TD PRIME GOES DOWN!!

 

TD Canada Trust has made the following changes to rates:

Decreased the TD Prime lending rate to 3.50%, effective December 10, 2008.

This rate change only affects the float HELOC product.

Note: TD Mortgage Prime will change on January 1st, 2009 which will impact the Variable Rate Mortgage.

Canada’s best mortgage rates!

 

TD Canada Trust raises home equity loan rates

*Update April 23, 2009 Current pricing structure on the HELOC is at Prime + 1.5% = 3.75% on the float portion of the account*

“TORONTO — One of Canada’s biggest mortgage lenders, TD Canada Trust, is increasing the interest rate charged for its home equity line of credit and variable-interest mortgages.

The bank has been charging its prime rate for its Home Equity Lines of Credit — which uses the value of the customer’s home as collateral — but will start charging one percentage point above prime.

TD Canada Trust also is increasing the rates for its open and closed variable-rate mortgages to one percentage point above prime, effective Tuesday.

The prime rate at TD and most major Canadian banks has been 4.75 per cent since April, the last time the Bank of Canada changed its target for its overnight lending rate.

With the change, TD customers who have borrowed under those lines of credits or variable mortgages will be paying an annual rate of 5.75 per cent unless the prime rate changes again.”

Banks around the world, including in Canada, are finding it more expensive to borrow money on wholesale markets, due to the turmoil in the U.S. financial sector.

TD Canada trust has raised the “base” rates for the Varible Rate Mortgage products and the Home Equity Line of Credit. This prime plus pricing is a sharp contrast to what we were offering just a few short months ago. Shortly after the notice we have seen the majority of the other Canadian Banks follow suit.

It is difficult to gauge how long this pricing structure will last, what started out as a mortgage meltdown has blown into a global credit crisis.

David Hudson

Canadian banks ranked soundest in the world

Canada has the world’s soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as a financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.

Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 44th place behind El Salvador and Peru, after its government pledged the equivalent of $97 billion Cdn this week to bolster bank balance sheets.

The United States, where some of Wall Street’s biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 40th, just behind Germany, at 39th, and smaller states such as Barbados, Estonia and even Namibia, in southern Africa.

On Thursday, the U.S. was considering buying a slice of debt-laden banks to inject trust back into lending between financial institutions now too wary of one another to lend.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report based its findings on opinions of executives and assigned banks a score between 1.0 (insolvent and possibly requiring a government bailout) and 7.0 (healthy, with sound balance sheets).

Canadian banks received a score of 6.8, just ahead of Sweden (6.7), Luxembourg (6.7), Australia (6.7) and Denmark (6.7).

U.K. banks collectively scored 6.0, narrowly behind the United States, Germany and Botswana, all with 6.1. France, in 19th place, scored 6.5 for soundness while Switzerland’s banking system scored the same in 16th place, as did Singapore (13th).

The ranking index was released as central banks in Europe, the U.S., China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland slashed interest rates in a bid to end panic selling on markets and restore trust in the shaken banking system.

It is certanly reasuring to be a proud part of a sound economic banking system. Canada’s banking system has been underrated for years, TD Canada Trust is infact the 5th largest Bank in America, yes you read that correctly in America! It has very strong US base with TD BankNorth group, and is infact the namesake of the Celtic’s home in Boston MA !!!

TDdave

Bank of Canada’s half-point cut becomes a quarter-point cut for borrowers

Canada’s central bank moved Wednesday to cut short-term interest rates by half a percentage point, but Canadian banks are cutting rates only half that much.

Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and TD Canada Trust said they will trim their prime lending rates by 25 basis points — meaning a quarter of a percentage point — effective Thursday.

The prime lending rate is what banks charge credit-worthy business customers on short-term loans. Other interest rates, including certain mortgage rates, may be linked to the prime rate but set several points higher.

Tim Hockey, CEO of TD Canada Trust, issued a statement saying his bank is doing its best to help the central bank.

“Continuing market turmoil has steadily driven up the cost of borrowing for financial institutions. This makes it challenging to match the Bank of Canada rate cut at this time,” he said.

“We recognize the efforts the Bank of Canada is making and, despite the fact that our cost of funds remains high, we have decided to reduce our rate by 25 basis points. We see this as a balanced move in managing our funds and passing along the intended benefits to our customers.”

The other banks issued one-sentence notes saying they will cut their prime rates to 4.5 per cent from 4.75 per cent, the same cut announced by TD.

The Bank of Canada, in a move co-ordinated with the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks, cut its target for the overnight rate half of a percentage point to 2.5 per cent. The central bank describes that rate as its key policy interest rate, signalling its intentions to credit markets.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/10/08/prime-rate.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t

TD Canada Trust is leading the way for lending practices in Canada, with the ripple effects from Global Economic concerns tricling down it is interesting to note why the banks are only following with half of the centeral banks discount.

Liquidity on the international market has lead to higher expectations for for gin investors, simply put for gin investors want a higher return on lending funds to Banks- this premium demand has forced the Canadain banks to pay higher returns in exchange for forgin cash infusions. This has the bank changing it’s pricing policys in these unprecedented times. It will be interesting to watch what other actions will be taken in the near future with regards to Mortgage rates and HELOC produts from all of the Canadian lending institutions.