RateSupermarket.ca Launches Their High Interest Savings Accounts Comparison

TORONTO, February 16, 2011… RateSupermarket.ca, Canada’s go-to rate comparison website for personal finance products like mortgages, credit cards, GICs, and insurance, has added a new product to their offering – savings accounts. Now Canadian consumers can easily compare the best offers on high interest savings accounts from all the leading financial institutions, in just one search.

“With interest rates being so low over the past few years, many Canadians haven’t given their savings accounts a second thought,” says Kelvin Mangaroo, President of RateSupermarket.ca. “But now, with the economy improving and rate hikes on the horizon, more people will turn their attention to the interest rates they’re getting on their savings.”

The new comparison tool asks visitors to select their province and the savings amount, the results then show the best interest rates available from a range of providers including the major banks and trust companies. The side-by-side comparison allows visitors to compare interest rates, minimum deposits and fees. The savings account section also includes a guide and top tips to help visitors with their research, in addition to a handy savings calculator that enables Canadian consumers to easily estimate their potential savings based on different ongoing contributions, compounding periods and rates.

At a time when Canadians are starting to shift from taking on more debt to paying it down, and from spending money to saving money, this new savings account comparison can help consumers easily find the product that will make their savings work harder.

“It’s quite simple, if you do your research and compare the market, there’s a much greater chance you can jump start your savings.” says Mangaroo.

About RateSupermarket.ca (http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/)

RateSupermarket.ca is the largest independent rate comparison service for personal finance products in Canada. Founded in May of 2008, their easy to use comparison engines provides much needed transparency to the Canadian financial market and allows visitors to quickly find the best rates. Over 1M Canadians have turned to RateSupermarket.ca to save money on their mortgage, insurance, credit cards and GICs.

RateSupermarket.ca’s panel of experts don’t expect many changes to mortgage rates in November

TORONTO, Nov 4, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, Canada’s go-to website for comparing mortgage rates, has announced the results from their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for November 2010.

The experts believe Canadians will have continued low fixed and variable mortgage rates throughout November.

Fixed mortgage rates: Unchanged

The big five banks have finished their fiscal year ends so there is little reason to continue what has been a powerful fight for market share over the past few months which has helped keep mortgage rates low. However, a significant decrease in demand for mortgages, along with a decline in consumer confidence will stop rates from increasing in the short term. As well, The Bank of Canada recently announced downward revisions to economic growth and inflation. All of this means that bond yields have remained fairly flat and are expected to stay that way; therefore; fixed mortgage rates will also remain level.

Variable mortgage rates: Unchanged

Our experts believe that the cooling off of consumer spending and the economy in general, coupled with uncertainty over the extent and outcome of financial stimulus by the Fed in the US, will cause The Bank of Canada to hold off on interest rate increases for a while now. Top economists are not expecting a change to the key overnight lending rate until at least the first quarter of 2011.

To read all the detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit: Mortgage rate outlook panel

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

• Dan Eisner, MBA. AMP. President, Verico True North Mortgage
• Dr. Ian Lee, Director of MBA Program, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
• George Hugh, Vice President, Treasury, ING DIRECT
• Gregory Klump, Chief Economist, Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
• Larry MacDonald, Economist, business journalist and author, Canadian Business

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.

Despite downward pressure, RateSupermarket.ca’s panel of experts predict flat mortgage rates in October

TORONTO, Oct 6, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, the online comparison website for personal finance products such as mortgages, insurance, credit cards and GICs, has announced the results from their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for October 2010.

The outlook for the month is unanimous; Canadians should expect mortgage rates across the board to remain level at or near historical lows.

Fixed mortgage rates: Unchanged

Despite lower bond yields due to slowing economic growth and deflation worries, fixed mortgage rates are not expected to decrease any further. Lenders have already tightened their belts by squeezing margins, any extra decreases are not expected to stimulate housing activity enough to make it worth while; so fixed mortgage rates will remain at current levels for the immediate future.

