TORONTO — Two of Canada’s biggest banks are raising their benchmark rates for five-year, fixed-rate mortgages.

TD says as of Wednesday it increased its posted rate for five-year fixed mortgages to 5.59 per cent from 5.14 per cent.

Mortgage planner and rate comparison website founder Robert McLister says the increase is “unusual” as the benchmark rate hasn’t seen a jump of 45 basis points or more since March 2010.

TD spokeswoman Julie Bellissimo says a number of factors are considered when determining rates including the competitive landscape, the cost of lending and managing risk.

Meanwhile, Royal Bank spokesman AJ Goodman says the lender plans to raise its posted rate for a five-year fixed mortgage on Monday to 5.34 per cent compared with the 5.14 per cent currently posted.

McLister says the actual rates banks offer to borrowers are not seeing an increase, but notes the Bank of Canada uses the posted rates at the big banks to calculate the rate used in stress tests to determine whether homebuyers qualify for loans.

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Angela Calla has been a licensed mortgage broker for 14 years. She has been with Dominion Lending Centres since its inception in January 2006. Residing in Port Moody, British Columbia, Angela is a regular expert guest on several news stations, television shows, radio programs and local and national publications. She was the AMP of the year in 2009, and has consistently been one of DLC and the industry’s top performers since 2006. She can be reached at callateam@dominionlending.ca or 604-802-3983 for an questions or media requests.

The Canadian dollar fell sharply immediately after the release of the Bank of Canada’s Official Statement providing a more bullish forecast for the economy while holding rates steady. The Bank hiked its estimate of noninflationary potential growth, implying there was more room to grow without triggering rate hikes. The central bank now suggests the economy has a noninflationary speed limit of 1.8% this year and next, accelerating to 1.9% in 2020. Formerly, the Bank had estimated potential growth to average about 1.6% for the next two years.

Many market participants had expected a more hawkish statement as inflation has risen to close to the Bank’s 2%-target in recent months. The central bank appears to be straddling the fence, suggesting that rate hikes are coming, but the economy still needs stimulus. The good news is that growing demand is generating new capacity as businesses invest to meet sales, a development that Governor Poloz says the central bank has an “obligation” to nurture.

The Monetary Policy Report (MPR) notes that three-quarters of industries have a capacity utilization rate within five percentage points of their post-2003 peak. The business outlook survey, meanwhile, indicates that sales expectations have firmed. Taken together, this implies that there’s a real need for investment to meet higher demand.

The chief concern is that protectionism, which remains the central bank’s top risk to the outlook, coupled with the U.S. tax overhaul means businesses will choose to expand capacity outside of Canada. A “wide range of outcomes” is still possible for the NAFTA, according to the MPR, which did not acknowledge recently reported progress in talks between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

The central bank now sees first-quarter growth at 1.3%, down from a January forecast of 2.5%. Forecasts for 2018 were also brought down to 2%, from 2.2%. But 2019 growth was revised up to 2.1% from 1.6%. This stronger growth profile reflects upward revisions to the U.S. fiscally induced expansion.
Slower growth in the first quarter primarily reflected weakness in two areas. Housing markets slowed in the wake of the new mortgage guidelines. Exports also slowed, in part owing to transportation bottlenecks.

Concerning housing, the Monetary Policy Report contained an interesting chart (below) showing the cumulative change in housing resales since January 2017 with the following comment: “Housing activity is estimated to have contracted sharply in the first quarter, following the implementation of the revised B-20 Guideline. The contraction was amplified as some homebuyers acted quickly in the fourth quarter of 2017 to purchase a home before being subject to the new measure. In the second quarter of 2018, housing activity is expected to pick up as resales start to recover.”

Bottom Line: Despite upward revisions to inflation, the Bank’s assessment seems to be relatively sanguine. I expect two more quarter-point rate hikes this year–likely in the summer and fall.

Dr. Sherry Cooper
Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres

The Angela Calla Mortgage Team will work with you personally to ensure you get the best mortgage options. Contact us directly at 604-802-3983 or callateam@dominionlending.ca for assistance or for media inquiries. It’s never too early or too late to start planning to position yourself best in today’s market.

There has been no shortage of changing in policies, and one specific area that continues to grow is reverse mortgage space. There are so many baby boomers who are house rich but cash poor and are living on fixed incomes.

We have recently seen new lenders enter this space and competition makes lenders better! So having the power of choice with a reverse mortgage is welcomed, especially with so many mortgage rule changes making it even harder for the more mature borrowers to qualify as normally their highest income earning years are behind them.

