Miss Mortgage

Royal Bank and TD Canada Trust just announced a .60 basis point raise in their 5-year rate. Look out for rate increases from other lenders, to be announced in coming days.... Call me to lock into a rate for 120-days now. 905-510-5785

I have a lender that is now offering Prime Rate minus 0.50% = 1.75%. Please email me to secure this rate: eblair@mortgageedge.ca

I have a lender that is now offering Prime Rate minus 0.50% = 1.75% on a FIVE-YEAR term. Email me to secure this rate: eblair@mortgageedge.ca

 

Fed up with telemarketing calls!

Well this morning, I finally did it.  I picked up the phone and called the CRTC to make a complaint about an unsolicited telemarketing fax I received last night on my fax machine.   A telecom company decided to fax me one of their marketing ads which annoyed me.  

A few years ago, the CRTC set up the the "National Do-not-call Registry" in Canada which is an online tool where individuals can register their telephone numbers on this registry.  This tool became available after Bill C-37 became law, giving CRTC the power to impose fines on those who violated the do-not-call rules.  I remember when I first heard about this tool.  I pounced on the opportunity immediately to register my numbers.

Once listed on the registry, a telemarketer should not contact you to solicit your business or money.  Now there are some exceptions on those who can call you and these are charities, newspapers, political parties seeking your support, or a business where you already have had recent consumer transactions.   Once you register your telephone number, it takes 31-days, after you register your telephone number, and after the 31-day period, telemarketing companies, other than those listed above, cannot call your number and if they do, they can face fines if you register a valid complaint.   Note that the registration of your telephone number is only valid for three years, so after three years, you should call the National do not call registry to re-register your phone number.   To register your number on the registry, go to this website:

https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng

So the process was easy.   I called 1-866-580-3625 and spoke to a very helpful lady, who asked me a few questions:

1) what number did the telemarketer call me at?

2) what is the name of the business, and the phone number of the business that called me?

3) what was the date that the telemarketer contacted me?

And, to top it all off....I received a faxed document - perfect printed "evidence" !!!

She then gave me an ID code number, which I was to write across the fax transmission I received, and then she asked me to fax that document I received to this number:  1-888-362-5329.   She then advised me that any future calls or faxes I received from telemarketers, must be called in and registered separately as they assign a unique ID code to each call or fax...........  Easy!

We have family, in the United States, and we were told that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Do Not Call Registry, has hefty penalties for telemarketers who do not comply.  I found a good example of that -- AT&T was fined $780,000 for failing to comply with the Do Not Call Registry.  Wow, $780,000!!!......don't mess with the US!

http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/consumer-law-telemarketing-regulation-do-not/10221784-1.html

Somehow the CRTC in Canada is just a little weak in the area of imposing penalties to telemarketers who call those who have registered their numbers with the do-not-call list.   Canadian companies, who still wish to bother us with their telemarketing calls, have found ways to get around the rules by outsourcing their telemarketing calls to overseas companies.....now that I have followed through on the complaint process, I will be sure to ask some questions to find out who the Canadian company is and what their local number is, so that I can follow through with a formal complaint.

The CRTC in Canada has, what I would consider, weak penalties.  For example, an individual can be fined $1,500 whereas a corporation can be fined up to $15,000 for each violation.  The number of fines issued is also very minimal compared with the number of reported telemarketers in violation:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/dncl/status-etape.htm

Get going with registering your number and sending in those complaints!

© 2010 This blog was written by Elizabeth Blair at Mortgage Edge on March 23, 2010. Elizabeth Blair services mortgage clients primarily in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area

 You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785

by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca

or you visit her website at:    www.missmortgage.ca 

Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca

Lic # M08005880 / Brokerage Lic # 10680.  Head Office: Park Place Corporate Centre, 15 Wertheim Court, Suite 210, Richmond Hill, ON, L4B 3H7, Canada.

Variable Rate Discount: Prime Rate minus 0.50%. Today that is Prime 2.25% - 0.50% = 1.75%. This is a 3-year term so maturity date is November 2012. Email me to secure this rate: eblair@mortgageedge.ca

I now have a lender offering Prime rate minus 0.40% = 1.75% (3-year term only).
Please email me to secure the rate: eblair@mortgageedge.ca

Borrowing Guidelines for Insured Stated Income Programs in Canada are about to change

The borrowing guidelines for insured Stated Income Programs are about to undergo some major changes and these changes will be implemented effective April 9, 2010.  

