RBC: Mortgage Mistakes
RBC made what I think are some some pretty serious – and costly – mistakes for their customers and it is too bad … for the customers!
My 2 favorite quotes from this article are:
“My husband and I both felt pretty robbed,” she said. “I feel … it was deceptive.”
and
“Based on his reading of it, the tone of the bank’s letter to affected customers is “probably an attempt to avoid litigation, because if they took the opposite position then people would be owed money,” he said, noting the letter falls well short of an apology or acceptance of responsibility.
“There is no particular offer … to compensate or provide a small amount of money as a token of having made a mistake,” he said.”
Here is the full article:
“Always get mortgage advice from a full-time, professional, mortgage broker”
Mortgage Mark Herman; Calgary, Alberta top rated mortgage broker.
TD collecting all your data on-line
TD does collateral registrations and also look at everything you do on line. Not only do they love your money, they also love your data!
Stop trusting the big banks and talk to a mortgage broker to protect your data and your money.
Mark Herman, Top Calgary Alberta Mortgage Broker.
TD Visa customers’ browsing activities open to ‘surveillance’ by bank
Bank denies collecting general information about what customers do online
By Rosa Marchitelli, Go Public, Posted: Nov 30, 2015 5:00 AM ETLast Updated: Nov 30, 2015 9:11 PM ET
Rosa Marchitelli
Colin Laughlan is one of thousands of Canadians who had his Visa cards switched from CIBC to TD in 2014 after the Aeroplan rewards program changed banks.
“When I saw this — I really had to read it two or three times to make myself believe I was reading what I was reading,” he said.
He points to two lines in the 66-page Visa cardholder agreement that allows TD to collect details about anything — and everything — customers do online.
Under the privacy section of the cardholder agreement:
“COLLECTING AND USING YOUR INFORMATION — At the time you request to begin a relationship with us and during the course of our relationship, we may collect information including:
- Details about your browsing activity on your browser or mobile device.
- Your preferences and activities.
Laughlan, from Vancouver, has a background in privacy issues as a former journalist and communications specialist. He said his radar was up when his new TD Visa card and cardholder agreement arrived in the mail.
“I couldn’t see any reason they had to do that sort of surveillance on Canadians and they weren’t being particularly forthright about it. This was slipped into the fine print of the policy and I’m well aware that the vast majority of people don’t read these things,” he said.
Laughlan said it took almost a year before his complaint finally reached TD’s privacy office.
TD’s privacy office crossed out the lines that Colin Laughlan found problematic in his cardholder agreement and an official signed them. (CBC)
The bank eventually apologized ….
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/td-visa-clients-browsing-open-to-surveillance-by-bank-1.3339148?cmp=googleeditorspick&google_editors_picks=true
CIBC Being Sued: Unfair payout penatly calculations continue
This is interesting.
We have always thought that the way they do their math was odd or different or something.
Another reason to use a good Calgary broker that has other options than the Big 6 banks that continue to take advantage of their own customers. Why do they do this?
CIBC class action attracts hundreds of inquiries
Lawyers spearheading twin class-action suits against CIBC over “vague prepayment terms” have fielded interest from hundreds of the bank’s mortgage clients — that as a case management judge in B.C. gets assigned to the legal action.
“There have been hundreds of inquiries about these cases to our office and that of our co-counsel in Ontario,” Kieran Bridge, a Vancouver lawyer with the Construction Law Group, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca, pointing to borrowers who paid out CIBC mortgage from April 2005 onward.
Firstline clients areamong those concerned that they may have been adversely affected by the lender’s prepayment policy.
A Case Management Judge has also been assigned, what Bridge calls a key, mandatory step in moving class actions forward in British Columbia.
“We applied in November for a judge to be appointed, in order to move the case ahead, and are pleased this has happened,” he said.
The twin lawsuits were filed in B.C. and Ontario last October, alleging some CIBC mortgage borrowers have been unfairly penalized by unclear prepayment terms giving rise to two substantive complaints.
Aside from what Bridge terms “uncertain and unenforceable language” in contracts dating as far back as 2005, he also points to the mathematical formula CIBC used to determine those prepayment charges, calling them “invalid,” or in legal speak a “miscalculation.”
The suits rely on individual representative plaintiffs in B.C. and Ontario. Each of those two notices of claim alleges CIBC applied terms and conditions to certain mortgage contracts that allowed it “unfettered discretion” in calculating mortgage prepayment penalties.
The suits also allege that the actual amounts of those penalties were themselves in breach of the mortgage contracts.
CIBC will haven’t yet filed a statement of defence against the allegations.
“Because these cases are intended class actions, the normal time limit for filing a Statement of Defence is rarely applied,” said Bridge.”There has been no Statement of Defence filed, and no substantive response from CIBC.”
