Canadian consumers could see lower fixed mortgage rates this month as competition heats up and lenders look to build their mortgage pipeline for the year, says RateSupermarket.ca’s Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for January 2012. Lenders are eager to get a good start to the new year and build up their fixed mortgage rate client base, which means fixed rates could decrease as competition picks up. Variable mortgage rates, on the other hand, are expected to remain level.
READ MORE
If you’ve been carrying a variable rate mortgage, 2011 has been a great year for you. The Bank of Canada held their target for the overnight rate at 1% all year long and subsequently none of the major banks change their prime rates, currently steady at 3%. This resulted in no change to monthly payments for variable mortgage holders, and those of you on Prime – 1% are very lucky!
READ MORE
This was a tough year for me. I was laid off abruptly in April 2011 from a job that I thought was solid and found myself in a situation I had never been in before. I was worried I hadn’t saved for a rainy day and all I had was my RRSP that I was unable to dip into without paying a huge penalty. My New Year’s promise is to increase the amount of after tax income I put away from 10% to 15%.
READ MORE
Variable mortgage holders can rest easy knowing that their mortgage payments are not expected to increase any time soon. Once again the Bank of Canada announced that they will leave the target overnight lending rate constant at 1%. This means that Prime rates will also stay the same and therefore variable mortgage rates. The Bank of Canada stated the following reasons for holding the course:
READ MORE
For a while now we’ve been reading headlines about how interest rates are at “historic lows.” Which is great news for anyone with a variable-rate mortgage, line of credit debt, or who is looking to negotiate for things like car loans or fixed-rate mortgages. But what’s the other extreme? How high have – and could – interest rates go, and what would it mean to your savings if they did?
READ MORE
