Banking in Canada can be a murky subject – one that we hope to shed some light on with a series of highly informational articles.
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Best FHSAs in Canada: What to know about the new first home savings account Mar 29th
First home savings account (FHSA) highlights
The FHSA is a type of registered account that allows you to contribute up to $8,000 annually, up to a lifetime limit of $40,000, to save for the purchase of your first home.FHSAs are scheduled to become available as early as April 1, 2023. However, availa.... More »
Quiz: How Well Do You Know Your Credit Card? Jul 7th
According to the 2019 Canada Credit Card Satisfaction Study by J.D. Power, “customers who fully understand the benefits offered by their credit card issuer have significantly higher satisfaction levels compared with those who do not completely understand the benefits.”
Customers are more satisf.... More »
Making sense of the markets this week: March 20 Mar 19th
Each week, Cut the Crap Investing founder Dale Roberts shares financial headlines and offers context for Canadian investors.
The Fed moves, just a scooch
On Wednesday of this week, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Power made the move on rates. The Federal Open Market Committee raise.... More »
Making sense of the markets this week: October 2 Oct 1st
Kyle Prevost, editor of Million Dollar Journey and founder of the Canadian Financial Summit, shares financial headlines and offers context for Canadian investors.
Bears are beating the bulls this year, but don’t bulls always win?
As share prices continue to fall faster than earnings in almos.... More »
The best credit cards in Canada for 2023 + MORE Sep 15th
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The best credit cards in Canada for 2023
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Should I Get a Variable or Fixed Mortgage? RBC Cuts Rates and the Answer is No Longer Clear
– ratesupermarket.ca
Last week, Canada’s biggest bank, RBC, cut its five-year fixed rate by 15 basis points. This gave customers the option to lock in their mortgage rate at 3.74 per cent, for a five-year term. And surely enough, TD Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal followed suit and cut their five-year fixed rates to the same level. Currently, CIBC is asking all customers to call in for more details on its five-year fixed rate, and Scotiabank is not showing the same 15-basis-point cut.
The move by some of Canada’s commercial banks is overdue. Unlike variable-rate loans that are affected by the Bank of Canada’s benchmark rate, fixed rates are tied to the bond market, and bond yields have been sinking over the last two months.
The yield for the Government of Canada benchmark five-year bond fell from a high of 2.48 per cent last October to a low of 1.76 per cent on January 3. At the time of writing this article, the bond yield has recovered slightly but still remains lower than two per cent. This means it’s cheaper for commercial banks to borrow money at a fixed rate and, therefore, they can pass down those interest rate savings to their mortgage customers…
Should I Get a Variable or Fixed Mortgage? RBC Cuts Rates and the Answer is No Longer Clear
– ratesupermarket.ca
Last week, Canada’s biggest bank, RBC, cut its five-year fixed rate by 15 basis points. This gave customers the option to lock in their mortgage rate at 3.74 per cent, for a five-year term. And surely enough, TD Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal followed suit and cut their five-year fixed rates to the same level. Currently, CIBC is asking all customers to call in for more details on its five-year fixed rate, and Scotiabank is not showing the same 15-basis-point cut.
The move by some of Canada’s commercial banks is overdue. Unlike variable-rate loans that are affected by the Bank of Canada’s benchmark rate, fixed rates are tied to the bond market, and bond yields have been sinking over the last two months.
The yield for the Government of Canada benchmark five-year bond fell from a high of 2.48 per cent last October to a low of 1.76 per cent on January 3. At the time of writing this article, the bond yield has recovered slightly but still remains lower than two per cent. This means it’s cheaper for commercial banks to borrow money at a fixed rate and, therefore, they can pass down those interest rate savings to their mortgage customers…