My husband and I are pretty competitive, always trying to one-up each other. It was to my chagrin, therefore, when I learned that although my credit score is excellent, his is better. I have never missed a bill payment, never carried a balance, so what could be holding me back? According to author and former […]

 Consumer confidence in Canada is on the upswing, but it may not be enough to benefit retailers for this Christmas shopping season. The Conference Board of Canada’s latest survey of households shows overall confidence rose 3.9 points to 83.6, the second monthly uptick and sufficient to wipe out declines during the summer. But on the […]

You have to be a real clown not to have a financial plan and be saving for your retirement. Right? Not really, you would just be among the approximately 80% of Canadians who don’t have any sort of comprehensive financial plan, according to the Financial Planning Standards Council. Who are these people? They are people […]

VANCOUVER — Nobody likes homework, but when the assignment is getting the best possible mortgage in Canada’s most expensive market, completing it pays off in so many ways.   A good objective initial stop, especially for first-time homebuyers, is moneytools.ca. The site is a creation of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (a government organization) […]

Looking for your first home? Then do your homework before hitting the open houses. “A first-time homebuyer can save a lot of time by knowing in advance how much they would qualify for and what they can afford,” says Marcia Moffat, RBC’s VP, Home Equity Financing, Canadian Banking. RBC recently surveyed 1,050 Canadians, half who […]

·  OTTAWA — The country’s top financial policymakers warned Canadians on Sunday to brace for tough decisions and “very big challenges” ahead as Canada tries to secure its recovery in an ever-changing global economic landscape. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty — set to deliver a key speech on federal economic policy in Oakville, Ont., on Monday […]

OTTAWA — Canadians could be enjoying historically low interest rates on loans for cars and homes for quite a long time, economists believe. Since June, the Bank of Canada has been attempting to “normalize” interest rates, hiking its policy rate by one point. But recent developments in the global economy — and to a lesser […]

Low interest rates and a hot housing market helped push Canada’s total residential mortgage debt to a record $1 trillion this year, but a cooling real-estate market is expected to slow further accumulation, says the chief economist of Canada’s mortgage industry association. The value of outstanding mortgages is now 7.6 per cent higher than it […]

Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals releases Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada report Canadian homeowners are comfortable with their mortgage debt, have significant home equity and could withstand an increase in their mortgage interest rate, according to the sixth Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market report from the Canadian Association […]

Recently a close friend showed me how she was going to consolidate their high-interest debt into their mortgage to reduce their overall interest rate and free up hundreds of dollars in cash flow every month. Debt consolidations are nothing new, but they only work if the person is not simply looking for a quick fix. […]