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Hi y'all,

Does anybody know the difference among mortgages from actual banks such as CIBC,Scotia and those from virtual banks (no physical office, only phone communication) such as Canadian Tires and ING?

Currently Canadian Tire bank has a rate of 5.05% for 5-year fix mortgage. What are the pros and cons of using mortgage from virtual bank? How is the quality of the service?

Regards

Happy New Year to All!
Lots of XOXOXO


Min & Fei

Hey Min & Fei!

That's a good question. I myself am considering applying for my mortgage at ING, currently at 5.05% as well. I already have a savings account and a GIC account with them and have never had problems with them. (Of course savings and borrowing are different). But a friend of mine from work has a mortgage with ING and says they're really great. If you have problems or questions its really easy to get ahold of them by phone. I personally am all for it. I don't like making visits to branches anyways. If this is something you're uncomfortable with though, it might not be for you. It would be nice to hear from others on the board who are with virtual banks, and see what they have to say.

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A few years ago, I heard there were a lot of problems with ING. Every lawyer hated them.

The reason was basically because their processing was all electronic. If there were 20 steps from beginning to end, if it got caught on Step 8 (maybe somebody missed an email or left a file on the water cooler), nobody would know about it until the end, and then there was chaos.

There were a lot of delayed closings and upset people.

I'm not sure if they've improved since then.

Since they have less overhead, they are generally pretty competitive in terms of rates.

I still maintain that although rate is important, it's not necessarily the most important thing.

Looking at a mortgage without looking at your current and future financial goals is like doing your own root canal.

Most of the virtual banks are just order takers. Speak to a good consultant and you'll make more money long-term than you'll ever save by getting .05% less on a mortgage.

If you'd like some recommendations, feel free to PM me.


Chuck

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I have used First national Bank 3 times and have had no problems.

In fact, I found it very convienent. COntracts were e-mailed back and forth using PDF. When I refinanced, I went to a lawyers house 2 blocks from mine and signed there. When I bought new, I just used my lawyer to sign and register the papers. If you are not intimidated and can negotiate on your own, I find them very easy to use.

I would recommend a mortage broker though for your first mortage thoug until you pick up the lingo!

Matt

if you have more than 90 days between the selling and the closing of your new house (with most mortage companies), you are SOL. That is all in the fine print. Not really their fault. Sure it is difficult to swallow but you did not do your homework. If you had you could have tried to time your new house better or delay the closing of your current.

Best to chalk it up to lesson learned and hope that someone else can learn from your post

Matt

And if your bank says they will waive it, get that in writing!

When we were moving back to Milton from Mississauga, we didn't know how long it would take to sell the house so we wanted to put it up early, but we were concerned about the three month penalty. Our banker at TD promised us that while he would have to charge it when we discharged if it were more than three months, he would refund it when we renewed the mortgage. During those three months, he got transferred somewhere else and the new person refused to honor what he told us, even though it meant that they lost our mortgage business. To this day I kick myself that I didn't get it in writing, I know better, but we'd been dealing with him for years and never had a problem.