These mortgage options allow them to stay in their homes longer, access capital for further investment, healthcare, and travel and have monthly cash flow while enjoying the fruits of their decades of labour with NO monthly payments.

Baby Boomers Market Stats 2018

If you or someone you care about can benefit from these new developments or want some clarity in evaluating all the available options without bias- we have a mortgage for that. Please contact us directly.

Angela Calla, Mortgage Expert, AMP of the Year in 2009 has been helping British Columbian families save money with the best mortgage strategy for over a decade from her Port Coquitlam office location. She is a regular contributor to national and regional media outlets and long-time host of The Mortgage Show on CKNW Saturdays at 7pm, and sits on many advisory boards for mortgage lenders & insures. We can be reached to help you or for media inquiries at callateam@dominionlending.ca or 604-802-3983

Do you have a mortgage? So do I! Looks like we have something in common. Did you know that 6 out of 10 consumers break their mortgage 38 months into a 5-year term? That means that 60% of consumers break a 5-year term mortgage well before it’s due…but do you also know what the implications are of this? Let’s take a look!

People need to break a mortgage for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common include:
· Sale and purchase of a new home *without a portable mortgage
· To take equity out/refinance
· Relationship changes (ex. Divorce)
· Health challenges or life circumstances are altered

And a whole other variety of reasons. So what happens if you have one of the above reasons, or one of your own occur and you have to break your mortgage? Here is an example of what would happen:

Jane and John Smith have lived in their home for 2 years now. When they bought the home, they recognized that it would need some major renovations down the road, but they loved the location and the layout of the home. They purchased it for $300,000 and have 3 years left but would like to access some of the equity in their home and refinance the mortgage to afford some of the bigger home renovations. This refinancing would be with 3 years left on their current mortgage. So, what are Jane and John looking at for cost? There are two methods that are used to calculate the penalty:

POSTED RATE METHOD (used by major banks and some credit unions)
With this method, the Bank of Canada 5 year posted rate is used to calculate the penalty for Jane and John. Under this method, let’s assume that they were given a 2% discount at their bank thus giving us these numbers:

Bank of Canada Posted Rate for 5-year term: 5.14%
Bank Discount given: 2% (estimated amount given*)
Contract Rate: 3.14%
Exiting at the 2-year mark leaves 3 years left. For a 3-year term, the lenders posted rate. 3 year posted rate=3.44% less your discount of 2% gives you 1.44% From there, the interest rate differential is calculated.
Contract Rate: 3.14%
LESS 3-year term rate MINUS discount given: 1.45%
IRD Difference = 1.7%
MULTIPLE that by 3 years (term remaining)
5.07% of your mortgage balance remaining. = 5.1%
For the Smith’s $300,000 mortgage, that gives them a penalty of $15,300. YIKES!

Now, Jane and John were smart though and used their Dominion Lending Centres broker to get their mortgage. Because of this, a different method is used.

PUBLISHED RATE METHOD (used by broker lenders and most credit unions)
This method uses the lender published rates, which are generally much more in tune with what you will see on lender websites (and are generally much more reasonable). Here is the breakdown using this method:
Rate when you initially signed: 3.24%
Published Rate: 3.54%
Time left on contract: 3 years
To calculate the IRD on the remaining term left in the mortgage, the broker would do as follows:
Rate when you initially signed: 3.24%
LESS Published Rate: 3.54%
=0.30% IRD
MULTIPLE that by 3 years (term remaining)
0.90% of your mortgage balance
That would mean that the Smith’s would have a penalty of $2,700 on their $300,000 mortgage.

A much more favourable and workable outcome! Keep in mind that with the above example is one that works only if the borrower has:
· Good credit
· Documented income
· Normal residential type property
· Fixed rate mortgage

For Variable rates mortgages, generally the penalty will be 3 months interest (no IRD applies).
If you find yourself in one of the scenarios that we listed at the start of this blog, or if you just need to get out of your mortgage early, be smart like Jane and John—review your options with a DLC Broker! In the example above, it saved them $12,600 to work with a broker! It really does pay to have a Mortgage Broker working for you.

