'More panic than worry': How the mortgage charter may help with renewals
CBC
Charlottetown mortgage broker Steve Swyer is getting a lot of calls these days from clients wondering how they are going to manage their mortgage renewals.
Many of them don't understand the magnitude of what they may be facing, Swyer told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin. They come in with an expectation of paying $50 or $100 more a month.
"When you hit them with a $250 or $400 increase, it's definitely a deer in a headlight kind of look at you. And saying, are you serious? Are you kidding me?" he said.
"More panic than worry. I've had a couple of clients already that are actually putting their house on the market for sale."
That $250 to $400 range is probably about the average for the extra payment an Island family might be looking at, said Swyer. It is what, for example, you might see on a $200,000 mortgage taken out five years ago.
For a more recently purchased home with the Island's rapidly increasing housing prices, those costs could easily jump up $700 or $800 a month on renewal.
Last week, as part of the federal government's fall economic statement, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a Canadian Mortgage Charter, meant to assist people facing renewal at higher interest rates.
Under the charter, banks are expected to:
It is important to note these are only expectations. They are not laws or regulations.
"There's no mandate saying they have to follow the rules," said Swyer.
"However, it is in the bank's best interest to help people and assist people because the last thing that they want to do is to take somebody's home away from them."
The charter is, at least, a guideline for what customers should expect, and the removal of the stress test, which was a federal requirement to begin with, could make it easier to change banks if you are unhappy with the one you are dealing with.
In terms of actual financial relief, waiving fees is an obvious benefit, but it is another part of the charter that caught Swyer's attention.
"The one that really piques my interest, and I think is going to be a really big help, is extending amortizations," he said.
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