The changes are being announced by CMHC (also known as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation).    CMHC’s changes, as well as those announced by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty effective on April 19, 2010 are all attempts to help cool off the heated housing market which is now being driven by record-low interest rates.   More importantly, these new measures are required to protect borrowers from taking on more debt than they can afford especially as interest rate hikes are imminent.  While Canada still allows Stated Income programs here, they are becoming very rare in the U.S.  The massive number of defaults and foreclosures reported by the U.S. after the 2008 credit crisis were attributed mostly to Stated Income programs that were used to place under-qualified borrowers into mortgage loans that they could not afford. 

While Canadian lenders continue to use the Stated Income programs here, customized for commissioned and self-employed borrowers, CMHC will now be scrutinizing those same applications using tighter underwriting criteria making the CMHC Self-Employed mortgage insurance program a little harder to access.

What exactly does Stated Income mean?

Stated Income means exactly that.   When a mortgage application is created, for a self-employed or commissioned applicant, and the entire income amount is not verifiable in traditional documents, for example a Notice of Assessment, the applicant may apply under the Stated Income program to allow an income adjustment to help qualify them for a home purchase or re-finance.   A real example might look something like this:

Mr.Thomas works as a Systems Analyst in Toronto.  He is purchasing a house based on his earnings alone as his wife is currently not working.  He earns $77,000 gross annually and his employment status is considered self-employed as he works as an independent contractor and bills the company directly for his time.  He is not on payroll.  He has worked in various departments for this same government organization, as a Systems Analyst, for the last two years.   To buy the home they want, this couple would need an income of $85,000 to qualify for the purchase.   On a traditional mortgage application, the couple would be declined and would not be able to purchase the home.   However, by utilizing the Stated Income program, the couple can qualify to buy this home with a 5% down payment and the income placed on the application would be “stated” on the application at a higher amount.  The couple has no other savings or funds available to them.  The income to qualify the applicants, would be entered at the amount of $85,000 instead of his actual income of $77,000, in order to qualify the buyers.

Here is an outline of the changes that will be implemented on any applications called Stated Income applications which pass through CMHC as an “insured” mortgage AFTER April 9, 2010 and how these changes would affect the particular applicants described above:

1.   Downpayment:  those who are purchasing a home, and who have applications classified as a Stated Income application, will be required to put down 10% rather than the 5% minimum required today.  

Mr.Thomas and his wife, after April 9, 2010 must have a down payment equal to 10% of the purchase price, along with enough funds to cover closing costs.

2.  Tenure:   those who have been working in the same business for greater than three years, would not be eligible for the Stated Income program and therefore those in this category would have to provide proof of their income, for example, a Notice of Assessment.

Because Mr.Thomas had only been working as a Systems Analyst for the past two years in total, they could still apply under the Stated Income program and be eligible.   Had Mr.Thomas been working three years and 6 months, as a Systems Analyst, they could not qualify for the home they wanted.

3.  Documents:    documents will be requested and viewed by the lender to help determine the length of self-employed which are not always requested today.   The documents a lender may ask for:    a business license, proof of GST registration, articles of incorporation (if incorporated).

4.  Commission:     those who are collecting commission would no longer be eligible for the Self-Employed program.

Mr.Thomas is not paid on a commission basis, therefore, after April 9, 2010, he could still utilize the Stated Income program. 

5.  Limits:   a re-finance will be limited to 85% loan-to-value instead of the current limit of 90% used today.

If Mr.Thomas decides to re-finance his home, in the coming years, while he is within the insured status range and assuming self-employed income is still their primary income, they will only be able to re-finance up to 85% of the value of their property.

It is important to mention that these program changes only affect those mortgages that are “insured” by the lender therefore, those mortgages that are not insured, could be reviewed differently from lender to lender and each lender would specify their underwriting criteria on a case-by-case basis.

© 2010 This article was written by Elizabeth Blair at Mortgage Edge on March 11, 2010. Elizabeth Blair services mortgage clients primarily in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area

You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785

by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca

or you visit her website at:    www.missmortgage.ca 

Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca

Lic # M08005880 / Brokerage Lic # 10680.  Head Office: Park Place Corporate Centre, 15 Wertheim Court, Suite 210, Richmond Hill, ON, L4B 3H7, Canada.

 

 

Please contact me if you or your company would like a presentation on Reverse Mortgages. Elizabeth (905) 510-5785 / eblair@mortgageedge.ca