Geoff Lee
Dominion Lending Centres – Accredited Mortgage Professional

Angela Calla, Mortgage Expert, AMP of the Year in 2009 has been helping British Columbian families save money with the best mortgage strategy for over a decade from her Port Coquitlam office location. She is a regular contributor to national and regional media outlets and long-time host of The Mortgage Show on CKNW Saturdays at 7pm, and sits on many advisory boards for mortgage lenders & insures. For guidance with your mortgage we can be reached to help you or for media inquiries at callateam@dominionlending.ca or 604-802-3983

The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1 ¼ per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 ½ per cent and the deposit rate is 1 per cent.

Inflation in Canada is close to 2 per cent as temporary factors that have been weighing on inflation have largely dissipated, as expected. Consistent with an economy operating with little slack, core measures of inflation have continued to edge up and are all now close to 2 per cent. The transitory impact of higher gasoline prices and recent minimum wage increases will likely cause inflation in 2018 to be modestly higher than the Bank expected in its January Monetary Policy Report (MPR), returning to the 2 per cent target for the rest of the projection horizon.

Read More: Here

Angela Calla has been a licensed mortgage broker for 14 years. She has been with Dominion Lending Centres since its inception in January 2006. Residing in Port Moody, British Columbia, Angela is a regular expert guest on several news stations, television shows, radio programs and local and national publications. She was the AMP of the year in 2009, and has consistently been one of DLC and the industry’s top performers since 2006. She can be reached at callateam@dominionlending.ca or 604-802-3983

One of the toughest challenges for homebuyers is being able to save money at the rate of property price increases.

We know many high-income renters would like to be homeowners, but they’re just unaware of how to make the transition and are unable to save fast enough.

There are several options which are great for a down payment if you can use a combination or one of the traditional methods:
1. Savings
2. Gift from parents
3. RRSPs
4. Selling an asset
5. Inheritance

The B.C. government recently removed the equity partnership program, but there still is a remaining option.

Kindly keep in mind this option won’t be for everyone as the following criteria must be met; it’s simply to illustrate the opportunity to go from renter to owner as soon as possible.

The Flexible Down Payment program allows homebuyers to use existing credit facilities as their down payment.

DETAILS:
Minimum household income required is $200,000 combined
• Minimum 650+ beacon score
• Minimum 2 years history reporting on Credit Bureau
• Sources of down payment: line of credit, credit card, personal Loan
• Include borrowed down payment in the debt servicing of the deal. Example: Unsecured LOC at 3%, Credit Card at 3%, store brand Credit Card at 5%, Personal Loan at actual payments.
• No late payments in the past 36 months
• High Ratio Deals only: 90.01-95% LTV
• 25 year amortization
• Strong Employment History
• No previous bankruptcy or consumer proposal

We can walk you through the details, contact us today!

Angela Calla has been a licensed mortgage broker for 14 years. She has been with Dominion Lending Centres since its inception in January 2006. Residing in Port Moody, British Columbia, Angela is a regular expert guest on several news stations, television shows, radio programs and local and national publications. She was the AMP of the year in 2009, and has consistently been one of DLC and the industry’s top performers since 2006. She can be reached at callateam@dominionlending.ca or 604-802-3983.

People have a lot of different ideas on how they want their home to look. Some want a modern look while others like traditional cottages. But one thing that more and more people want is smart technology in their homes. This adds value and desirability to your home making it easier to sell for the asking price.

In a recent survey, 35% of first time home buyers put smart technology as a priority in their home purchase.

What is a smart home? A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating.

Read more: 4 Smart Features

The Angela Calla Mortgage Team gives you clarity on the best mortgage by being transparent, unbiased free mortgage advice with choice. We are here to help you personally with your mortgage at 604-802-3983 or callateam@dominionlending.ca

You’ve decided it’s time to buy a new home. Whether it’s your first home or 25th, you’re now seeking a mortgage. And one of the first steps to getting the financing in place for your dream home is getting pre-approved for that mortgage. But before you start hunting for your new home, you need to understand a few things about the pre-approval process.

We know going through any financing approval process can be stressful. While it will never be stress free, there are some steps you and your mortgage broker can take to make it less of a nail-biter.

You should never assume you’re going to get financing because you make a lot of money, or if you’ve had numerous mortgages over the years.

A good broker will ask for all the necessary documents up front, like your T4s and recent pay stub. The reason why you want to provide your mortgage broker with all the necessary documents in the pre-approval stage is so there won’t be any surprises once your application hits the lender. This will also provide a game plan for what you’ll need to do if there are any speedbumps in the application, while also utilizing your time and the realtor’s and broker’s time so they know what they’re working with and are able to finance. Getting all the documents early also indicates to the broker and realtor you’re serious and makes the pre-approval more firm.

