Got a Mortgage? Shop Around!

When we go out shopping we often try to get the best deal, whether it's by clipping coupons or checking the weekly flyer. The same goes for mortgages, only in this case we're shopping for the best interest rate. It's always a good idea to get at least two to three different rates from different banks. Knowing who can offer the lowest rate is an excellent bargaining chip when negotiating for the best rate.

To find the most competitive mortgage rates in Canada go to Ratehub: http://www.ratehub.ca/

This is an excellent site that has the most up to date Canadian mortgage rates. It also has some cool calculators that help you find out how much house you can afford and what the payments would be like.

Don't forget that the bank is in business to lend money. You can always take your business elsewhere. Shopping around and paying the best rate will help you become mortgage free years ahead!

Here's a video with some tips on how to negotiate the best mortgage rate:

Welcome to Moneyville!

Here are some links to an excellent personal finance site. It's a site that is run by the Toronto Star. Moneyville has numerous bloggers that update it with great articles on a weekly basis.

Here are some of the latest must read articles:

Confessions of a Car Salesman
http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1039552--confessions-of-a-car-salesman

Why Life Insurance Premiums Are Rising?

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1039555--why-life-insurance-premiums-are-rising

The 7 Certainties of Investing

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/936324--the-7-certainties-of-investing

5 Things You Should Always Buy at the Dollar Store (Instead of Regular Retail Store)

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1036954--5-things-you-should-always-buy-at-the-dollar-store

These are only a select number of the many articles available at this site. It's a great resource so I'll leave a link at the bottom of this page.

Are you Moneville.ca's next blogger?

Market Turmoil - Time to Search for Bargains!

The last 6 months of stock market trading on the TSX has been especially troubling. We've watched it drop from it's high of 14, 469 to 11, 670. A decline of nearly 20%. In the last two days it looks like a rebound is taking effect. So are we out of the forest yet?

It's impossible to predict the short term movements of the market and it would be foolish to try. However, with the recent turmoil many bargains may be popping up. For long-term value investors these market corrections can present incredible value opportunities.

To get a better idea of how to spot great deals in the market place read "The Little Book of Value Investing" by Chris Browne. A lot of people panic when they see the value of the portfolio drop precipitously and bale out shortly before the market recovers. Value investors inherently avoid the herd mentality and are constantly on a hunt for bargains while looking more towards long term prosperity.

To quote Warren Buffet druing the bottom of the bear market in October 1974 when Forbes magazine asked him how he felt, Warren responded "Like an oversexed guy in a whorehouse. Now is the time to invest and get rich." Don't forget another great quote from the Oracle of Omaha, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors.”

Don't take my word for it, listen to the man himself:

4 Important Factors to Consider Before Consolidating Your Debt

By Anya Bennett



With personal debt consolidation you can merge all your existing debts into a single monthly payment at a lower interest rate. You can use a home equity loan or a personal loan as a consolidation loan and can use it to pay off your credit card debts and other loans. Consolidating with a home equity loan can be beneficial as the interest qualifies as a tax deduction. However, the process of consolidating loans is not as easy as it sounds. You have to pay the price for curbing your monthly payments and for bringing the loan terms in your favor. Just like any other debt relief plan, personal debt consolidation has its pitfalls and should only be undertaken after a lot of contemplation. Here are 4 important factors to consider before choosing to consolidate your debt:

1) Hidden Fees and Extra CostsOften debt consolidation loans cost more than imagined and can make you fall into greater debt. The consolidation loans often carry origination fees and other hidden costs which you sometimes overlook while signing the agreement. Sometimes consolidation loans require an expensive loan insurance to protect against bankruptcy losses. In addition, by consolidating your debts you can incur a higher interest rate that can increase the overall price of the debt.

2) Pay More Over The Long RunConsolidation loans can lower your monthly payments considerably, but it can only be made possible by stretching the repayment duration. As a result by the time the loan gets actually repaid, the borrower ends up paying more than he/she currently owes.

3) Adverse Impact To Credit ScoreClosing accounts and opening consolidation loan accounts result in severe damage to one’s FICO score. The FICO score is determined on the basis of debt-to-income ratios to some extent and by closing current credit accounts and opening up a single line of credit for the consolidation loan. By doing this the consumer reduces the amount of credit available to them, which may eventually harm his/her credit score.

4) Causes Collateral DamageTo obtain a lower interest rate consolidation loan the consumer often borrows against personal collateral for security. However if the borrower defaults on payments of a consolidation loan, the lenders get the legal right to seize the collateral. As cars and homes are the only assets that some Americans possess, losing them can leave the borrower with nowhere to live and no way to get to work.

Personal debt consolidation can certainly help you minimize your outstanding debt burden but it is best for you to be prepared for the consequences.



Suze Orman's Debt Consolidation Tips:

4 Reasons To Open A PC Financial Account

We all have to have a bank account, but we rarely spend much time thinking about where we should do our banking. In some cases you may have opened your account because your parents banked there or they were having a promotional offer at the time (a free Frisbee!).

Most of the big banks in Canada (RBC, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal) operate in the same way and offer comparable banking services with fees associated with them. This may be the best choice since most of these fees are now avoidable. These fees may be small but they add up to a lot and really you aren't getting much value for it. For instance if you are paying $20 in bank fee every month, that is $240 you're spending each year. Invest that money at 8% interest for 30 years and you end up with $27, 188! So that's why banks have those fancy offices in those big beautiful sky scrappers.

Today we have the option of choosing an electronic banks (President's Choice Financial, Ally, ING Direct) which have shed away all the bricks and mortar of conventional banks. These banks are able to offer great value because they don't have a huge building with lots of overhead, such as clerks and expensive office space. This does have the disadvantage of not being able to do complex banking transactions easily but for most of your day to day banking needs electronic banking is great. Here are 4 reasons to open an account today:

1) No Fees - as mentioned earlier you can avoid fees by having an electronic bank account. PC offers a great chequing account where you can pay your bills online, withdrawal money, make interac transactions all without any fees.

2) Free Cheques - on top of not paying transaction and other account fees you can also get cheques for free. Banks usually charge anywhere from $30 to $40 per booklet so there's a potential for big savings here.

3) Highest Interest for Saving Account - hands down the interest rates on savings account will always be higher than any conventional bank. This is because they avoid the high expenses banks have to deal with. PC is currently offering a promotion where their interest rate on savings is 2% until October. There base interest rate for is currently 1.5% which is better than any interest rate you can get at a conventional bank. I know that 1.5% is nothing to brag about, but the idea here is that electronic banks always offer the highest rates. So you don't have to do a bunch of research and move your money around.

4) Accessibility - finally a PC account is better than Ally or ING because your money is very accessible. Since PC has some agreement with CIBC you can access your money anywhere there is a CIBC atm machine without any fees.

PC is the electronic bank I'm most familiar with, however Ally and ING also offer similar banking options. The important thing is that we have a choice, stop lining your banker's pocket with your hard earned cash. Make the switch today!