Financial Freedom Expert

The implications of CIBC selling FirstLine, if and when it happens, are manifold.

At this point, it can’t definitively be said whether CIBC will leave a foot in the broker channel.

Assuming it doesn’t, here’s our stream of consciousness on what this means…

On the gravity of this news…

• Lenders have come and gone from the broker market, but none as meaningful as FirstLine.
• FirstLine and its predecessor have been strong broker advocates since the 1980s.
• It was the top lender by volume less than nine months ago.

On who might buy FirstLine…

• Multiple parties have reportedly lined up to evaluate a purchase of FirstLine.
• Some think it could be a turnaround play if the buyer has a balance sheet to lend from.
• I

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One of the big issues surrounding Suze Orman’s Approved prepaid debit card is that she appears to be marketing it to middle class “banked” customers who want to ditch their banks because of high fees. In the middle of the furor surrounding Occupy Wall Support, Suze Orman has been using code like “99%” as part of her marketing blitz to drum up support.

The problem that many personal finance blogger types have with the card is that Suze is marketing it as a viable alternative to banking — even for those who are able to get a checking account. Personal fi

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A new analysis from credit rating company Fitch Ratings revealed that a third of prime borrowers are currently underwater on their mortgages.

And after everything is said and done, the company expects roughly half of prime borrowers, those at the top of the credit score range, to end up in a negative equity position thanks to a further 10 percent decline in home prices.

You may think it doesn’t matter much, given these are the crème de la crème of homeowners with mortgages.

But Fitch noted that over 12 percent of prime borrowers are already seriously delinquent on their mortgages, aka on the road to foreclosure.

  Get a fast free quote. 1 Bank. 1 Call. BBB Read more…

If you read my post about finding the melt value of junk silver coins, you probably wondered to yourself whether it was possible for you to melt the coins down yourself. Its definitely possible but its also illegal.

The Mint outlined new rules in 2006 that said it was illegal to melt coins, its illegal to export coins for melting, and you can carry up to $5 in pennies and nickels out of the country or ship $100 abroad for legitimate coinage and numismatic purposes. While pennies and nickels were explicitly called out in the 2006 rules, other coins were included as a result of previous rules.

What happens if you break it? The regulations authorize a fine of no more than $10,000 and/or up to five years in prison. Pretty stiff stuff.

Most decent mortgages come with at least 10% lump-sum prepayment privileges.

Since the average mortgage is about $151,000, that means the typical borrower can prepay at least $15,000 per year in lump sum(s) with no penalty.

The thing is, most Canadians don’t come close to paying 10% extra on their mortgage over the course of a year. In fact, only 17% of mortgage holders made any lump-sum prepayments at all in 2011. T Read more…

Ah, the perennial problem of what to do about holiday weight gain. Even if you did your best during the holiday season to avoid gaining weight, you still might have added a pound or two — or even three or four.

There are a number of reasons that we put on weight during the holiday season:

Most people don’t actually lose all of the weight they gain during the holiday season. However, you don’t have to be one of them. You can work on losing some of that holiday weight gain by getting back into the swing of healthier living:

Diet and Exercise

Many of us have decent enough health habits most of the year. If yo

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The National Association of Realtors recently noted that home purchase contract failures have doubled, with 18 percent of NAR members reporting fallout in recent months.

Put simply, a contract failure is a cancellation related to a declined mortgage application, a low appraised value, or other various problems.

In other words, it’s a lot more difficult to actually purchase a home these days if you need a mortgage to finance it .

And of all the things that could go wrong during the mortgage underwriting process, a low credit score seemed to be the highlight, though you have to wonder how much short sales are mucking things up.

Per a NAR analysis, the average credit score for home buyers taking out conventional mortgages was 760 in 2010, up from 717 back in 2007, when just about anyone could qualify for a loan.

Since then, the average FICO score for loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac eased a bit, falling to 755 in the second quarter of 2011.

Still, it’s an excellent credit score, meaning only the most creditworthy of borrowers seem to be buying homes .

Oh, and 70 percent of purchase-money mortgages went to borrowers with credit scores of 740 or higher, which is still pretty much an excellent score.

Meanwhile, less than one percent of loans went to home buyers with credit scores of 620 or below, which is traditionally considered “subprime.”

So if you’re wondering just how important credit score is when it comes to getting mortgage financing, wonder no longer.

I’ve touched on this topic before, mainly because I believe it’s the most important factor out there. And one of th

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