The assignment of a management judge notwithstanding, the suit still must be certified in order to proceed to trial. That could take a year or more.
The collective legal action effectively echoes some of the more-perennial and broader concerns of brokers, who grapple with the widely varying interest rate differential and prepayment penalties many lenders demand of borrowers. The former, sometimes stretching into the tens of thousands of dollars, has presented a major impediment to helping clients take advantage of historically low rates by switching or refinancing clients before maturity, argue many mortgage professionals.
Those challenges have led to broker calls for industry-wide standardization of penalties.
Undoubtedly, broker-arranged mortgages through Firstline are among the thousands of transactions the dual suit is meant to address, said Bridge, at the same time expressing his support for mortgage professionals.
The B.C. lawyer led a similar case against RBC about ten years ago. It ultimately ended in a settlement, said Bridge.
ING now has the evil & dirty collateral mortgage – like TD and RBC
Also see the article from earlier this year about TD and RBC offering the collateral mortgage – which is an “IOU” for every single $ you have. (http://blog.markherman.ca/2011/05/09/why-you-do-not-want-a-collateral-mortgage-from-td-or-rbc/ ) Essentially YOU give them the right to sue YOU into bankruptcy if they need to repo your house. All other standard mortgages in Alberta only allow the bank to take the house back. Another reason to use a broker that knows what they are doing. Do you really want to put it all on the line for no reason?
ING Direct goes collateral charge
ING Direct will move this month to register all new mortgages as collateral charge, following on the heels of TD and other lenders.
The change is set to take effect on Dec. 10, 2011, with the bank to make a formal announcement to the broker channel later this week.
Teetering on the edge of a rate hike – not all bad news
This article below is good news for everyone with a variable rate – as it looks like they will not go up that fast.
The data below is the most accurate with out any hype that I have seen is a while.
Teetering on the edge of a rate hike
Well we have a better idea of where Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney stands, and it appears that we’re teetering on the edge of a rate hike.
This comes as no surprise, with many analysts crying for a rate increase for some time now. The question is whether it will be at the next meeting, or the meeting after that, or even before year end.
The key takeaway is that Carney signaled that ‘some’ government stimulus ‘will’ be withdrawn, rather than ‘all’ and ‘eventually’ withdrawn. That means he’s close to pulling the plug. We are looking at growth and employment numbers for the second half of the year and if it remains strong, we may see rates move before year end.
With this week’s announcement put on the backburner, analysts are focused on where we’re going over the next several months, and they certainly have a lot to consider in their projections.
The Bank has a goal of a neutral rate, which bolsters the economy yet controls inflationary pressures. There’s no magical ‘neutral rate’, but economists figure it’s in the 3%-4% range. However, Carney seems reluctant to pull the trigger on rates, considering the likes of the U.S. economy along with the issues we see in several European countries. If we widen the rate gap with the U.S. it will only drive the loonie up further, creating more resistance for economic growth.
Another external factor is the European sovereign debt crisis, in which Carney senses more concern over their troubles that the U.S. will default on its debt. The chances of the U.S. defaulting on its debt is slim and more of a scare tactic than anything. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge problem and the Obama Administration doesn’t know whether to turn left or right, but at the same time, if the US defaulted we’d be talking about a whole new worldwide fiasco.
Since the Bank of Canada doesn’t declare what a neutral rate is, it’s hard to determine when and how much rates will move when they do. By the way that Carney is talking it appears as though when rates do start to rise that they will in a controlled manner and they won’t be too aggressive. Analysts and economists shouldn’t assume that rate increases are going to be quick and steep.
Here at home our economy seems to be moving along as projected, and any sudden, high rate increases will be sure to stifle our growth. It looks like if everything goes to plan we may see a modest hike in October, but if some of the assumptions are off a bit it may be later before we see any movement.
Mark Herman in the press on high-end properties selling quickly
High-flying stock market sends business to brokers Lingering caution at the big banks and wealthy clients increasingly bullish on the stock market are helping brokers claim their biggest share of high-end deals in years – with a Re/Max study helping explain the phenomenon.
By Vernon Clement Jones
Mortgagebrokernews.ca
Lingering caution at the big banks and wealthy clients increasingly bullish on the stock market are helping brokers claim their biggest share of high-end deals in years – with a Re/Max study helping explain the phenomenon.
“In the last week, we’ve just had two of the biggest deals of my career,” Mark Herman, an agent and team leader for Mortgage Alliance Mortgages Are Marvelous Inc. in Calgary, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “One was a new purchase for $1.525 million, with 5% down, and the other one was for a $750,000 line of credit on a $1.5 million purchase. High-end mortgage business for brokers in Calgary has picked up like we’ve never seen.”
Calgary brokers may not be alone.
