Mortgage rates cut update
Just read this which means that variable mortgages with a prime minus are @ 1.75% calculated on prime minus .5% WHich is what my mortgage rate is at now. Any New mortgages are prime + which is still very cheap money!!!!
Bank of Canada cuts interest rate to lowest level practically possible
OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada has taken its influential target interest rate to the lowest practical level in an effort to combat what it says is deeper and more widespread global recession.
The central bank sliced the overnight rate in half to 0.25 per cent - the lowest it says is practical - and signalled strongly it will have to keep it there until at least mid-2010.
In addition, the bank has extended the term of its purchase and resale agreements it uses to inject liquidity into money markets from one-and-three months to six-and-12 months, while setting minimum and maximum bids that correspond to the historically low target rate.
The bank said it will target a daily level of settlement balance in the financial system at $3 billion, a move it says will help drive the overnight rate to the bottom of the trading band.
The Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) was the first of Canada's major banks to announce that it would lower its own prime rate in step with the central bank, dropping the benchmark around which it calculates variable mortgages and other loans to 2.25 per cent.
Shortly after, Royal Bank (TSX:RY) said it too would lower its prime rate to 2.25 per cent, signalling that the other chartered banks would likely follow suit.