I work in commercial banking and our rates went up 0.20% in the past 2 days as a result of the significant uptick in expectation of Cdn rates rising. I currently have a closed variable at 2.00% and I would absolutely be converting to a fixed right now if I was not expecting we would be buying a new place soon. The closed variable is only 3 months' interest as a penalty - this is easily a better deal than taking a much higher rate on an open variable as was discussed above.

Mark

It's been my experience if you're moving among the big banks they will cover any fees or charges you get hit with so you wouldn't be out of pocket for those expenses.

We cover some fees if we are bringing in a mortgage from another FI but won't cover the penalty costs.

^^

I wasn't referring to penalties just moving around.

Go with open variable just to cover it for a few months.

When I worked for big 5 mortgages usually just auto roll over to default 5 year fixed variable if no reply from clients.

Porting over mortgage (breaking term if not open), usually would incur prepayment penalty and that's usually about 3 months of interest expense. Sometimes you can get that covered by other bank/FI but if you're selling in this case that won't apply.

Asking for a friend, can anyone recommend a mortgage broker?

BOC considering raising rates after they meet in July.