Renewing your mortgage has become a real headache for many. The meteoric rise in interest rates hurts. The impact is also felt in requests for financial assistance from non-profit organizations (NPOs), where concerns about this problem are on the rise almost everywhere in Quebec.
There is a lot of anxiety about the upcoming mortgage renewal. […] It’s certain that it creates stress for people, notes Mario Pelchat, trainer at Espaces Finances.
The former ACEF Rive-Sud decided to create a mortgage consultation service to equip owners and respond to this new, glaring need.
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Espace Finances offers a mortgage consultation service for the sum of $150. Mario Pelchat, trainer with Claudia Côté, a resident owner of Saint-Agapit and volunteer with the organization that used the service.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Grenier
For the sum of $150, an owner meets an advisor for a two-hour consultation where we will do different mortgage renewal forecast scenarios, […] an impartial and neutral service.
We are not here to replace the financial advisor of the credit union or the bank, or a mortgage broker. We are not there to make decisions for the customer, but we are there to help them be able to identify how to do it in [leur] budget to accommodate these increases.
A situation that affects everyone regardless of age, he explains, adding that the organization also offers a range of free support services.
Concerns on the rise in Quebec
Last November, a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) predicted that almost half of the country’s mortgage loans will be renewed in the next two years.
For a five-year fixed loan, this is an increase varying from 30 to 40% according to CMHC, which is already seeing changes in the financial behavior of owners regarding renewal.
People are using longer amortization periods, notes Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, which has the effect of lowering payments.
CMHC’s senior housing economics and research specialist also notes that people do not want to fix for a period of five years, but want to do it for a period of three years, four years.
His mortgage payment increased by $400 per month. […] He made the decision to convert part of his house to rent to students, says Laurence Marget, general director of the Coalition of Consumer Associations of Quebec (CACQ).
This is one of the many examples heard by the CACQ, which brings together 21 organizations in the province, including several cooperative family economics associations (ACEF). Between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2003, the Coalition reached approximately 37,000 people and concerns about mortgage renewals are on the rise.
The services are free. Already looking at the avenues, identifying and analyzing all the budgetary expenditure items, often makes the difference, explains Laurence Marget. She is concerned about the increase in rent prices for tenants, particularly those on low incomes.
The housing crisis, everything goes together in fact and the government should look very seriously at this problem.
Get ahead of yourself
Everyone agrees that owners should consult several months before their renewal. Four to six months in advance, suggests Mario Pelchat.
When we put the money aside in advance, we are reassured, able to face the music, he notes.
Owner in Saint-Agapit, Claudia Côté always postponed the questioning because [qu’elle ne pensait] not be able to cope with it. A volunteer with Espace Finances, she used the NPO’s mortgage consultation service. It helped me.
More independent, she even renewed her mortgage directly online.
2024-01-19 20:26:42
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