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Understanding your Credit Report
Comprendre son Dossier de Crédit
Mortgage & Real Estate
Bank of Canada
Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals
Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation
Genworth Financial Canada
Canada Revenue Agency, Track NOA
Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors
Canadian Home Builders Association - All of Canada except for Quebec
Association Provinciale des Constructeurs d'Habitations du Québec Inc. - Quebec Only
Agence de la consommation en matière financière du Canada
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
Comparison of Fixed & Variable Rates for the past 25 years
Comparaison des Taux Fixes & Variables des derniers 25 ans
2012 February Newsletter / Bulletin de Février 2012
2012 January Newsletter / Bulletin de Janvier 2012
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English
2011 November Newsletter / Bulletin de Novembre 2011
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2011 October Newsletter / Bulletin de Octobre 2011
2011 September Newsletter / Bulletin de Septembre 2011
2011 August Newsletter / Bulletin de Août 2011
2011 July Newsletter / Bulletin de Juillet 2011
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Enquête 2011 auprès des emprunteurs hypothécaires
CIBC Press Release
2011 Mortgage Consumer Survey
2011 June Newsletter / Bulletin de Juin 2011
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2011 May Newsletter / Bulletin de Mai 2011
Français
2011 April Newsletter / Bulletin d'Avril 2011
2011 March Newsletter / Bulletin de Mars 2011
CanadianMortgageTrends.com
September 29, 2010
The Devil In The Fine Print
Mortgages sometimes have costly or irritating restrictions that you won’t know about unless you read the fine print or ask a mortgage professional.
Some examples:
* Restrictions on breaking your mortgage before the term is up
* Restrictions on breaking your mortgage for the first 3 years
* A penalty surcharge of 1% for mortgages broken within the first 12 or 36 months
* “Reinvestment fees” (on top of mortgage penalties)
* Interest rate differential (IRD) penalties based on an onerous bond yield calculation
* IRD penalties on variable-rate mortgages (usually IRD penalties apply to fixed mortgages)
* IRD penalties based on a costly posted vs. discounted rate formula
* Inability to port unless the purchase and sale take place on the exact same day (which can be hard to arrange)
* A poor conversion rate guarantee
* No refinances during the first year
* No free switches (for transfer-eligible mortgages)
* Amortization limits of 25 years
* Minimum amortizations of 15-18 years
* Restrictions on converting from a variable rate to a fixed rate for the first six months
* No ability to break your “open” HELOC without a penalty
* Inability to port across provincial lines
* High administrative fees when porting
* 100% clawback of cash-back if the mortgage is broken before maturity
* Requirement for a full banking relationship with the lender
* No lump-sum pre-payment privileges
* No annual payment increase allowance
* Pre-payments restricted to one specific day a year (instead of any payment date)
And the list could go on…
Keep a lookout for restrictions like this when comparing different mortgages.
It’s even more important when sizing up cut-rate mortgages because the lower the rate, the greater the likelihood that a mortgage will be somehow restricted.
Homebuyers Presentation