Re/Max examined 12 major centres from coast-to-coast and found that luxury sales surged in two-thirds of them during the first four months of 2011, compared to the same period last year.
While Vancouver led in terms of percentage increases – 118% year over year – Dartmouth, at 27%, Winnipeg, 24%, Hamilton-Burlington, 13%, and Greater Toronto, 9%, also saw spikes.
Herman’s market of Calgary was also on that list, at 51%, although that scorching hot performance fell short of setting a new record, unlike the other top jurisdictions on the list. With the exception of Vancouver, their sales growth can be chalked up to domestic buyers.
Michael Polzler, executive vice president for Re/Max in Ontario-Atlantic Canada, pointed to three key factors for the rise in high-end business: equity gains, stock market recovery, and improved economic performance.
Brokers like Herman are pointing to the some of the same factors to explain why they’re getting more high-net-worth clients stepping across their thresholds.
“These guys weren’t buying as much during the recession, but with prices still below recent highs, high-end buyers are now out bargain shopping,” said the mortgage agent, also an MBA.
“But what they’re doing is they’re looking to keep their money in the stock market and other high-yield investments and want to buy homes with as little money down as possible – it’s all about limiting opportunity costs. Also they’re coming to brokers this time because they’re finding the banks have been slower to ease credit and aren’t giving them the discounted rates they expect.”
Less than five months into 2011, another broker, Sharnjit Gill, has already surpassed last year’s total for high-value deals.
“We’re also seeing more activity there because those clients are more educated about what we as brokers can do for them beyond rate,” he told MortgageBrokerNews.ca.
Still the trend is less obvious at other mortgage brokerages, even in those markets highlighted by the Re/Max report.
While her Ottawa brokerage has seen an uptick in volume, said Kim McKenney, senior VP at Dominion Lending Centres The Mortgage Source.
“The average dollar amount has risen by only a couple of thousands of dollars,” she told MortgageBrokerNews.ca.
Mortgagebrokernews.ca is a division of KMI Media.
Variable rates are still really good.
It’s that time again. When Mark Carney and his cohorts ascend Mount Olympus once more for the latest round of talks to decide the immediate future for Canadian mortgage holders.
The prevailing feeling however is that little will result from this month’s scheming and plotting. Another meeting will pass with rates unchanged and the variable rate mortgage holders can rest easily until July 19th signals the next round of talks. While some speculators – who haven’t been paying enough attention to our blog – earlier in the year cited this meeting as the one to kick off a series of interest rate rises, it now appears those speculators were somewhat premature in their estimations. Recent developments have meant it is now highly unlikely we will see a rate increase tomorrow, Tuesday, May 31, 2011.
Economic growth for the first quarter in the US, Canada’s primary trading partner, came in at a highly disappointing 1.8% with consumer spending slowing. And while Canada’s strong dollar has seen investment increase and manufacturing experience a long overdue rebound, these are still highly uncertain times for the Canadian economy. As expressed by Governor Mark Carney earlier this month, fears persist that rising commodity prices, combined with an inflated currency could impede Canada’s ability to increase demand in the US. The commodity boom is no longer serving Canada in the way it had previously during China’s rapid expansion. These concerns combined with the ever worsening European debt crisis and the impending impact of fiscal austerity in the US driven by irrational desires to cut the budget mean a rate hike tomorrow is highly unlikely.
While we feel that interest rate rises are coming before the end of the year we still feel the variable rate offers the greatest value for money. However we always advise our clients that if they feel ill-suited to the uncertainty of a variable rate, they should opt for a fixed. And the good news is that being adverse to risk has rarely been so well rewarded, with fixed rates plummeting in recent weeks. Fixed rates, as we predicted they would, have fallen repeatedly and there has never been a better time to opt for fixed. If you have any questions about anything you’ve read here or would like to hear how the impending rise in prime may affect you, please feel free to contact us at403-681-4376 for sound, unbiased mortgage advice.
Low interest rates seen sticking around – fuel for the Variable rate side
Low interest rates seen sticking around- great news for the variable rate people. Remember with a broker lender you lock-in at the best broker rate for the day when you lock in. With the banks you lock in at Posted (or Posed-1% if they pretend that they love you – and they actually love your money, not you.)
That means that for today the broker rate is 3.99% for a 5 year. Posted is 5.66%. If “the bank loves you” you get 5.66-1% = 4.66% BUT you should have had 3.99% at a broker bank.
So would you love your bank back when that happens?
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
Tuesday’s Globe and Mail
Interest rates have recently being going somewhere unexpected: down.
At their trough last week, the yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries, the benchmark North American rate, touched 3.11 per cent, the lowest level in six months and more than half a percentage point below their February peak.
