Canadian Personal Finance Blog

It seems some money lenders are not happy with the new Mortgage rules, so they are attempting to bamboozle the system by marketing something called a Bundled Loan (or as I call it bungled mortgages ). The CBC’s explanation of this new poly-morphed debt vehicle is:

Canada’s subprime mortgage providers are increasingly teaming up with unregulated rivals to sidestep rules designed to clamp down on risky lending. … The result of these partnerships are so-called bundled loans, which pair a primary mortgage with a second loan from unregulated groups called Mortgage Investment Corporations (MICs).

This loan offer appears to be nothing more than the old trickery of offering 1st, 2nd, and perhaps even 3rd mortgages, except that the 2nd and 3rd mortgages are being provided by different lenders. Despite the fact that this practice is not illegal, the primary lender is obligated to consider all of the borrower’s outstanding debts when offering the main mortgage. It is unclear whether they are taking into account the other parts of the loan bundle. Nevertheless, this situation is a clear example of mishandling mortgages and should be addressed as such.

It is Friday the 13th today. Is it a bad day to invest? I don’t know call me in a year and I will tell you. Should you sell on Friday the 13th? Depends on what you are selling, and whether what you sell goes up in value after you sell it. I never get tired of giving these kind of testicle busting comments. Did you realize that Friday the 13th, always occurs after a Thursday the 12th ?

My Writings for Week Ending January 13th

Last week the year end employment numbers were published by our friends at Stats Canada, and it showed that 2016 Was the Year of the Part-time job, since that is where most of the job growth in Canada took place. It is good there are more jobs, but it is disturbing to see that many folks careers now consist of a few part-time jobs, quilted together to create enough income to live on. Let us hope they are not also looking for bungled mortgages.

A Money Thought

Well, it costs you money, because in Ottawa it is Pothole season!

2016 has been a real pain in the arse, especially in terms of news and music. It is safe to say that most people are looking forward to seeing the back of it. However, I have a thought-provoking question for you. Do you think the famous individuals who passed away in 2016 anticipated what 2017 has in store and decided to leave early? This is a deep thought from BCM for 2016, and I firmly believe that this year cannot end soon enough.

Have you done any of the things you should be doing for the end of year?

• Top up your Charitable donations ? Those are counted on the calendar year, you have today to try to get it done (or go to Church on Sunday and they might count it as this year too).
• TFSA juggling, if you were planning on taking money out of your TFSA, you should have done it by now, that way you can easily have the deposit space for next year, and you can start paying it back.
• It is never too early to put money into your RRSP (if you have room, and don’t have a lot of debts).
• Make sure you have paid all of your bills for 2016 as well (quarterly CRA, property tax, etc.,).
• Evidently January 2nd is known as Divorce Day, so maybe you should start that early ?

You could always create a financial plan for 2016 as well (never a bad idea either).

My Writings for Week Ending December 30th

I did manage to get a thematic post out this week, discussing the important celebration of Festivus, with Festivus Financial Airing of Grievances, and I have a lot to complain about this year, that is for sure! Next the feats of strength, get ready to rumble, baby!