Tag Archives: interest

economy, rates

Let’s get negative (interest rates)

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32 Comments

As the economy deteriorates further Canadians are sitting on a pile of cash. Stock portfolios are holding a record $75 billion in cash.

How do you get people spending and investing again?

Well, you could try negative interest rates.

That kinda worked in the EU. Denmark has driven down their currency which has helped exports. Of course the flip side of negative rates is the risk of housing and stock bubbles.

But how would negative rates most likely affect Canadian consumers?   Higher fees.

“What you might see happening is a negative interest rate masquerading as higher fees,” Milevsky said. “No bank in their right mind would tell a consumer, give us your hundred dollars and we’ll give you 95. That will never happen.”

Read the full article here.

debt, economy, hype, predictions, rates, USA

3.5% Fed rate in 2017?

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76 Comments

Here’s a prediction:

“US interest rates will rise – and hit 3.5pc by the end of 2017”, The Telegraph UK

“A momentous change looms large in the US. It seems highly likely that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this week.”

“What makes the probable rise in interest rates so significant is not the size of the increase. The rate rise is likely to be a mere 0.25pc. But this would represent the first rate increase for nearly 10 years. Moreover, we all know that once rates have begun to rise, usually the process does not stop after only one increase.”

Does anyone believe we’ll see a rate increase by the Fed from 0.25% to 3.5% in the next two years?

BC, Canada, data, debt, mortgage, rates

$500 would push 16% of homeowners into default

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135 Comments

A recent Bank of Montreal poll finds that approximately 1 in 6 Canadian homeowners would be pushed into default if payments rose $500.

According to the bank, 16 per cent of respondents said they would not be able to afford such an increase, while more than a quarter, or roughly 27 per cent, would need to review their budget.

Another 26 per cent said they would be concerned, but could probably handle it.

Such an increase would be generated in the case of a three percentage point hike in interest rates — from 2.75 per cent to 5.75 per cent — on a $300,000 mortgage with a 25-year amortization period.

Given that interest rates are likely to increase in the foreseeable future, the bank said there was no better time to put together a detailed debt management plan.

Read the full article here.

Open Topic

FFFA! Retirement, Prices, Dollar, Debt

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361 Comments

It’s that time of the week again.

It’s Friday Free-for-all time! This is our regular end of the week news round-up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend. Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Who wants to try for 200%?
–Rate fears push down dollar
–Cognitive disconnect
–We love us some debt
–Real Estate School
–Whats a mortgage default?
–The RE-tirement plan
–

So what are you seeing out there?

Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

BC, Canada, debt, mortgage, rates

Tiny lenders chop rates to grab mortgage customers

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73 Comments

Rates have dropped and that means better deals on mortgages. The big banks have dropped discount rates to an average of 2.79% on a 5 year mortgage.

Meanwhile the smaller lenders are hungry for more business so they’re cutting profits to compete on lower rates.

Mortgage Brokers are also taking cuts on commission to compete in the race to the lowest rate:

The rate war is even more intense among mortgage brokers, many of whom are shifting away from the traditional full-service model that saw brokers spending hours working with clients to select the best mortgage and earning hefty commissions. These days, more borrowers are turning to online and “self-service” brokerages that compete on volume, offering less personalized service and sacrificing some of the commissions they earn from lenders in order to discount rates even further.

Not everyone is a fan of the model. Some are worried that with interest rates already so low, brokers are having to dig deep into their commissions to offer meaningful discounts, a model that some brokers argue could threaten the industry as a whole.

“The majority of people don’t like what we’re doing and it’s a troublesome thing for us to digest because ultimately it’s the best for the consumer,” said Jeff Mark, co-founder of Spin Mortgage, an 18-month-old online brokerage that is advertising a five-year fixed rate at 2.49 per cent, well below the typical bank rate, by sacrificing some of its commissions. “We make less money per deal. I don’t know how that isn’t a good thing for the market.”

Read the full article here.