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Why are banks still advertising "Vip mortgages call you back asap", ringfence real estate industry
June 9, 2022
12:00 pm
AllanB
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Is it real estate developers threatening politicians who force banks to keep the tap open. Is it a ponzi scheme what's going on. It seems more and more banks have become a tool of government instead of a business. Nobody lends at those rates 2% prior even private lenders charge 8-10%. Do these banks even employ mortgage foreclosure teams anymore or they just defer, a mortgage can't be a bad debt provision anymore. "Buy a mansion default you can't lose stupid".

The real estate industry burns us every time, 1990 2009 2020, they cause every recession make them pay for once ringfence their assets now put a lein on them to use for any bailout. And why do they always expect expect taxpayers to pay for affordable housing units at 500k a pop, seize their empty buildings to start paying for the hundreds of billions in free money they've been given.

BnnBloomberg:

Macklem, speaking Thursday after the release of the central bank’s annual report on financial stability, argued home-price gains during the pandemic were unsustainable and produced vulnerabilities among new buyers who were forced to take on extremely high levels of debt.

But he said policy makers are particularly focused on heavily indebted households that are more vulnerable to higher borrowing costs and are carrying less equity to cushion against any significant price declines.

Canadians who purchased homes recently would be “more exposed” in the event of a correction, according to the 57-page report. Many households stretched themselves financially to get into the housing market.

June 9, 2022
2:39 pm
COIN
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"It seems more and more banks have become a tool of government instead of a business"

Canadian banks exist at the pleasure of the federal government. With one stroke of the pen, the Liberal government with their best friend the NDP can kill one or all the banks.

I still remember when the Liberals killed the BMO/RBC and TD/CIBC mergers with the simple "not in the best interest of Canada" with no supporting evidence.

June 9, 2022
10:25 pm
RetirEd
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COIN: Those mergers would have violated the basic conditions required for a functioning free market* - allowing too few competitors and too much control by one or two institutions. It would also have created two "Too big to fail" points of failure. It was a time of uncontrollable concentration of corporate power following the US gutting of the antitrust laws, a trend continuing today.

The mergers were widely criticized as genuinely not in the best interests of the country, and I wholeheartedly agree.

RetirEd

* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
AND virtually any economics textbook

RetirEd

June 10, 2022
8:34 am
COIN
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The "Big 5" Canadian banks are actually small in comparison to their international competitors. Anyway, it is what it is. The "big 5-6" are profitable and are cash cows for government tax revenues.

June 11, 2022
4:16 am
RetirEd
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Back in the post-FTA (Free Trade Agreement) days there was a flurry of anti-competitive mergers and aquisitions in Canada. Most of the participants lobbied for permission by saying they needed to be bigger to fight huge foreign companies. And as soon as they got permission most of them sold out to those foreign companies.

Remember Canadian beer companies? Speedo? Heinz? Lot of Canadian car manufacturing? All the rest?
RetirEd

RetirEd

June 11, 2022
4:39 am
savemoresaveoften
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COIN said
The "Big 5" Canadian banks are actually small in comparison to their international competitors. Anyway, it is what it is. The "big 5-6" are profitable and are cash cows for government tax revenues.  

They maybe small compare to intl banks, but they own basically 100% of the canadian mkt when there are only big5. Imagine if it did become big2....

The bank's argument were they need size to compete internationally, that was a weak argument. I am grateful govt did the right thing back then and shot down the idea quickly. It turned out Cad banks are some of the most profitable banks and they are "big" enuf to swallow a lot of US regional banks in the last 20 years too.

At the end of the day, the bank CEO and executives at the time were just looking for a way to line up their wallet fast. That is the only reason....

Now anti-competition bureau is blocking Rogers and Shaw merger even with Rogers selling off Freedom mobile, that to me is simply bollocks.

June 12, 2022
3:33 am
RetirEd
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savemoresaveoften: Why is blocking a shaw-Rogers merger "simply ballocks?" They collectively hold wayy too much of the Canadian telecommunications business, just as the Big Five banks did in the case we both just cited. And Canadian telecom pricing is near the top of world rates! The companies are intensely profitable and shockingly abusive in their practices.
RetirEd

RetirEd

June 12, 2022
5:01 am
savemoresaveoften
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RetirEd said
savemoresaveoften: Why is blocking a shaw-Rogers merger "simply ballocks?" They collectively hold wayy too much of the Canadian telecommunications business, just as the Big Five banks did in the case we both just cited. And Canadian telecom pricing is near the top of world rates! The companies are intensely profitable and shockingly abusive in their practices.
RetirEd  

Rogers already propose and will sell Freedom so there will remain 4 major "competitors" in the wireless, and wireless is where people spend their money on.
The tv cable business, the landline etc are a declining business, Rogers, Bell, Telus are losing customers in that side of the business as more migrate to wireless, streaming, so the argument of less competition is not a real argument. Cable internet is the only area where less competition is indeed true.

If anything, I am surprised Rogers is willing to go ahead with the merger, even without them holding on to Freedom.

The competition bureau is simply old school and not think in a coherent manner. They block the deal for the sake of blocking, which is their only job to justify their own existence.

As to Canada being one of the most expensive telecom rates, for the amount of land coverage (both wireless and wired), the amount of infrastructure that needs to be put in place, and the service we get in return, I think its relatively fair. I wont simply look at them as hugely profitable, and then complain "they make so much cuz they overcharge.) To lower price, maybe the government stop auctioning airwaves for billions of dollars every time, that will help the pricing for sure.

