Mortgage Rules Get Tighter
While the Bank of Canada kept interest rates lower this week, the Government decided to tackle the problem of the ever increasing consumer debt, by tightening regulations on Mortgages and home equity line of credit. As you can read in a few of the following posts, I think the Government got it a little wrong, since the issue of increasing debt load is not really being carried in Home Equity Credit lines, it is being carried on Credit Cards, yet there are no new rules to regulate those, or Pay Day Loan companies either. Good idea, but wrong target in my opinion.
Keeping interest rates low will protect those with a high degree of debt already, but it may also cause others to grow debt seeing how cheap borrowing is right now (and with RRSP season coming, you bet the big thing will be RRSP loans).
This week for me, was an eclectic set of posts including:
- Blue Monday which for Montreal Expos fans is a term of derision about a ball player, but in this instance is a made up date which is allegedly the most depressing day of the year.
- As I mentioned the Bank of Canada Kept Rates the same and had some interesting commentary about the fragility of the Canadian economic recovery.
- Is possible to conceive of Financial Hoarding? I think it’s possible, since it is mostly an attempt to gain control of a part of your life (but not in a good way).
- What is the Value of a Day Off? asks do you take the money, or the days off? I am taking the days off now, I enjoy days off too much now.
In the Blogosphere
A fair amount of discussion about the new Mortgage rules this week by our featured bloggers and some other interesting ideas brought forward as well:
- Frugaltrader at MillionDollarJourney talks about opening a Bank Account for a Toddler. I think I’ll wait for a while before I give my son an account, but it’s good to see there is one that won’t strip his small inputs with huge bank fees.
- Michael James points out that His Personal Finance Fears may not be your personal finance fears. He does have a different way to look at things, but fears are fears, no matter how you slice them.
- Echo of Boomer and Echo writes about New Mortgage Rules For Canadians, and then makes it personal discussing how these changes might affect them.
- Canadian Capitalist asks What Do New Mortgage Rules Mean for Lines of Credit, where he outlines what he thinks the new rules may do to Secured Lines of Credit. He is optimistic that it may not change how banks deal with them, I hope he is right.
- Sustainable Personal Finance is seeing the opposite of me with Paperless Billing: Punished for Being Green, where they have to pay a fee NOT to get a bill? Here I get charged a fee for getting a paper bill.
- Larry MacDonald points out that there is Low Risk in Mortgages (at least that is the CAAMP opinion), which enforces the view that maybe the Government is taking aim at the wrong culprit for growing household debt.
- Miranda writes at Financial Highway about 5 Tips to Building a Strong Financial Foundation, I am all over the avoid debt portion of this list!
- Bon vivant spendthrift Preet (and budding Gordon Gecko) asks Is a Discretionary Account Right For You? I am too much of a paranoid investor to allow someone else to make a “great deal” for me, to allow it, but maybe others can use it? I expect to see Preet on Dragon’s Den next year (as a panelist) he’s much more entertaining than a lot of the panel members.
- Sandy at YesIamCheap points out that I’m Not That Kind of Girl, but I should Be, which is an interesting female perspective on the issue of pay inequity in the workplace. As a father of daughters, I hope this inequity is fixed, but I suspect it isn’t likely in my lifetime.
Other Bookkeeping
Stamp Out Blue Monday!
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Remember
“The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.”
Author: Frank Hubbard
How do I do that with a Loonie?!?
Three girls? Man, you are so outnumbered. Wow. Is there a boy tossed in there? You have to balance out the estrogen somehow. I hope they let you have some email bonding at least once a week outside of the house…Otherwise you end up looking like Bruce Jenner in the Kardashian house.
On the serious side, the pay inequity issue is one that I am fighting because I experience it as well. It is hard to fight against what you have been taught about being a “good girl” and not making waves while trying to get paid fairly in comparison to men. Instill that confidence in your daughters in the generation after me hopefully will catch up to the men.