30 Oct

Is Your Mortgage Portable?

General

Posted by: Vicki Love

Selling your current home and moving into a new one can be stressful enough, let alone worrying about your current mortgage and whether you’re able to carry it over to your new home.

Porting enables you to move to another property without having to lose your existing interest rate, mortgage balance and term. And, better yet, the ability to port also saves you money by avoiding early discharge penalties.

It’s important to note, however, that not all mortgages are portable. When it comes to fixed-rate mortgage products, you usually have a portability option. Lenders often use a “blended” system where your current mortgage rate stays the same on the mortgage amount ported over to the new property and the new balance is calculated using the current interest rate.

With variable-rate mortgages, on the other hand, porting is usually not available. As such, upon breaking your existing mortgage, a three-month interest penalty will be charged. This charge – which can be a surprising $1,500-$4,000 penalty at closing – may or may not be reimbursed with your new mortgage.

 

Porting Conditions

While porting typically ensures no penalty will be charged when you sell your existing property and buy a new one, some conditions that may apply include:

  • Some lenders allow you to port your mortgage, but your sale and purchase have to happen on the same day. Other lenders offer a week to do this, some a month, and others up to three months.

  • Some lenders don’t allow a changed term or force you into a longer term as part of agreeing to port you mortgage.

  • Some lenders will, in fact, reimburse your entire penalty whether you are a fixed or variable borrower if you simply get a new mortgage with the same lender – replacing the one being discharged. Additionally, some lenders will even allow you to move into a brand new term of your choice and start fresh.

  • There are instances where it’s better to pay a penalty at the time of selling and get into a new term at a brand new rate that could save back your penalty over the course of the new term.

While this may sound like a complicated subject, your mortgage professional will be able to explain all of your options and help you select the right mortgage based on your own specific needs.

 

29 Sep

Selecting Your Best Mortgage Term

General

Posted by: Vicki Love

 

Choosing the mortgage term that’s right for you can be a challenging proposition for even the savviest of homebuyers, as terms typically range from six months up to 10 years.

By understanding mortgage terms and what they mean in dollars and sense, you can save the most money and choose the term that is best suited to your specific needs.

The first consideration when comparing various mortgage terms is to understand that a longer term generally means a higher corresponding interest rate. And, a shorter term generally means a lower corresponding interest rate. While this generalization may lead you to believe that a shorter term is always the preferred option, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes there are other factors – either in the financial markets or in your own life – that you’ll also have to take into consideration when selecting the length of your mortgage term.

If paying your mortgage each month places you close to the financial edge of your comfort zone, you may want to opt for a longer mortgage term, such as five or 10 years, so that you can ensure that you’ll be able to afford your mortgage payments should interest rates increase.

  

By the end of a five- or 10-year mortgage term, most buyers are in a better financial situation, have a lower outstanding principal balance and, should interest rates have risen throughout the course of your term, you will be able to afford higher mortgage payments.

If you’re shopping for a mortgage for an investment property, you’ll likely want to consider choosing a longer mortgage term – depending, of course, on your overall plan. This will allow you to know that the mortgage payments on the property will be steady for a long time and enable you to more accurately project your future income from the property.

As well, if you know you will not be staying in the same home for the next five or 10 years, opting for a shorter term can save you significant fees when it comes to early payout penalties.

Choosing the right mortgage term is a unique decision for each individual. By understanding your personal financial situation and your tolerance for risk, I can assist you in choosing the mortgage term that will work best for your situation.

As always, if you have any questions about mortgage terms or your mortgage in general, I’m here to help!
25 May

Banks talk down consumer debt hysteria

General

Posted by: Vicki Love

  Financial Post May 9, 2012 – 7:00 PM ET | Last Updated: May 10, 2012 11:14 AM ET

Norm Betts/Bloomberg News

Norm Betts/Bloomberg News

Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Francis Fong suggests Canadians have begun to get the message about having too much debt, based on the slowdown in consumer credit growth.

The Bank of Canada may be thinking about raising interest rates but there’s apparently no need because Canadians are hunkering down to cool debt obligations on their own.

“The pace of growth in household credit is no longer a reason for the Bank of Canada to move from the sidelines any time soon,” says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets.

He wrote a report released Wednesday that suggests central bank intervention is not needed, especially with consumers already seeing interest payments on debt eating into 7.3% of their disposable income as of the fourth quarter of 2011, even at today’s low rates.

 

‘Why are you raising rates? To slow down credit growth — but it’s already slowing’

“Why are you raising rates? To slow down credit growth — but it’s already slowing,” Mr. Tal says. “I say let the market slow naturally. We are so concerned about this but it’s moving in the right direction.”

Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Francis Fong also weighed in, suggesting Canadians have begun to get the message about having too much debt, based on the slowdown in consumer credit growth.

Even the chief executive of one of the big five banks joined the discussion, hoping to extinguish some of the panic about Canadian debt.

“When we look at the overall marketplace, there might be pockets of vulnerability but we remain quite comfortable,” said Gord Nixon, chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada “Frankly, I’d like to see the rhetoric come down a little bit.”

None of the talk is doing much to dissuade author Gail Vaz Oxlade from her beliefs that Canadians have far too much debt.

“Yeah, yeah, I have heard it,” Ms. Vaz Oxlade says. “The number don’t lie. If the numbers say we are decreasing and only adding by 0.1%, I’m not going to argue. But the fact is we are already carrying too much debt and it’s still going up.”

She wonders whether Canadians are getting the message, if they are not actually paying down debt. She doesn’t care if more of the debt is going into long-term mortgages: “What’s the difference? That’s just debt we’ll pay three or four times more for.”

The CIBC report does note that as of March 2012, mortgage debt rose by 6.3% on a year-over-year basis, which is below the average rate of growth seen in the past two years of 7.3%.

Mr. Tal says there will be a gradual softening in the housing market with prices falling 10% in the coming year or two. He says tougher rules from regulators on loans will cool the market and notes the banks themselves are questioning values, citing “the increased use of full-scale appraisals as part of the adjudication process.”

Overall, Mr. Tal says that for the first time since 2002 consumer credit is rising more slowly than in the United States.

“Consumer credit [growth] is basically zero,” he says, adding Canadians have been optimizing their credit situation by taking high-interest credit card debt and transferring it to lines of credit.

TD’s Mr. Fong agrees that Canadians are starting to “hunker down” and pay off their debt, but at the same time he suggests a two-percentage-point increase in rates would leave many households at risk.

“It is safe to say that with household debt levels at record highs, a sizeable number of Canadians households are ill-prepared and could lead to difficulty keeping up with higher interest payments,” said Mr. Fong, who added efforts of Canadians to lock in their rates should cushion the coming blow.

Scott Hannah, president and CEO of the Credit Counselling Society, still thinks there is plenty to be worried about. “Things are pretty fragile,” he says. “Debt is still growing and we’ve got to start paying it down. We have to be concerned with the level of debt the average Canadian is carrying.”

With files 
from Bloomberg News

Posted in: FP Street, Personal Finance  Tags: , ,

21 Mar

Become Mortgage-Free Sooner

General

Posted by: Vicki Love

 

Regardless of how long you’ve had your mortgage or how large or small the current balance is, there are a variety of ways to make prepayments work for you to pay down your mortgage faster and, therefore, pay less interest throughout the life of your mortgage.

After all, each extra payment amount will reduce your principal balance, which, in turn, reduces the amount of interest you’ll have to pay on your borrowed mortgage amount.

Most lenders allow you to make a lump-sum payment of anywhere between 10% and 25% of the value of your mortgage per year. The lump-sum payment is based on either the original amount you borrowed or the amount currently outstanding. Since mortgages decrease with each payment, it’s best to negotiate a lump-sum payment option based on the original amount you borrow. That way, if you come into an inheritance, a bonus or save some extra money, you can pay down the largest amount possible.

Another factor to consider is when you can make a lump-sum payment. Some mortgages allow prepayments throughout the year, while others permit them only on the anniversary date. Still others allow you to make prepayments on the day you make your regular payment.

If you can’t pay the maximum prepayment amount, it’s still worth your while to at least make some form of extra payments, even if it’s

a few thousand dollars each year. That will still save you thousands of dollars in interest payments throughout the life of your mortgage.

Another prepayment option involves taking advantage of flexible payments. Most lenders allow you to increase your regular payment up to a set maximum, such as 15%, while others allow you to double up your payments.

If, for instance, you have a $1,000 per month mortgage payment and increase it by 15% to $1,150, you could shave off as much as five-and-a-half years on a $200,000 mortgage.

Even rounding up your mortgage payments a few dollars each payment can help make your balance decline sooner. If you round up your mortgage payment from, say, $766 to an even figure such as $800, you can feel confident in knowing that every extra bit goes toward your principal.

You can also pay off your mortgage faster by moving to a different payment schedule. Instead of making monthly payments, make them biweekly or even weekly. Using an accelerated mortgage payment plan – where you make payments every two weeks as opposed to twice a month – you actually make one extra payment each calendar year. By paying more and paying faster, you reduce your principal earlier, which lowers the amount of interest you pay.

As always, if you have questions about paying your mortgage off quicker, or other mortgage-related questions, I’m here to help!