Variable mortgage rates: Unchanged

Economic growth is slowing by more than the Bank of Canada projected in its last Monetary Policy Report. GDP growth is declining, the US continues to show signs of weaknesses, and home purchases continue to fall. As a result, our panel members expect the Central Bank to hold off on raising interest rates further following their next meeting on October 19th.

To read all the detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit:

http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/mortgage_rate_outlook_panel/

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

• Dan Eisner, MBA. AMP. President, Verico True North Mortgage
• Dr. Ian Lee, Director of MBA Program, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
• George Hugh, Vice President, Treasury, ING DIRECT
• Gregory Klump, Chief Economist, Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
• Larry MacDonald, Economist, business journalist and author, Canadian Business

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It enables Canadians to compare the whole mortgage market with one simple search. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.

RateSupermarket.ca’s panel of financial gurus expect mortgage rates will remain level during September

TORONTO, Sept 2, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, consumers go-to shop for comparing Canadian mortgage rates offered by banks, mortgage brokers, and credit unions, has announced the results of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for September 2010.

Canadians should expect both fixed and variable mortgage rates to hold steady in September.

Fixed mortgage rates: Unchanged (with downward bias)

Canadian consumers were handed a treat when fixed mortgage rates dropped back down to historic low levels in August. Our Panel of experts believe September will be very similar with a small possibility of further downward movement.

Increasing concern in both Canada and the US on the strength of an economic recovery has dampened the Canadian bond market and put a lid on fixed mortgage rates for the time being. As well, banks are fighting for fewer new mortgage clients as housing sales slow down, and with less borrowers out there the competition will heat up; a perfect environment for price cutting.

Variable mortgage rates: Unchanged

We’ve seen economic predictions change very quickly over the past few months and it’s happened again. The Bank of Canada was widely expected to increase rates once more next week and then pause while they reviewed the impact of these hikes. However, recent news about slower economic growth and lower inflation is giving Governor Mark Carney good reason to not increase interest rates, and our Panel expects variable mortgage rates to stay where they are.

To read all the detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit:

http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/mortgage_rate_outlook_panel/

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.

TORONTO, Aug 5, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, Canada’s rate comparison website for personal finance products such as mortgages, insurance, credit cards and GICs has announced the results of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for August 2010.

Canadians should expect lower fixed mortgage rates as lenders respond to dropping bond yields, while variable mortgage rates should increase following the Bank of Canada’s rate announcement at the beginning of September.

Fixed mortgage rates: Down

The majority of our panel members believe fixed mortgage rates will decrease in August, and during the first few days of the month we have already seen this happening. As mortgage lenders react to lower bond yields, their continued strong demand for residential mortgages is increasing competition for mortgage customers.

Dr. Ian Lee, Director of MBA Program at Carleton University summarizes this scenario well: “There is an excess of mortgage funds and lenders chasing a decreasing number of mortgage borrowers”. This increased competition is likely to be good news for mortgage shoppers resulting in price cutting and lower fixed mortgage rates.

Variable mortgage rates: Up

Expect variable mortgage rates to remain level in August, but to increase at the beginning of September following the next Bank of Canada rate announcement. The Central Bank’s most recent Monetary Policy Report indicates that an increase in the Bank’s trend-setting overnight lending rate in September is likely.

Despite the weak US job numbers and soaring unemployment in most of Europe, the Bank predicts a gradual reduction in monetary stimulus in Canada. With only three Bank of Canada meetings remaining till the end of the year, it is likely that the September announcement will push interest rates up.

To read all the detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit our Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel.

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and gic rates.

When our initial July Mortgage Rate Outlook was released on July 7th many economists were on the fence about whether the Bank of Canada would increase interest rates at their next July 20th rate announcement as there was more talk about a double dip recession than anything else.  That all changed when Statistics Canada released their Jobs Report for June.  The results were a shock to economists across the board.  The number of new jobs created in June hit a staggering 93,200.  To put it into perspective, this is almost 5 times higher than what most analysts were calling for and it means that we have largely recouping the job losses sustained in Canada during the recent economic meltdown. 

