The mortgage game With rates predicted to rise, should you lock in, or take a risk and how much should first timers spend?

With anticipated interest rate increases on the horizon, many homeowners are wondering whether to lock debt such as mortgages and secured lines of credit into a fixed-rate mortgage or stay variable. Even some who are mortgage free are concerned with how rate increases will impact secured lines of credit, the financing of vacation homes and […]

Why Canadian mortgage rates are on a roller coaster

If there’s one question being kicked around the barbecue more than any other this summer, it’s probably this: should I lock in my variable rate mortgage? But with interest rates bouncing around, to the point where they make a mortgage-rate chart look more like the diagram of a rollercoaster, homeowners can be forgiven if they […]

Surprise: Low interest rates seen sticking around

Interest rates have recently being going somewhere unexpected: down. At their trough last week, the yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries, the benchmark North American rate, touched 3.11 per cent, the lowest level in six months and more than half a percentage point below their February peak. Yields on 10-year Government of Canada bonds have fallen, […]

IRD Penalty Comparison Rates

The much-unlovedInterest rate differential (IRD) penalty is a mystery to most of the natural born population. People loathe it, largely because they don’t understand it. We continually come across folks who read their entire mortgage contract and are still confused by the IRD calculation. Fortunately, federal disclosure guidelines are on their way later this year. […]

Majority of Canadians still confident they can service mortgage payments: BMO

  Two in three Canadian homeowners believe they will still be able to service their mortgage payments if interest rates go up, according to a survey by Bank of Montreal (BMO) Financial Group. While some were unsure, another 18% of Canadians said they would not be able to afford higher payments, although the survey didn’t […]

3 ways to deal with rising mortgage rates

By Moshe Milevsky Here we go, again. The economy is generating more jobs, a handful of banks raise mortgage rates and all of a sudden you’re being advised to lock-in your mortgage before the bank doors slam shut. In fact, some say you’d better hurry-up and buy a house now before mortgage rates go so […]

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