, they are higher than what is available in the wholesale market.

This isn’t anything new.   We saw this happen in late 2008 and early 2009.  The Banks were telling clients to lock into Fixed rates if they were in Variable (and we told our clients to stick with Variable as interest rates were heading down… sure enough, they did go down)…. And they were offering supposed ‘special rates’ 4 to 6 months prior to maturity.    The only problem is that the interest rates being offered were not as good as the Banks made it seem.  And the timing of the product offerings were clearly wrong.

What makes this problem even more complex today, is that some of the Banks are offering NO FRILLS mortgages with limited prepayment privileges and NO option to pay the mortgage out in full unless you sell the house.   They dangle an attractive interest rate but forget to tell you about the product limitations.   STAY away from these products.   They will come back to bite you in your bottom….. bottom line, that is.

Here’s some advice… Before signing any renewal offer, speak with your Mortgage Broker… find out if that offer and product are really as good as the Bank makes it seem.    The stats tell us that most Canadians will not bother shopping and just sign their renewal offer…  and that’s too bad.  A 0.40% difference in rate on a $250,000 mortgage will cost you $4774 in the first 5 years alone.   Don’t be so quick to sign what the Bank offers you… don’t be complacent….you could pay dearly for it.

Posted 5 Comments on RRSP, RESP, TSFA or Mortgage prepayment? Which has the best returns? Money saving tips

RRSP, RESP, TSFA or Mortgage prepayment? Which has the best returns?

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR MONEY

Trying to decide what’s the best move can be difficult…. and I must admit, this is not an easy subject to tackle.   There are so many opinions…. But it’s important enough that I’m going to put my 2 cents in.  My final recommendations are listed at the bottom if you want to fast forward…

First, let’s come to an understanding that we are all different and have different needs…. you must ask for professional opinions and make up your own mind. Having said that, I think that for me, this is actually a very easy decision. Continue reading “RRSP, RESP, TSFA or Mortgage prepayment? Which has the best returns?”

Posted Interest rates

CMHC forecasts a healthy housing market for 2012-13…. but fixed mortgage rates have started to climb.

CMHC issued a report that says the economy will expand at a moderate pace over the next few years, as reported in The Spectator.  The Bank of Canada should also keep it’s trend setting rate low until mid 2013.    This means Variable mortgage and secured lines of credit rates will remain low.

The report also says the average house price in Canada is expected to hit $368,900 this year.  But, a closer look at the Greater Toronto Area market shows that house prices are climbing much faster.   A lack of supply and a pent up demand, together with record low interest rates are fueling price increases.   Reports of homes being sold above asking are popping up outside of Toronto.. including Milton, Georgetown, Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton.

If you’re in the market for a home, my advice would be to not wait til the Spring market.  The market is now.  Experienced realtors are telling me they have priced a 5% increase in the first 2 months of 2012.  Waiting could cost homebuyers $18,000 or more.

FIXED MORTGAGE RATEShave started to climb.  Earlier this week we saw RBC and TD pull their special mortgage rate offers…   BIG SIX Banks don’t like to compete in the wholesale mortgage market with mortgage brokers… when these 2 banks realized no other BIG SIX bank was offering this rate, they quickly withdrew the offer…   read this article...  the BIG SIX banks are calling a truce?   What does that mean…?  Don’t you want your banks to compete?  And that last paragraph by BMO’s Frank Techar is priceless.. “We went to 2.99 per cent to draw attention to the benefits of having a mortgage with a maximum amortization of 25 years”.   This does make me a laugh a little… BMO’s NO FRILLS mortgage was a way to gain market share and entice borrowers into a restricted and closed mortgage product…  Mortgage Brokers already had access to this rate and a NO FRILLS product through another lender… but it’s not a great product and the restrictions are costly…Most brokers will not recommend or even offer this product to their clients.

The ripple effects of this ‘truce’ are that wholesale mortgage rates have started to climb… ING and National Bank have also increased their rates.  This could be temporary but if the Greeks get their act together and the U.S. economy starts to improve, we will see rate hikes….  My advice is get your mortgage preapproval now…. These are historical low interest rates…  I’m not sure they will be here for much longer.

 

Posted Mortgage News

$600billion, $250billion, 2.99%, $1.5trillion… numbers to watch in 2012

$600billion….Recently, we heard that there was another crisis looming in the mortgage industry.  Last week, we saw CIBC make headlines when their wholesale lending division, Firstline Mortgages, made drastic changes to the lending policies, which included pulling out of the self-employment and new-immigrant lending programs. They also reduced their maximum mortgage limits.

So what happened?  Why did Firstline Mortgages make these changes?  Firstline told us this was in reaction to a report stating Canada’s self-employed and new-immigrant mortgages shared similarities with the U.S. Subprime mortgages.    But maybe there was another reason…  Shortly after this report, we got news that CMHC was approaching their mortgage limit.   The report said CMHC ‘s total insured portfolio was $541billion as of the end of Sept 2011.  The last increase was in 2008 when the govt raised the limit from $450billion to $600billion.    But now it remains uncertain if or when the govt will raise that limit… So now we have lenders and bankers wondering how this will affect the supply of mortgage insurance.. so, what do they do?  They cut out some of the less popular mortgage programs…  Nice, huh?

$250billion….But we are forgetting the private mortgage insurers.  Genworth Financial has stated they have plenty of capacity before they reach their govt approved $250billion limit (this limit is expected to increase to $300billion in a few months).  The only challenge for private insurers like Genworth, is that the govt only guarantees up 90% of it’s insurance to the lenders…. but 100% for CMHC .   This could case lenders to seek higher returns on their mortgages, meaning potentially higher interest rates…

 

2.99%….Remember that 2.99% No Frills rate special last month?  I can’t help but wonder what the executive boardroom was like when they saw their mortgage department come out with this rate…  at a time when the govt was clearly trying to cool the housing market and slow consumer borrowing…  It’s early in the year, but this has to go down as one of the most ill-timed moves of 2012…  Congrats BMO mortgage dept!  You did bring No Frills products to the forefront.  And this gave us a real opportunity to point out the shortcomings of this product..

$1.5trillion…Last years, we heard that personal debts levels had hit record highs.  Numerous articles and reports are telling us that we are borrowing too much.  Yes, it’s true, outstanding mortgage balances topped $1trillion for the first time in Canada.  That means $500billion of non-mortgage personal debt it out there.   And that number bothers me more than the mortgage balance.   Mortgage rates are at historical lows… home ownership and property investments should be encouraged.   But borrowing for new TVs, cars, computers and other items, should be discouraged.   We have to make a distinction.   GOOD DEBT VS BAD DEBT.  There is a difference.  Let’s not group all this debt in one category…