These new jobs push our unemployment rate down 0.2% points to 7.9% . Making it the first time the rate has been below 8%  since January 2009.

For those that warned of a double dip recession, some believe that the Jobs Report will convince analysts otherwise. Canada may well be out of the woods.

This is just the type of ‘new information’ that will quickly outdate any outlook or forecast, including our Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel.  At the beginning of the month, 4 out of 5 of our panel members predicted that variable mortgage rates would remain level in July – now that doesn’t seem likely – and the Oulook for variable rates has been updated to ‘Up’.

July ’10 Panel consensus

Updated: July 14th

Fixed		Unchanged
Variable		Up

Economists had expected 20,000 jobs gains in June for Canada, and prior to Friday’s release roughly a 60%  chance of a rate increase when the Bank of Canada meets next week.  Now the odds are sitting at well above that.

All of the big banks are now predicting a rate hike, meaning that variable mortgage rates will go up.  A rate increase of 0.25%  will put the key lending rate at 0.75% , and likely raise the Prime rate to 2.75% .

Worries still exist about Europe’s debt troubles and a very slow recovery for the United States, but it seems that Canada is flying high enough on its own to justify higher interest rates.

Garth Turner, one of our Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel members, also expects rates to increase now:

“The latest jobs report is comforting for those who found work, but largely meaningless as an economic event.  Half the positions were part-time. A good chunk of the full-time jobs fell into the nebulous ‘self-employed’ category. And this could be the G20 jobs effect at work – temporary positions as governments threw around $1 billion building fences and welding person hole covers.

It will require two or three months of boffo jobs data before fundamental views change. However, the Bank of Canada is looking for every excuse it can get to normalize rates. This is one.”

While another one Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel member, Dan Eisner, believes there is now a “60%  chance” the Bank of Canada will increase rates now.

We hope this update will help those shopping for a mortgage in the next week and will publish an update on July 20th. 

Other stats about the Jobs Report:

• Employment increases were evenly split between full and part time in June.
• Since July 2009, most of the employment gains have been in full-time work, up 355,000 or 2.6% , while part-time work rose by 1.5% .
• Virtually all of June’s employment gains were in Ontario (+60,000) and Quebec (+30,000).
• There were job declines in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick.
• There was little employment change in all other provinces.
• To view the full report, click here

TORONTO, July 7, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, Canada’s independent mortgage rates comparison website, has announced the results of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for July 2010.

Global economic uncertainty may dampen consumer confidence and cause Canadians additional stress during the summer holidays, but it also means that the Bank of Canada will not increase mortgage rates on July 20th resulting in unchanged variable mortgage rates in the short term.

Fixed mortgage rates: Unchanged

As the five year bond yield sags due to uncertainly about growth prospects in Canada and around the world, our Panel believes fixed mortgage rates could fluctuate by +/-0.10% in July but will effectively stay where they are for the time being.

The Bank of Canada’s next Monetary Policy Report is due on July 22nd, and this should give a better indication of the level of uncertainly in the market. A strong demand for residential mortgages by lenders is also stated as a key driver for keeping fixed rates level.

Variable mortgage rates: Unchanged

There’s a saying that when a storm is brewing it’s best to sit tight, and that’s just what our experts think the Bank of Canada will do at their next interest rate meeting at the end of July. Given an expected dip in Canadian consumer spending, widespread unemployment in the US and Europe, global fears of deflation, and debt levels that are threatening to put whole countries out of business – there’s just too much going on right now to justify a rate increase.

In this environment, the Bank of Canada is unlikely to increase interest rates in July, so variable mortgage rates will remain unchanged.

To read all the detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit:

http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/mortgage_rate_outlook_panel/

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

About RateSupermarket.ca (http://www.ratesupermarket.ca/)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.