Where most brokers and lenders go wrong is they do a pre-approval but fail to collect documents. All of the sudden, a live offer comes in, but it doesn’t work.

If you get “pre-approved” without a request for documents, it’s basically worthless. It’s also good to note, no lender will give you a firm approval until you get an offer that is accepted.

So, you’ve now found the home you want and have an accepted offer. You’re moving from pre-approval to actual approval of financing but you’re not out of the clear yet. Any final approval is pending the lender confirming the details. Just because you’re pre-approved, doesn’t mean you’ll eventually be approved for any property you want. In some cases, you could have all the right income and credit on your side, but the property is a mess and you get declined. There’s a lot more that goes into to being approved than just income. Items like strata documents and property details are all part of the ingredients in your final approval sauce.

Even with all the documents, you’ll likely be advised by your mortgage broker, they’re only good for 30 days and you could be asked to update them for final approval when the time comes. But unless you’ve lost your job, bought a new expensive boat or run into some type of financial difficulty, updating should be a lot less stressful.

And it’s better to be stressed out about financing at the beginning of the home-buying process, rather then once you’ve got your heart set on a home you might not be approved to buy.

Angela Calla has been a licensed mortgage broker for 14 years. She has been with Dominion Lending Centres since its inception in January 2006. Residing in Port Moody, British Columbia, Angela is a regular expert guest on several news stations, television shows, radio programs and local and national publications. She was the AMP of the year in 2009, and has consistently been one of DLC and the industry’s top performers since 2006. She can be reached at callateam@dominionlending.ca or 604-802-3983.

Does your credit score keep you up at night? For some, this one detail in their life doesn’t pop up in their mind very much, because they know they’re making good money and paying all the bills on time. When you’re in that boat, it feels pretty good. But when you miss a payment or you struggle to pay all those credit cards, lines of credit and even your mortgage, it feels instead like you’re on a sinking ship without a life raft to save you.

If you’re credit challenged but want to get into the housing market, it can be a tough road to hoe. But improving your credit to a point where a lender will give you chance, is very doable.

First, I won’t bore you with the detailed minutia of credit scores. Basically, what you need to know is a score above 680 puts you in a good position to get financing, while below will make it tough and improvement is needed.

Your credit score tells lenders some basic stuff about your credit: How long you’ve had credit, your ability to pay back that credit and how much you owe. And so your credit score is affected by how much debt you’re carrying in regards to limit, how many cards or tradelines you have and your history of repayment.

If you’re a young person and new to the world of credit, consider the 2-2-2 rule to help build up your credit. Lenders want to see two forms or revolving credit, like credit cards, with limits no less than $2,000 and a clean history of payment for two years. It’s also good to note, a great credit score will also include keeping a balance on all those cards at any given time below 30 per cent of the limit.

To ensure your score stays in playoff form, make sure to pay off any collections, like parking tickets, and correct any old or incorrect reporting on your credit score by contacting Equifax to have it removed. Some people also forget their credit cards have an annual fee and fail to pay them off too.

And if you’ve been given the advice to get a couple credit cards but lock them in a vault where they can only be accessed through a sorcerer’s spell, you’re going down the wrong path. It’s all about showing the lender you use them, so go buy a stick of gum and pay it off.

This cannot be stressed enough, if you want to keep or attain a good credit score, you have to pay your credit cards or tradelines on time regardless of whether you owe $1 or $1 million.

There is a tendency when things get really bad to consider declaring bankruptcy or a consumer proposal. A consumer proposal is a formal, legally binding process to pay creditors a percentage of what is owed to them.

You really want to avoid these two options. Instead, there are companies out there that will perform the same function and negotiate your debts, but it won’t impact your credit or carry the stigma of bankruptcy or a consumer proposal.

Lastly, if you already own a home and have some equity, but you’re still drowning in credit debt, consider refinancing your mortgage. Sure, you might not get the great rate you have now or you might get dinged for breaking your mortgage early, but using the equity in your home to get rid of high interest credit payments could keep more money in your pocket at the end of the day.

Angela Calla, Mortgage Expert, AMP of the Year in 2009 has been helping British Columbian families save money with the best mortgage strategy for over a decade from her Port Coquitlam office location. She is a regular contributor to national and regional media outlets and long-time host of The Mortgage Show on CKNW Saturdays at 7pm, and sits on many advisory boards for mortgage lenders & insures.