CITY NEWS TORONTO INTERVIEWS JESSI JOHNSON: BMO SLASHES 5-YEAR MORTGAGE RATE TO 2.99%

The Bank of Montreal has slashed its five-year fixed mortgage rate to 2.99 percent in a move that some real estate experts say will soon force the other major banks to follow suit. BMO said it slashed its posted rate from 3.29 percent to 2.99 percent because of lower bond yields.

Vancouver mortgage broker Jessi Johnson said he doesn’t doubt the low promotional rate will bring in more customers for BMO. But it’ll also bring business to its competitors, where customers will likely ask if their lender can match the BMO rate.

And although the 2.99 percent rate may seem like a good deal, it also comes with a variety of restrictions. Johnson, who heads the Jessi Johnson Mortgage Team, said those who lock into the BMO rate can only have a maximum amortization rate of 25 years when other lenders offer more flexible periods of 30 or 35 years.
He suggests that homeowners review their mortgage payments every year and calculate whether they could still afford their payments if mortgage rates begin to rise.

The Bank of Canada has long warned that Canadians need to prepare themselves for a time when interest rates head north, increasing carrying costs.

BMO raised concerns from Ottawa when it offered the 2.99 percent rate in March 2013. The move sparked a personal phone call from then-finance minister Jim Flaherty, who publicly chided the bank for lowering its key five-year rate, saying that he believed in “responsible lending” and was worried that the low rate would result in a race to the bottom with the other major banks.
Flaherty’s was concerned that the low rate might encourage Canadians to take on unsustainable loans and work against the government’s efforts to slow the momentum of the housing market.

Last March, BMO again cut its five-year fixed rate to 2.99 percent but raised it to 3.29 percent a month later on April 29.

At the time, Finance Minister Joe Oliver called it a “private decision” and said that the possibility of low rates triggering a housing bubble was “hypothetical.”
BMO has the lowest advertised five-year, fixed rate of the major banks, but some small lenders are offering lower rates.

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