Comments on: 3 Easy Ways to Save Money on your Mortgage

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:32:36 +0000

Hi Gail,

I really enjoy your blog and show.

The mortgage calculator link is broken, it should be:
http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/iTools-iOutils/MortgageCalculator/MortgageCalculator-eng.aspx

By: Weekly Dose of Vitamin-M | | Canadian Mortgage AdvisorCanadian Mortgage Advisor

Tue, 08 May 2012 05:17:26 +0000

[...] 3 Easy Ways to Save Money on your Mortgage – Gail Vaz-Oxlade [...]

By: Theresa

Theresa — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:57:41 +0000

Very solid 3 Good ideas:)
Mine is almost done 15 months left give or take.
We put down 25% ( 11.5 years ago)
Then Once our car was paid off, we started to put that old payment onto the mortgage.
Then We again increased our morgage, and shortened the years.
We started out with a 25 years +
and will have it done in 13 years.

By: Friday Links – Canadian Finance Blog

Friday Links – Canadian Finance Blog — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:00:23 +0000

[...] Want to save money on your mortgage? Gail Vaz-Oxlade lists 3 Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Mortgage. [...]

By: Gypselle

Gypselle — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:23:15 +0000

Gail, the link to the calculator is broken. I went to your other link and found it, it is:

http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/iTools-iOutils/MortgageCalculator/MortgageCalculator-eng.aspx

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:32:45 +0000

@Geoff – if you have an interest rate lower than inflation this would be true. Current inflation in Canada is 1.9%. If you know where you can get a better rate on your mortgage, then go for it! Remember, interest rates go up as well as down. If you still owe $50,000 in 5 years, there’s no guarantee anyone will give you a rate comparable to today’s rates. But if you owe nothing, in 5 years you’ll be able to earn interest on the money you no longer owe, instead of dumping it all into debt repayments.

Think of it this way – there is a heck of a lot of room for rates to increase. And almost no room for rates to go down. They’ll never pay YOU to borrow money!

By: mel

mel — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:14:31 +0000

also @ JMK…Banks (all of them) are required to list the “posted” rate on renewal notices and not any specials or discounts. Call your Bank to discuss.

By: Alero

Alero — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:00:35 +0000

Thanks for the excellent post, Gail. And thanks to your readers for sharing their strategies for getting rid of the mortgages on their principal residences.

I’m hoping that you and your readers can give me advice and opinions on whether or not to use the same aggressive mortgage-paydown strategies in respect of my rental property.

The mortgage covers the condo’s expenses but I went with a 35-year mortgage at a rate of 3.75%. Should I be adding my money to the monthly rental amount in order to pay off the mortgage as fast as possible? Or should I keep the mortgage for as long as possible in order to reap the tax benefits?

Thanks in advance for your opinions, insights and advice.

By: Cas

Cas — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:56:06 +0000

We reduced our amortization at almost every renewal; pretty easy when interest rates were dropping and lower at every renewal; it’d be harder if rates were on the rise. Thus we were able to keep our payments the same. Our first renewal though, we lowered our payments. Sometimes life takes a turn that you didn’t want or expect. You do what you can, and make sure you’re not adding on to your mortgage with LOCs , etc. Our goal was to have our mortgage paid off before the eldest hits university. We’ll have achieved that goal. I’m not stressing about other things we could have done to shorten it further. Because other things would have been sacrificed.

By: Sparky

Sparky — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:18:23 +0000

@JMK…that is a renewal notice you get in the mail with the posted rates on them…you should also be getting a phone call from your branch to set up a meeting to do the renewal…at that time you can discuss rate…the rate they offer will be based on your overall financial portfolio …don’t be shy about asking for what you want…I always appreciate it when my clients let me know what they are looking for (and yes, if I can do even better than what they ask for I will)…the bank I work for has us calling our clients in the 120 days prior to the renewal date as that is the renewal cycle and you can renew at that time without penalty…so keep an eye on the date and if you haven’t heard from your bank in that time, give them a call and set up a meeting, you might just be pleasantly surprised:)

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:16:12 +0000

Not only is this great advice by Gail but I can’t get over how many smart people also have so many awesome ideas.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:29:40 +0000

Gail not meaning to demean your message but don’t your examples require the non-existence of inflation? In other words, one dollar today is worth more than one dollar 12 years from now. So ’saving’ $55000 in payments you’d make between 2019 – 2026 is not exactly the same as saving $55000 in payments you make between 2011 – 2018.

By: S. K. Beaverson

S. K. Beaverson — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:53:10 +0000

We have 12 years and about $100,000 left on our 4.375% mortgage. As of July, we’ll have cleared out the last of our other debt which we’ve been paying down aggressively; we also have a solid emergency fund in place. At this point, I’m uncertain of the best way to achieve our goal of mortgage paid off. Refinance (again) to a 3% 10 or 15 year loan? Skip that and go right to additional monthly principle payments? The refinance is kind of a wash if we just make extra payments every month for 5 years. The refinance would be worthwhile if something happened in 5 years to impede our ability to make those extra payments. If we were to do nothing, we’d pay about $29,000 in interest over the next 12 years. Anything to diminish that is clearly a victory. Am I fretting over ‘nickles and dimes’, or is there a clear way to proceed?

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:59:47 +0000

Gail or anyone,

Why on the radio you told us that you would take a 10 year mortage?
We could have a 2.99% five year strating july 19 2012.

It does not make sense to me to go for 10 years at aroud 6%?

We have aprrox 158k and 20 years left.

Thank to anyone.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:22:06 +0000

@Bronwen – Don’t forget to leave yourself with a healthy emergency fund! We threw every penny to minimize our mortgage, and left ourselves with nothing for the emergencies that came up shortly after.