Lack of ability to do the math, it turns out, is the cause of many consumer insolvencies. Why do people default on mortgage and other loans? It turns out that it’s not so much the amounts they owe, but that they are unable to do the math that tells them exactly what their financial situation […]

OTTAWA – The Canadian dollar plunged to its lowest level in eight months before recovering Tuesday, sending a clear signal that Europe’s debt crisis has the potential to reach across the Atlantic and impact Canada’s mending economy. The loonie has lost about eight per cent of its value over the last month in reaction to […]

Gordon Ives is the sort of customer who keeps real estate agents awake at night: a former customer. Last year, after several years of trying to sell his Charlottetown home through an agent, the retired banker decided to change tack and find a buyer on his own. He calculated how much a conventional sale would […]

In a worrying replay of the crisis of 2008 and 2009, lending rates in Canadian credit markets continued to react to the growing turmoil over European debt, with key overnight bank lending spreads doubling since February. “We are starting to see interbank lending rates back up again and that’s an unfortunate development,” said Doug Porter, […]

Higher than expected rates of inflation and reports of record breaking retail sales means interest rate hikes will likely go ahead, according to a top economist with BMO Capital Markets. But domestic strength might not be enough to justify increases if the upheaval in global markets continues, said Porter. “If the (Bank of Canada’s) decision […]

  A headlock would be the wrestling term to describe the hold Canadian banks will have on some consumers because of new, more strict mortgage rules. We are already seeing the impact of the changes that came into effect on April 19, but were put in place well in advance by Canadian financial institutions. Consumers […]

Canadians likely have only two weeks left to enjoy historically low interest rates. With global markets beginning to stabilize following the recent fears over a Greek debt default, economists say the pieces are falling into place for the Bank of Canada to move off its emergency 0.25 per cent rate on June 1. Economists — […]

The federal government is putting the moves on movers. Industry Canada wants to tighten the rules for moving companies after a deluge of complaints from consumers who say they’ve been ripped off by crooked operators. Armed with a cellphone and a Kijiji or Craigslist ad on the Internet, scam artists are preying on Canadians looking […]

Neither recession, global uncertainty nor growing joblessness appears to have stayed Canadians’ appetite for spending money they don’t have. A new report by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada shows that household debt in the country kept rising through the recession and peaked in December at $1.41 trillion. That’s $41,740 on average per Canadian, […]

Don’t shoot me. I’ve come to believe that the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) introduced by British Columbia’s Liberal government was the right thing to do. It’s hard not to think so, if you take the time to speak with tax policy experts, look at the results of HST in other jurisdictions (most notably Atlantic Canada), […]