June 12, 2022
6:39 am
COIN
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savemoresaveoften said

Rogers already propose and will sell Freedom so there will remain 4 major "competitors" in the wireless, and wireless is where people spend their money on.
The tv cable business, the landline etc are a declining business, Rogers, Bell, Telus are losing customers in that side of the business as more migrate to wireless, streaming, so the argument of less competition is not a real argument. Cable internet is the only area where less competition is indeed true.

If anything, I am surprised Rogers is willing to go ahead with the merger, even without them holding on to Freedom.

The competition bureau is simply old school and not think in a coherent manner. They block the deal for the sake of blocking, which is their only job to justify their own existence.

As to Canada being one of the most expensive telecom rates, for the amount of land coverage (both wireless and wired), the amount of infrastructure that needs to be put in place, and the service we get in return, I think its relatively fair. I wont simply look at them as hugely profitable, and then complain "they make so much cuz they overcharge.) To lower price, maybe the government stop auctioning airwaves for billions of dollars every time, that will help the pricing for sure.  

I will add a couple more comments to your post.
1) Canada has a large land mass but a relatively small population.
2) Canada doesn't have the population to support 4 national providers. France with twice the population and a much smaller land mass has 3 or 4 providers.

June 12, 2022
7:54 am
Bill
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Rogers just ended online account access for pay-as-you-go so now you have to call in to top up (I do once a year, for about 10 years now), likely so they can talk you into a monthly plan.

June 12, 2022
7:59 am
savemoresaveoften
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Bill said
Rogers just ended online account access for pay-as-you-go so now you have to call in to top up (I do once a year, for about 10 years now), likely so they can talk you into a monthly plan.  

my inlaw has the Fido $100 a year pay as you go plan. Basically $100, good for upto $100 as a prepaid, you use it or lose it over 1 year.
I think Fido still offer the plan, but definitely not well advertised, for the exact reason you described. Porting your number over is free too. check it out

June 12, 2022
9:26 am
Bill
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Appreciate it, smso, I'll keep it in mind but I like Rogers because you can carry over excess balance (I might use $70/year). And Fido's owned by Rogers, I believe, so maybe they'll cut off online access too, which I find handy at top-up time vs calling them.

I pay a fortune for Bell satellite tv, internet and landlines at two residences, and I only use internet myself, so I'm reluctant to take on yet another monthly bill for something I hardly use.

June 12, 2022
10:43 am
mustang
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I was wondering why they did that--i.e.,ending the online access
It was a pretty good site, I could handle everything there-- plus check all the usage calls and charges
And, of course, pay as you go no longer functional in USA, which is a huge pita for the occasional traveler.
My first thought was-- they are going to pull the pay as you go entirely
They have tried a couple of times to stealth switch me over to monthly contract charge. That's my theory-- they will keep doing "stuff" to switch me over.
Since I'm stubborn, they may just pull the pin on me completely

June 12, 2022
2:06 pm
AllanB
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savemoresaveoften said
As to Canada being one of the most expensive telecom rates, for the amount of land coverage (both wireless and wired), the amount of infrastructure that needs to be put in place, and the service we get in return, I think its relatively fair. I wont simply look at them as hugely profitable, and then complain "they make so much cuz they overcharge.) To lower price, maybe the government stop auctioning airwaves for billions of dollars every time, that will help the pricing for sure.  

Do you own Rogers, Bell, Telus or Shaw stock.

I rather they charge corporations than me.

June 12, 2022
3:13 pm
Bill
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My experience too, mustang, and yes, there's no longer a way to check your useage and charges, no access at all. I too figure pay-as-you-go's days are numbered, probably very few use it. If it happens we'll probably just switch my wife's phone to cheapest monthly plan and then just use the one phone. Sadly my Tinder days are long gone, didn't even have it when I was younger, so really what do I need my own private phone for anyway?

June 12, 2022
4:15 pm
savemoresaveoften
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AllanB said

Do you own Rogers, Bell, Telus or Shaw stock.

I rather they charge corporations than me.  

I own telecom stocks and I am also a customer. So I don’t see what is the point of your question.

If you believe they way overcharge cuz their monopoly, you can share in the wealth by becoming a shareholder. That’s the same with people complaining hydro costs too much, enbridge charges too much, banks make too much profit, blah blah. Want some cheese to go with the whine ?

June 12, 2022
4:49 pm
Bill
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And note that corporations aren't people, and any taxes "they" pay are really borne by actual people like customers, employees, shareholders, etc.

June 12, 2022
5:18 pm
COIN
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Long story short. Canada does not have "economy of scale". We are a high cost high tax country.

June 12, 2022
5:21 pm
mustang
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Bill said
My experience too, mustang, and yes, there's no longer a way to check your useage and charges, no access at all. I too figure pay-as-you-go's days are numbered, probably very few use it. If it happens we'll probably just switch my wife's phone to cheapest monthly plan and then just use the one phone. Sadly my Tinder days are long gone, didn't even have it when I was younger, so really what do I need my own private phone for anyway?  

Actually, just realized another alternative still available. I also have a Speakout phone (from 7-11)
Only $25 per year-- depending on usage, of course. But,the other thing Ijust noted--Rogers has gradually increased the per minute/text from .20 when I started, up to .70 now. So, we never used up the $100-- until this year.
Speakout still at 0.20
The advantage to Rogers were:
1. worked in USA
2. pretty decent web site to track and manage things
Both those reasons now gone

June 12, 2022
5:27 pm
Bill
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I pay Rogers, taken off my $100 annual topup, a $5/month add-on for 250 texts, which is about 200 more than I need, so the per text amount is irrelevant for me. And I never use it for voice calls. But I'll check out Speakout, thanks.

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