Tag Archives: Financial Planning

Bank of Canada Maintains Overnight Rate

The Bank of Canada left its main interest rate untouched yesterday, maintaining a 1 percent overnight rate for the 13th consecutive review. While Governor Mark Carney painted a bright economic picture, rumblings of increased interest rates are becoming more and more prevalent.

Overall, the economic momentum in Canada is slightly firmer than the Bank expected back at the beginning of the year. The Bank has projected the Canadian economy to grow by 2.4 percent in both 2012 and 2013 before moderating to 2.2 percent in 2014. As such, the Bank anticipates that the economy will return to full capacity in the first half of 2013.  Continue reading →

Subprime Problems on the Horizon?

A hot housing market is pushing borrowers farther and farther away from mainstream financing and it’s causing quite the stir in the Canadian subprime mortgage industry. The source of the excitement? A growing pile of mortgage debt that’s coming from outside of Canada’s big six banks. Continue reading →

Canada’s Rate Stays at 1.00%

As expected, the Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate on hold last Thursday, even amongst growing concern over consumer debt. This rate has stood at a near record low of 1.00% since September of 2010 in an effort to boost economic growth. Nothing in the statement suggests a change in the rate anytime soon. In fact, the tone of the Bank’s official statement was relatively optimistic.  Continue reading →

Harper Government Makes Moves to Protect Consumers

The Harper government announced Sunday that it would be moving forward with several measures to help Canadian consumers achieve greater control over their own finances.

In a release posted to the Department of Finance Canada website, the Honourable Ted Menzies, Minster of State (Finances) and Shelly Glover, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, announced that measures would be taken to ban unsolicited credit card cheques, and that a shorter cheque hold period would be instituted later this year. It is believed that these changes will provide Canadian’s with more timely access to their own money. A new Mortgage Code was also announced. Continue reading →

How to Avoid Mortgage Fraud

Real estate fraud is happening at an alarming rate in Canada, according to a recent report published in the Vancouver Sun. The report from consumer credit company Equifax uncovered roughly $400 million worth of mortgage fraud in Canada last year. And many experts believe that’s just the tip of the iceberg. These figures represent only frauds that Equifax was able to uncover within their client holding.

Data from the report revealed that nearly two-thirds of all fraud committed in Canada last year was real-estate related, thanks in part to more stringent lending practices. In fact, mortgage fraud increased by 150 percent in 2011. Continue reading →