Jill from Fergus called after being referred by a good friend who had a pleasant experience dealing with us. “if anyone can help you, these guys can,” she told Jill. Jill is a single grandmother who worked in a local factory until one day she could not lift her arms. Long story short, she was put on Workmen’s Compensation at her current wage at the factory and offered retraining. The training program ‘was a joke’ in her words. Jill was a retrained as an office worker and most of her duties involved typing which, of course, she could not do with her bad arms.. So she was trained on a program which enabled her to voice activate the keyboard.  When she finished the training she tried in in vain to find a job. “No companies have this type of technology,: Jill said. So when she couldn’t find a job in that field, Workmen’s Compensation cut her wages from $700 per week to $300 per week. That’s when Jill spiralled downward into a depression. She didn’t know where to turn. She quickly depleted all her resources and was living from hand to mouth while raising her granddaughter. Well thank goodness Jill called us. She had lots of equity in her home but it wasn’t doing her absolutely no good when it came to meeting everyday expenses. After all, you can’t eat Equity! We went right to work to find her a lender who would approve her for a mortgage at 65% of the value of her $220,000 home. She had maintained good credit and we were able to pay off her current mortgage of $65,000, her line of credit of $20,000 and the new mortgage we arranged for her at $150,000 gives her $50,000 to live on until she can work again or she can invest the money to earn extra income. It will also give her funds to hire a lawyer to help her fight Workmen’s Compensation. You see Jill really wants to work and she is too young to retire. She just needed us to give her a little “kick in the butt” to get her chutzpah back. Now that she has some money she will take on Workmen’s Compensation. Her mortgage rate has gone down a half a percent to 2.3 per cent and even with all the new money her mortgage payment is only $550 per month.

When we first met Jill she was pretty much beaten down by her circumstances. Now she is stronger and ready to fight. Jill, just needed someone to listen, to care and help her get control of her life again. And she doesn’t want to sit at home. She really wants to work at a job she can do! Doesn’t that kind of person deserve our help? A resounding ‘Yes” from the Price Team!

By the way, if you tossed out the paper by mistake and would like a previous article…We are blogging now. You can see our past articles on www.ronandtracy.ca or www.tracyluciani.ca.

Mark Carney, governor of the bank of Canada this week issued a broad warning that the economic crisis is far from over, that consumers need to ‘rein in’ their appetite for cheap money. Carney said that household debt is too high(increased 7% in 2010 vs. a 3.5% decline in the U.S.) and that ‘inevitably’ there will be a ‘Day of Reckoning’.

This rather ominous warning along with the suggestion of the need for higher cost money, leaves us not only a little bit ‘miffed’ but quite frankly, ‘suspicious’ of Carney’s motives as well. Firstly, the Bank of Canada sets the prime rate based on ‘inflation’, which continues to remain very low. Secondly, the B of C is handcuffed in that if they increase rates, the loonie will very likely soar, hurting an already weak export market further, thereby increasing unemployment etc., further weakening the Canadian economy which he has made it clear, is struggling more than expected. Thirdly, the U.S. federal reserve interest rate policy is for no increases in prime, until at least 2012. Fourthly, the U.S. economy remains extremely weak, and is expected to take several years before it truly recovers. Unemployment there is now considered ‘structural’ meaning that unemployment will continue high even after the economic recovery occurs, perhaps stay high permanently. Many see any real U.S. recovery as being years away, perhaps 4 to 5 years away, and since Canada is inextricably tied to the health of the U.S. economy, growth here should remain sluggish for years to come. These are the primary reasons that prevent Carney from increasing the prime rate, although he would clearly ‘like’ to.

We find it ‘suspicious’ of him to make such statements on the one hand, while on the other he is now ‘encouraging’ our banks to “tighten lending requirements, even in a low inflation environment, to discourage risky behaviour”. Funny how the government wants us to spend to sustain tax revenues which we now have the dubious distinction of being the ‘highest in the world’, while at the same time wants us to reduce spending without incurring debt, when most Canadians cannot save because of excessive taxation, and excessively high credit card interest rates. The big banks profits continue to boggle the mind, yet Carney is now asking them to charge more on loans to curb lending and spending which in turn will make them more profits. We have to wonder if the banks have him on their payroll? We would like to suggest to Mr Carney that it is high credit card rates that are getting Canadians into trouble more than anything else, and that in fact, it is these rates that should be reduced instead. He should be attacking the banks who can borrow at 1% from the B of C, and turn around and charge between 18 and 29 per cent on credit cards. The government wants us to spend but only with savinbgs, which few can because we have a hard time saving with excessive taxation of every description, and ‘usurious’ interest rates charged on credit cards.

It is our opinion that ‘overall’ that the B of C cannot and will not increase prime, much if any, and worst case only 1% in 2011. Even in the long term ‘prime’ should remain low, relative to historical rates. So today’s low interest rate environment will continue for several years yet; except for ‘fixed’ rates, that is, which just increased due to recent pressure from the North American bond market where the banks raise funds to finance mortgage loans to consumers, as investors dump bonds and rotate cash into the rising stock market(for better returns). This has forced the banks to pay higher rates on bonds to win investors; hence fixed mortgage rates went up this past week.

Bottom line folks is this. It is an opportune time to get your financial ‘house’ in order; to eliminate high interest debt, by using ‘home equity’ to pay off credit card debt by replacing it with ‘good’ low interest debt. Debt is debt, yet we meet many people who ‘think’ they have equity in their house that they want to preserve, yet while paying ‘insane’ rate on consumer debt which they cannot get rid of. In doing so, your future purchases can be made out of ‘savings’ instead of incurring high interset debt, which is inherently evil and sinister by nature. After all, this is what Mr Carney would like you to do.

Why not call us today for a professional review of your finances, and some invaluable guidance on how to manage your credit. We will help you save, and we will help you with budgeting(as required) with the goal of helping you become financially stable, secure, and to build ‘wealth for your retirement. as you can see, we are much more than mortgage ‘arrangers’.

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“I feel like a kid again” said Joe when we told him the news. After making payments of 2400 on his 300,000 mortgage at a 9% interest rate for the past four years, a simple phone call to us changed his life. It was his wife Lynn who suggested Joe give us a call after reading us for years in the Wellington Advertiser.

The couple were in a private mortgage mainly because Joe had no credit. After having some financial trouble years ago, he paid everyone off and cut up his credit cards, vowing never to use credit cards again.  While it was good Joe paid his responsibilities, failing to re-establish credit was keeping this couple in a high rate mortgage. We found a lender(we have 47 to choose from including all the major banks and credit unions) who would understand that Joe was a person who always paid his mortgage on time and had tried to re-establish credit but had difficulty finding a lender who would give him a credit card.

Well the new mortgage we arranged for Joe and his family are in his words ‘life changing’. We helped him reduce his monthly payment from 2400 to 1100 a month. His private mortgage was interest only and now he’s actually paying off principal. Wow! This is a savings of an incredible 54% They will be taking the lessons of not living above their means and being vigilant about credit from this day forward.

Now they can start saving and also start  paying down their mortgage with ease, saving them thousands more in future. As soon as the mortgage closes, we will help Joe re-establish his credit expecting that we can help him elevate his credit score very quickly, such that he will never look back again.

The point of this article is that we got Joe and his wife a prime institutional mortgage at a great rate, despite him having no credit. It’s a good day for us when we can help people change their lives for the better.