Allen from Oakville, Ontario

Back in July Lara and I purchased a house in Oakville. At the time the credit markets were very tight, and we were only able to get a rate of Prime + 70 bps.

We knew this wasn't great, but we also knew the market was soft, so we had to act on whatever we could get. As we walked through the summer months and into the fall I continued to watch rates on Ratesupermarket.ca. I started to see spreads on the 5 year variable continue to contract, to the point where in January of 2010 they started to enter that Prime minus environment that I was waiting for.

I read articles on the site about the benefits of refinancing and how to go about doing it. So I called the Ratesupermarket.ca call centre to speak with a mortgage broker. The hotline was efficient and within a couple of hours of my call I was contacted by one of your broker partners, Jim, who was happy to consult with me about my situation.

Jim was able to give me a lot of interesting information on what to expect in terms of costs and breakage fess in raw numbers. He also asked some great questions about my living situation to determine if from his professional opinion it was worth my while to refinance at this point.

Jim told me that when refinancing (for simply a better rate) I should not have to reinsure or reappraise my house, this saved me thousands.

In the end I believe that what Ratesupermarket.ca brings to the table is a great educational resource for all new and old homebuyers to be able to arm themselves with the facts they need to make an educated decision about their mortgage. Additionally, you put me in touch with some great mortgage contacts that allowed my wife and I to get the most competitive rate and terms. This was invaluable given that we were making one of life's most significant decisions.

Thank you.

Allen