That’s Taco Bell’s slogan. It’s meant to remind us that fast food doesn’t end with hamburgers. Tacos are pretty tasty in their own right. In the lending world, the closest equivalent to “the bun” is the five-year fixed mortgage. Like hamburgers are to fast food, the five-year fixed is to mortgages. It’s been the most popular term in Canada for years.

Yet, despite its prevalence, qualified borrowers owe it to themselves to think outside the five-year fixed. A little extra risk can sometimes yield a lot more reward.

Fixed five-year mortgages are especially popular in uncertain/rising rate markets (like today’s). People who can’t afford rate risk, and those who cannot qualify for shorter terms, often choose a five-year fixed by default.

Even individuals with rock-solid financial resources frequently gravitate to five-year terms. Much of the time that’s because they don’t want to over think the safety of a longer-term mortgage. In other cases, it’s because no one has ever shown them how much five-year fixed terms really cost over the long run. 

Click here to read the full CanadianMortgageTrends.com article.