When Christie, a 42-year-old mother of two in Calgary, tried to renegotiate her mortgage with her bank, she was given few options. At three years into a five-year term, she faced a stiff penalty for breaking the fixed rate mortgage of 5.10 per cent and her bank was unwilling to match rates from other institutions. Although she had a 13-year relationship with her branch, she decided to shop around for a better deal.
Christie’s search started online, where she came across RateSupermarket.ca, a service that lets homebuyers compare mortgage rates as well as mortgage brokers across the country. Within a week, she had transferred her mortgage to a new lender at a variable rate below the prime lending rate.
“I wanted to take advantage while rates are so low,” she says, adding that the lower interest rate made paying the penalty worthwhile. “Even if prime doubles, I’m still below what I was locked in at.”
A majority of Canadians – 64 per cent – are expecting mortgage rates to rise over the next year and are thinking about how to best manage their mortgages, according to an RBC survery released on Wednesday. Roughly the same number of mortgage holders – 66 per cent – are worried about higher rates.