[Koala]

I'm just curious about places that offer 30 year amortizations without stating so. Recently, a broker told me that ING offers them, but their website states:

You can amortize your mortgage up to 25 years for conventional mortgages, and up to 25 years for high ratio mortgages to help make your regular payments more manageable.

I called as I'm becoming less and less trusting, and sure enough, they will do 30 years for a conventional mortgage.

 

[ddkay]

Is this legal?

 

[Spudd]

It's legal for non-CMHC insured mortgages (i.e. 20% or more down).

 

[Koala]

I think credit unions can also offer a 30 year amortized CMHC-insured mortgage. I could be wrong, as I'm now well versed in the rules set out for banks vs. credit unions.

Personally, I'm interested in a conventional (20% downpayment) mortgage.

 

[OhGreatGuru]

According to the Dept. of Finance web site, the new rule limiting CMHC-insured mortgages to not more than 25 years was to come into effect July 9, 2012. Perhaps institutions offering 30yr insured mortgages are insuring them with someone other than CMHC.

 

[Sampson]

The rule is for insured mortgages.

Conventional mortgages with >20% down can still have 30 year amortizations. Canadian Mortgage Trends probably has a list of companies still offering 30 year amortizations.

If I'm not mistaken, there might actually still be companies that offer 35 year amortizations on uninsured mortgages.

 

[sags]

I'm not getting too excited about the length of amortizations.

I figure when the housing crash gets into full swing, the damage to the economy will be so bad, the government will change the rules again and introduce 1% mortgages and 50 year fixed terms.

 

[Koala]

OGG, I thought the federal rules only affected federal financial institutions though? So provincial credit unions can still offer 30 year CMHC-insured mortgages. Some provinces may already have rules in place to prevent this though.

 

[Koala]

Thanks Sampson, I will check that out!

 

[OhGreatGuru]

OGG, I thought the federal rules only affected federal financial institutions though? So provincial credit unions can still offer 30 year CMHC-insured mortgages. Some provinces may already have rules in place to prevent this though.

I've been reading the explanatory page on mortgage insurance, and it is as clear as mud. http://www.fin.gc.ca/n12/data/12-070_1-eng.asp

On the one hand it initially says "The law requires federally regulated lenders to obtain mortgage insurance ....". This would seem to confirm your interpretation.

But later it says: The measure announced today will reduce the maximum amortization period from 30 years to 25 years for high loan-to-value mortgages, which are backed by government insurance. .....

And the page explains that the government backs both CMHC insurance and private mortgage insurers that compete with CMHC.

This would appear to be independent of who the lender is.

 

[Franky Jr]

I got a 40 year mortgage one year ago from Merix. >20% down.

 

[themortgageguy]

Mortgage rules announced by the minister of finance effect cmhc insured mortgages (high ratio less than 20%). The two other mortgage insurers, Genworth and Canada Guarantee usually follow suit however.

Uninsured mortgages amortization terms are still available for 35 years amortizations

No credit unions are not currently federally regulated but provincially regulated (but there is a bill in process now to include them in that fold). However don't confuse being federally regulated with the mortgage insurance rules. Federally regulated refers to whether the financial institution is regulated by the OSFI (office of the superintendent of financial institutions) and includes banks, trust companies etc. List is available on the OSFI website if you want it.

I know....it shouldn't be this confusing.

I summarized the most recent rule announcements here. The last set of mortgage rules were actually from the minister of finance regarding insured mortgages by cmhc AND OSFI. The OSFI rules weren't aimed at mortgages directly but at the mortgage lending practices of the financial institutions they regulate (they didn't appear to be too happy with what the big banks were considering good lending practices apparently). Effectively the results are the same though.

Click here for the summary. PM me if you have questions