Skip to content

TagBig Six Banks

Posted 2 Comments on Banks maximizing mortgage penalties again… but there’s a bright side.. Interest rates

Banks maximizing mortgage penalties again… but there’s a bright side..

BankstersIn case you haven’t heard, Fixed rates are up around 0.50% over the last 3 weeks.  But the Banks haven’t increased their posted rates…  How can that be?? And how does that affect you?

The BIG SIX BANKS have played the rate guessing game for as long as I can remember..  This time, they’ve added another twist to ensure you will be paying those inflated penalties even longer..   By not increasing the posted rates, they ensure themselves any existing BANK customer will pay the same inflated penalties.

Look back to 5 years ago when fixed rate discounts we around 1.10% off Bank posted rates..  Now fast forward to May 2013.  Rate discounts reached an all-time high of 2.25%.  And whether it was by design or not, this inflated your penalty by the same margin.  (I’ll let you decide if this is just good old BANK luck… yeah, right.) Continue reading “Banks maximizing mortgage penalties again… but there’s a bright side..”

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 4 Comments on CBC Marketplace exposes TD’s collateral mortgage Case study

CBC Marketplace exposes TD’s collateral mortgage

TDhandcuffs FINALLY!!!!!   A major TV news program calls out TD Canada Trust’s collateral mortgage.  CBC Marketplace aired an episode called ‘Busting the Banks’ on January 25th.  Hey, it’s only taken 2 years but who’s counting??… Lol!    If you want to skip to the video link, just click here and scroll to the 8:00 min mark. (by the way, I should point out my contributions to this episode. I was contacted by the producers of CBC Marketplace for my opinions and advice during the filming of this episode….over the past 3 months, I assisted with some of the research. Hope you find the info useful).

During the program, CBC took a hidden camera into a TD branch….the reporter posed as a potential mortgage borrower….   Only when questioned for the 4th time did the TD banker disclose their mortgage was a collateral charge….  but they didn’t seem to explain the difference between a conventional mortgage and a collateral mortgage… The Banker only agreed that the collateral charge was a disadvantage. Continue reading “CBC Marketplace exposes TD’s collateral mortgage”

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 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”