Financial Literacy

Statistics Canada announced this morning that employment increased by a stronger than expected 32,300 in March, driven by full-time job gains. The unemployment rate was unchanged at a four-decade low of 5.8% indicating that the economy is at or near full employment. In the first quarter of 2018, employment edged down (-40,000 or -0.2%) reflecting a decrease in January. On a longer-term basis, jobs have been on an uptrend since the second half of 2016 despite a price-induced weakening in the oil sector. Over the past year, total employment rose by nearly 300,000 (+1.6%), driven by a surge in full-time work and a net decline in part-time jobs-all excellent news for the economy. Over the same period, total hours worked grew by 2.2%. Employment rose in Quebec and Saskatchewan, while there was little change in the rest of the country. As the table below shows, British Columbia continues to post the lowest jobless rate in Canada at a stable 4.7% followed by Ontario at 5.5%. Quebec is third

While updating the extensive RateSeer database of lenders and banks in the Baltimore, Maryland area, we learned that the 1st Mariner Bank and the Howard Bank merged. The information provided below was copied from the Howard Bank Welcome web page . To read the entire Welcome message, visit the Howard Bank webpage. Howard Bank and 1st Mariner Bank share the vision of being the premier business bank in the Greater Baltimore region offering a sophisticated array of products, local underwriting, decision making and policy setting. In addition, too few banks have focused on the Greater Baltimore community as their home market for corporate philanthropy, employee volunteerism and advocacy. The combination of Howard Bank and 1st Mariner Bank enables us to achieve the vision of becoming the region’s leading business bank in a relentless way. Together, we become the largest community bank headquartered in the Baltimore metropolitan market with the 7th largest deposit market share and the

Your credit score is a big factor when you apply for a mortgage. It can dictate how good your interest rate will be and the type of mortgage you qualify for. Mortgage Professionals are experienced helping clients with a wide range of credit scores so we can find you a mortgage product even if your credit is far from perfect. The good news about your credit score is that it can be improved: Stop looking for more credit. If you’re frequently seeking credit that can affect your score as can the size of the balances you carry. Every time you apply for credit there is a hard credit check. It is particularly important that you not apply for a credit card in the six months leading up to your mortgage application. These credit checks may stay on your file for up to three years. If your credit card is maxed out all the time, that’s going to hurt your credit score. Make some small monthly regular payments to reduce your balance and start using your debit card more. It’s important that you t

The Bank of Canada raised its key lending rate to 1.25 on January 17, 2018. This is the highest the benchmark rate has been since 2009. What does this mean and how will it impact Canadians? Following the BOC rate increase, Canada's biggest 5 Banks - Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, RBC, BMO and CIBC - all raised their prime lending rate by a quarter percentage. The amount of interest paid on loans including mortgages, a line of credit, or a personal loan will increase. Inversely, the increase in the BOC key lending rate will positively impact savers because the amount earned on savings accounts, including GICs and personal savings accounts, will increase. For additional information on the Bank of Canada key lending rate, see this article from the CBC.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada offers a number of services and information for Canadian consumers. The information provided on their website includes financial literacy programs and some handy tools and calculators. One of our favourite tools is the Financial Goal Calculator . From the dashboard you can select a plan to get out of debt, or, set a savings goal. Both are easy to navigate and definitely worth your time.

Did you know that as of November 13, 2017, iAB Financial was transitioned into FirstMerchants Bank? The merger was initially announced in February 2017. As stated on the website, "Customers of iAB Financial Bank will now have access to over 100 First Merchants Bank locations." For more information visit the welcome announcement on the First Merchants Bank website .

President's Choice Financial, otherwise known as PC Financial, customers are now being serviced by Simplii Financial . An article posted to the MacLean's Magazine website in August 2017 stated, "Loblaw Co. is quitting the banking business in a deal that will see two million President's Choice Financial mortgage and banking accounts automatically move to a new, low-fee banking brand operated by CIBC, called Simplii Financial." For further details and information on how this impacts PC Financial customers, you can read this article from The Financial Post .