The first quarter of 2012 brought us ultra-low mortgage rates and strong bank profits overall.
Canada’s Big 6 earned just over $7 billion in the quarter, up roughly six per cent from a year ago.
All banks met or exceeded street expectations, despite operating in an extended low-rate environment that has seen volumes drop and margins shrink.
Heres a roundup of noteworthy mortgagemorsels from the banks’ Q1 reports. Weve highlightedsome of the more notable parts.
Royal Bank of Canada
Net income: $1.9 billion (-6% Y/Y)Earnings per share: $1.23
- Residential mortgage volume grew 7% Y/Y ()
- “Our consumers are switching from variable rate mortgages into higher margin fixed rate mortgages,” said David I. McKay
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Having the raw facts and figures in front of you is sometimes all it takes to get your financial house in order. For such times, nothing beats the convenience of a online calculators. Theyre available 24/7, theres no line to wait in, and they dont cost a thing. Even if you can do the math yourself (and you ought to be able to) and prefer to do it yourself, that doesnt mean you cant double check your calculations.
While they arent going to lead you on the path to finding out how to become a millionaire, the following five calculators are certain to help you manage what money you have a little more wisely:
Savings Calculator
This incredibly simple online calculator instantly figures how much youd accumulate in savings over a certain amount of time with a certain consistent interest rate.
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Well it’s look like the party is finally coming to an end. Or at least winding down.
FHA loans, which became wildly popular over the past few years thanks to their low down payment and credit score requirements, are about to get a lot pricier.
Beginning in April, the FHAs upfront mortgage insurance premium will rise from 1% to 1.75%.
Additionally, the annual mortgage insurance premium will increase by 0.10 percent for loan amounts under $625,500 and by 0.35 percent for loans above that amount, up to $729,750.
The increase will apply regardless of the amortization term or the loan-to-value ratio. Y
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At last count there are about 23,000 mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) available to investors in the U.S. Picking from among them for your portfolio can seem daunting. Do you pay attention to past performance? fund management? or something else to find a suitable growth vehicle for your money?
When picking funds, all else being equal (i.e. youve already decided on an asset class and investment account), the most important factor for actual returns is expense ratio. This is the annual fund operating expenses fee charged as a percentage of invested amounts in the fund.
Lets look at how this affects your portfolio in detail.
Consider two funds, one with an expense ratio of 0.82% and another 1.44% [1]. Its easy to be lulled into thinking that theres not much difference between these funds.
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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.
- It’s hard to imagine how a smaller non-deposit-taking lender could successfully fund FirstLine’s sizable volume. Unlike CIBC, it
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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.
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