What are posted mortgage rates you ask? At all of the big banks (Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust, Scotia Bank, BMO etc) you will notice that they use the term, Posted Rate. Posted Rates are somewhat like a MSRP at a car dealership or a big box retail store; banks offer these rates to new and existing customers as a starting point, there is almost always some room for negotiation with the end result being a discounted rate.
 
When you walk into a bank to apply for a mortgage you will usually be offered the posted rate. If you do not try to negotiate to get a better rate this is the rate you will be paying. Banks are in the business to be profitable and will not usually go out of their way to give you a better rate if you don’t ask for one. This means that everyone that walks through the door could potentially get a different interest rate. Banks usually look at your over all business with them, so if you have other accounts and products with them then you may be able to get a better rate than a customer that has never dealt with them before or a customer that only has one account with them etc. Seems pretty unfair doesn’t it.
 
When it is time to renew your mortgage at the end of your term the bank will send out a renewal notice. Most people forget about their mortgages after they have been setup, the payments are automatically deducted from your account and really there is no need to think much about it during the term. Banks can use this to their advantage when sending out a renewal notice, usually you would like to stick to what they have been comfortable with over the past years and you would go with the quoted rate in the renewal notice, which is usually the posted rate at that bank. One would assume that by signing this renewal notice that the bank that you have had your mortgage with for the life of the term will be offering you the best rate possible at that time, but this is usually not the case.
 
It is always in your best interest to have someone on your side working for you, not the bank. At Stewart Mortgage Corp. we work for you and can shop your mortgage with all of our lenders accross Canada to get the best mortgage rate that we can for you. We offer the same discounted mortgage rates to all of our customers and these rates are usually below the “discounted” rates that banks offer after some negotiating. The banks pay us to bring you, a valued customer to them, so our services are free to you*. At renewal time let us renegotiate your mortgage for you, even if it is with the same bank or lender we could possibly negotiate a better rate for you.
 
250.572.0762 – jamie@stewartmortgage.ca
 
* In most cases our services are free. If we are unable to place your application with a bank type lender due to credit issues etc, and have to go to a private lender than additional lender/broker fees could apply.