Yields on 10-year Government of Canada bonds have fallen, too, and are now virtually identical to their U.S. counterparts.
The sliding rates have surprised many market watchers. With the United States government bumping up against its debt ceiling, inflation ticking upward, and a growing debt crisis in Europe, most expected interest rates to be increasing.
While predicting the future for rates is notoriously difficult, some observers believe that the current low-rate environment may continue for a while. If so, it will mean pain for savers, but good news for borrowers.
A drop in interest rates is equivalent to a sale on the price of money, and corporations are already rushing to take advantage of the easy lending conditions, even if they’re in no immediate need of funds. A case in point is Google Inc., which has $37-billion (U.S.) in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet, but raised $3-billion from a bond issue last week anyway. Mortgage rates have fallen, too – good news for homeowners looking to refinance.
But lower rates have not turned out so well for some of the market’s savviest players, including Bill Gross, the founder of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund. Earlier this year, he sold his U.S. Treasuries, because he thought interest rates were poised to rocket higher, which would drive down prices of bonds.
It’s difficult to fault his logic: only a few months ago, the case for higher interest rates seemed so compelling.
Governments around the world are carrying bloated deficits and massive borrowing needs. In the United States, politicians have yet to agree on any clear path to deficit reduction, despite more than $1-trillion in annual red ink. Meanwhile, oil has been trading consistently around the $100-a-barrel level, thereby lifting inflation, another bond-market negative.
And the U.S. Federal Reserve is no longer putting its thumb on the scale. In less than six weeks, it is going to end its program of quantitative easing, under which it is buying $600-billion in Treasuries to goose the economy. Many bond-market followers believe the Fed’s massive buying binge has been propping up Treasury prices and keeping yields artificially low.
So what has been pushing rates lower in recent months?
A weaker-than-expected recovery is the major culprit. “The global economy, and the U.S. economy in particular, is not on quite as solid a recovery track as people were imagining in the very optimistic days of six months or so ago,” observes Peter Buchanan, senior economist at CIBC World Markets.
A slew of recent statistics underlines that weakness, ranging from the poor state of U.S. home sales to the slowing pace of U.S. manufacturing growth. Meanwhile, the Japanese economy, the world’s third-largest, is shrinking and creating a further drag on global commerce, although few foresee a double-dip recession.
“We’re looking ahead toward a bit of a cooling in economic growth,” said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, who foresees output in the U.S. rising about 2 per cent this year.
That level of growth won’t be “anything to celebrate but it’s nothing like the recession we saw previously,” he said.
Another factor driving rates lower has been the early May rout in commodities, which dampened some of the worry on the inflation front. In addition, the recent sluggish performance of the stock market suggests that investors are getting nervous and growing more willing to buy super-safe government bonds.
Mr. Dales believes the current trends have room to run, and that rates will surprise to the downside.
He predicts U.S. 10-year Treasury yields could slip to 2.5 per cent in the low-growth, less inflation-spooked environment he foresees ahead.
If growth continues to be slow, lower rates might be staying around for a while.
Mr. Buchanan says the most likely scenario, given the poorer economic outlook, is for the Fed to hold off on raising rates until 2013. He believes the yield on Treasuries will rise gradually, instead of falling further, getting back to 3.4 per cent by the end of this year and to 4 per cent by the end of 2012. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/interest-rates/low-interest-rates-seen-sticking-around/article2032075/
Bank “mortgage specialist” tells lies about mortgage brokers
Below is the short version of a mortgage broker insider tsunami. A RBC mortgage specialist wrote and handed out a sheet of complete lies about how mortgage brokers work and what we do. She, and RBC, are in a very tight spot as we all knew that non-brokers spread lies as their only way to compete.
The best way to sum up what we really think is this reply taken from the internal comment board of the Canadian Mortgage Broker website:
ExRBC Mortgage Specialist on 19 Apr 2011 11:41 PM
Most so called RBC mortgage specialists have little in the way of any credit training, if any. They usually come from the ranks of side counter staff who are well known for their lack of knowledge. RBC Mortgage specialists have no ongoing training requirements unlike the AMP’s, and they certainly have no Ethical training.
There is an old saying in sales:”Only show what you know”. In this case (she) shows that she knows next to nothing about credit, her market or her competition.
She might as well have said: “If you want the best rate , go to a broker.”
I see this a great platform for mortgage professionals to have excellent conversations with clients and referral sources about the difference between us and the bank! There is no doubt about the advantages of using a broker, and I welcome this opportunity to talk about it!
RBC to brokers: We apologize
By Vernon Clement Jones | 19/04/2011 9:36:00 AM | 31 comments
With multiple statements, RBC moved to distance itself from the controversial flyer of one of its mobile mortgage specialists – apologizing for its unflattering and inaccurate depiction of brokers.