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Big On Your Mortgage
by: News Canada
(NC)-Did you know that when you take out a fixed-rate mortgage, you're paying a big "safety premium"? That's because banks usually set their fixed rates at considerably higher levels than their variable rates. They do so to ensure that a fixed-rate mortgage will still be profitable for them if interest rates rise.
If you're a potential homeowner, you should ask yourself if that premium is worth paying. It may protect you if interest rates spike up suddenly. But if they don't, you may end up paying thousands of dollars in extra interest. That's an expensive insurance policy.
Historically, variable-rate mortgages have proven to be cheaper than those with fixed rates over the long term. Even if you feel that interest rates will rise in the near future, you should take a long-term perspective. With a variable rate mortgage, you are usually starting out at a lower rate to begin with, and you will benefit from any decreases in interest rates that occur in the future.
Banks and other financial institutions offer a variety of variable-rate mortgages, often with special incentives. CIBC, for example, offers a rate of 1.01% below its prime rate for the first nine months of its Better Than Prime mortgage. For the rest of the 5-year term, it gives a rate of 0.25% below prime.
Before deciding on the type of mortgage that's right for you, talk to your financial advisor or personal banker. You can find out more at your local CIBC branch, or go online at www.cibc.com.
About The Author
News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.
News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.
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