The chart below shows the average best rates for each mortgage term on RateSpy.com. This graph provides a sense for how much of a rate premium you’ll pay for the security of a longer-term and/or fixed rate. Key Takeaways: The difference (spread) between 5-year fixed and variable rates remains tight by historical standards at roughly 0.44 percentage points. The long-term...

If you look at RateSpy’s lowest rates for the Big 6 banks you’ll generally notice three things: 1)  They refer to “discretionary rates” at the banks 2)  They are estimates 3)  They are usually the same for all six banks. Though it doesn’t seem obvious, there is method in this approach. The explanation starts with the mortgage pricing strategy used by major...

The 24% of us with variable-rate mortgages were starting to get nervous. Six days had passed since the Bank of Canada’s (BoC’s) rate cut and many feared the banks wouldn’t pass along that savings. Well, they did. Sort of. In not-so-generous fashion, the Big 6 banks all cut their prime rate by just 15/100ths of a percent. That’s instead of...

All eyes are on the Big 6 banks. The mortgage industry is waiting for confirmation on whether they’ll pass along the Bank of Canada’s rate cut by reducing their own prime rates. One major bank executive I spoke with characterized things like this: “Prime rate is not a business line call like, say, 5-year fixed rates. It comes from the...

The chart below shows the average best rates for each mortgage term on RateSpy.com. This graph provides a sense for how much of a rate premium you’ll pay for the security of a longer-term and/or fixed rate. Key Takeaways: The difference (spread) between 5-year fixed and variable rates remains narrow by historical standards at roughly 0.57 percentage points. The long-term...

I recently came upon a puzzling rate policy from a local credit union. Its website advertises: “You do not need the stress of shopping for mortgage rates! [We], your community credit union, will now MATCH the rate you are offered!” Say what? How does “matching” a competitor’s rate help someone avoid rate shopping? You’ve got to hand it to a...

The chart below shows the average best rates for each mortgage term on RateSpy.com. The graph provides a sense for how much of a rate premium you’ll pay for the security of a longer-term and/or fixed rate. Key Takeaways: The difference (spread) between 5-year fixed and variable rates remains tight by historical standards at roughly 0.55 percentage points. The long-term...

HELOCs (home equity lines of credit) used to be widely available at prime rate. That changed when the credit crisis inflated funding costs and drove up rates as high as prime + 1.50% and up. Now, five years after the financial system was seemingly on the verge of collapse, we’re finally seeing HELOC pricing near prime rate. Case in point is...

Mortgage rate widgets are no longer created equal. If you want to display mortgage rates on your website, do your visitors a service and display the best mortgage rates available. Only one mortgage rate widget in Canada makes that possible: RateSpy’s. Other rate widgets primarily show the lenders and brokers who pay to promote their rates. That does your visitors a...

Got a hot rate tip? The Spy buys rate Intel. The Top 2 rate tips of the month earn a crisp C-note! Here’s the fine print. The rate must be: A rate that is at least 5 basis points lower than the lowest rate currently advertised by RateSpy.com for that term A current rate offered by a lender (not a broker) and...