Often new clients call us and ask. “What is your best rate?”

A few years ago, this was a pretty straight forward question. But since the government has changed the mortgage rules, the best rate offered by our 95 different lenders is now a very complicated question. Best rate is now limited to high ratio purchases or people buying homes for less than 20% down. This is confusing for most clients. You mean ,if I put less money down, I get a better rate. Yes, that is correct. These mortgages are insured through CMCH, Genworth or Canada Guaranty so there is a premium paid by the borrower and added to the mortgage amount for receiving this fantastic rate.

So, any switches or transfers also qualify for best fixed and variable rates. So that is essentially waiting until your maturity or it can be done before with penalty for existing amount of the mortgage.

Now refinances have different rates attached to them. If you had an insured mortgage on your last renewal or purchased prior to November 2016 you will qualify for rock bottom rates. That’s an if, you have a beacon score about 700. More and more lenders are wanting pristine credit for any type of mortgage transaction. So, guard your credit carefully by keeping balances and making all payments time. Now most lenders are charging a slightly higher rate for a 30 year amortization.

We always say beyond rate, there is always the fine print. Banks especially are bad for not disclosing the bad and the ugly. Onerous penalties come with fixed rates with major banks. They earn 6 billion dollars every quarter on mortgage penalties alone. As well, there are products out there that give a better rate but you need to sell or refinance with that lender and we are not a fan of products that restrict clients. And speaking of restrictive watch those collateral mortgages many banks where all unsecured debt becomes secure in the far reaching parameters of the mortgage charge.

No matter what, we are transparent with our rates and terms. They are available and updated daily on our website at Priceteammortgages.ca. You can even sign up to get them weekly if you want.