Ten Things to Know About Prime & Your Mortgage
Martin Jensen • August 10, 2017
- Fixed-rate mortgage holders are not affected by Bank of Canada rate changes during their current term. Only those in either adjustable-rate or variable-rate mortgages need read on.
- On July 12 lenders increased variable-rate borrowing costs by 0.25% to match the Bank of Canada increase of the same amount on the same day.
- There are three more scheduled Bank of Canada meetings this year, and there remains doubt about any further increases this year. Few expect anything more than a 0.25% further increase.
- This was the first increase to Prime in nearly seven years, and it follows two 0.25% reductions in 2015.
- A 0.25% rate increase equals a payment increase of $13 per month per $100,000 of outstanding mortgage balance for those in an adjustable-rate mortgage. That means a $300,000 mortgage balance will see payments rise by $39 per month.
- Not all payments increase. Several lenders differentiate from an adjustable-rate product by offering what is called a ‘variable-rate’ mortgage and their clients will not have any payment change at all. Instead, the life of the mortgage is extended slightly. A letter in the mail from your lender should be arriving to confirm which camp you are in.
- There is no penalty or fee to convert to a fixed rate. Whether in an adjustable-rate mortgage or a variable-rate mortgage, you have the option of locking into a fixed-rate at any time without cost. The length of the term offered varies according to policy and remaining time to maturity, with some lenders allowing conversion to a three-year fixed from day one, but most ensuring they have you under contract for the full original term.
- Locking in can be very costly. The prepayment penalties differ significantly between variable- and fixed-rate products. Be careful about locking in. Aside from immediately increasing your payment even further, you stand to increase your potential prepayment penalty by up to 900%. Few think they will trigger a penalty, yet more than half of borrowers actually do.
- No surprises. Mortgage lenders failed to give us the full 0.25% decreases in 2015, instead only reducing rates by 0.15% both times. Counting on our short memories and lack of uproar, lenders chose to increase by the full 0.25% on July 12, rather than doing what would have been fair and only increasing 0.15%.
- Future increases will depend largely on consistent economic good news. This is what drives interest-rate increases.
Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter as we weigh the likelihood of another 0.25% increase at the September Bank of Canada meeting.
This article was originally published in the Dominion Lending Centres August 2017 newsletter.
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