TD, RBC end 2.99% mortgage deals early
By Eric Lam, Financial PostFebruary 8, 2012 8:08 AM
After briefly offering record-low rates of less than 3% on some of its mortgages in response to its rivals, Canada’s two biggest banks have pulled back their offers prematurely.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest bank, raised its special four-year closed fixed rate mortgage 40 basis points to 3.39%, effective Wednesday, while also introducing a special five-year closed fixed rate mortgage at 4.04%.
The bank also hiked its five-year closed mortgage 10 basis points to 5.24%.
TD had said it would offer the special rates until Feb. 29.
The moves put TD back in line with Royal Bank of Canada, which made the same rate decisions on Monday, coming into effect Wednesday.
RBC had also initially planned to keep its special rates available until Feb. 29
The only difference is RBC already had the special five-year closed fixed rate mortgage product, which it increased 10 basis points to 4.04%.
RBC had first cut its rate to 2.99% in January in response to a similar cut from BMO.
Matt Gierasimczuk, a spokesman with RBC, said the bank had to end its special prematurely because of rising funding costs.
“Our long-term funding costs have gone up considerably due to global economic concerns and, while we have held off in passing on these rate changes to our clients, it is now necessary for us to increase this mortgage rate,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Monday.
With household debt-to-income ratios at at historic highs and still on the rise, the Bank of Canada has repeatedly voiced its concerns over the past year that Canadians are living beyond their means.
“We have expressed on numerous occasions our concerns about rising household indebtedness,” senior deputy governor Tiff Macklem said in a question-and-answer session following a speech in Toronto Tuesday. “The simple fact is that consumers are consuming more than they’re earning.”
With files from Reuters and Bloomberg News
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