TORONTO, June 17, 2010 … RateSupermarket.ca, Canadian consumers’ one-stop-site to quickly and easily compare over 500 mortgage rates from the country’s top providers, has embarked on an educational campaign to expose additional fees that homebuyers will experience when the HST comes into effect July first.

“We were surprised to see that of 383 respondents to our online poll, 56% said that they had no knowledge of how the HST will affect home owners, 24% said they had a little knowledge and only 20% said that they had knowledge of the HST,” said Kelvin Mangaroo, Founder, RateSupermarket.ca. “Clearly Canadians need to know the additional fees and taxes that they will be levied after July first because there is no doubt that the overall cost of home ownership will increase.”

RateSupermarket.ca has posted articles about the HST on their website info centre and created the following ‘hit list’ to highlight additional HST levies:

Breakdown of Costs with HST:

[1] Based on a 5 per cent fee – all real estate agent fees are negotiable

[2] Ontario land transfer tax

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.

TORONTO, June 7, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, the go-to website for a complete comparison of mortgage rates in Canada, has announced the results of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for June 2010. Uncertainty is the key word in this month’s Outlook as turmoil continues in Europe, dampening the domestic economic recovery.

Fixed mortgage rates: Unchanged

The panel members cited a number of drivers for fixed mortgage rates this month, including a slight dip in consumer spending, strong demand for mortgages by the big banks, and national inflation remaining within a tight band. The result is a split decision, but the common thread is uncertainly within the international markets, justifying a sit and wait approach. The picture should become clearer when the Bank of Canada releases its next Monetary Policy Report on July 22nd.

Variable mortgage rates: Up

Following the Bank of Canada’s announcement to increase the target for the overnight lending rate on June 1st, the debate amongst the panel members is whether this is the start of a continuous and steady incline, which was considered a given only a few weeks ago, or if the Bank of Canada will wait to see what happens overseas before making another move.

Consensus is that we’ll see another 0.25% increase in July. However, it really depends on Europe – domestically we may need a rate hike, but internationally the fear of a double dip recession is still prevalent.

To read detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit: Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.

TORONTO, May 6, 2010… RateSupermarket.ca, Canada’s rate comparison website for personal finance products such as mortgages, insurance, credit cards and GICs has announced the results of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel for May 2010.

Fixed rates: Unchanged

Fixed mortgage rates increased quickly last month due to higher Government of Canada bond yields, with the benchmark posted 5 year fixed mortgage rate up by 1%. The Panel believes fixed mortgage rates are done climbing in the short term, as concerns in the European markets about Greece have begun to impact the global financial markets, and there has been a recent drop in bond yields.

Variable rates: Up

The Bank of Canada removed their conditional commitment to keep interest rates at all time lows until July, opening the door to speculation on whether interest rates will begin increasing in June or July. Economic indicators to be published later this month will help determine the Bank’s decision.

The majority of the Panel members believe variable mortgage rates will start increasing in June rather than July.

To read detailed commentary from our panel members, please visit: www.ratesupermarket.ca/mortgage_rate_outlook_panel/

About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel

The panel includes some of the country’s top mortgage experts, and helps Canadian consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates.

This month’s panel members:

• Dan Eisner, MBA. AMP. President, Verico True North Mortgage
• George Hugh, Vice President, Treasury, ING DIRECT
• Gregory Klump, Chief Economist, Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
• Dr. Ian Lee, Director of MBA Program, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
• Garth Turner, Noted Canadian Author, Columnist, Speaker and Financial Commentator, Former MP

About RateSupermarket.ca (www.ratesupermarket.ca)

RateSupermarket.ca is an independent, impartial resource that is not affiliated with any mortgage lender or broker. It is the only resource in Canada that allows visitors to compare the whole mortgage market in the country. RateSupermarket.ca also compares insurance products, credit cards and GIC rates.