Friday, March 4, 2011

I'm getting tired..

I'm getting tired of all these articles in the news lately saying we need to change the mortgage rules and make it harder to qualify etc.

This is absolute nonsense. Why does the government not want people to have an appreciating asset, yet they don't seem to come down on credit card companies, or banks that are giving out lines of credits.

Just the other day I was sitting at home and a guy from my local CIBC called. 'Hi Christos this is so and so from the Langley CIBC, I'm calling today to let you know that you're approved for a LOC and an increase in your credit card'

I started to laugh a little and said 'with consumers across Canada being upwards to 150% in debt to their household income, you're calling people trying to get more money out to them. Thanks but no thanks I don't need anything.' He in turn laughed back and said 'are you sure you don't want it, maybe for a rainy day or something.'

What I'm trying to say is that we do NOT need more stringent mortgage rules. They're tough as it is already. The market has been strong here in CDN and with the insurance, CMHC Genworth and Canada Guaranty, lenders are protected on higher risk files. (CMHC being the most commonly used and it's a crown corp. go figure! This is for a whole other discussion!)

CDN needs to come down harder on the unsecured debt and the credit card companies. These are where the issues lie. I've had, in the last year, a few people come to me saying I need a refinance, I've racked up credit card debt and they don't seem to stop giving me more. How much debt was there? Over $100k!

Here's a quote I found and it's completely true: "Regulators need to wake up & see that unsecured debt is the issue. I have clients that barely qualified for their mortgage, but the bank had no problem whatsoever in giving them an unsecured line of credit for $50,000 after their purchase closed."

I've had my rant for today!!