Make way for readers | Rise in the key rate: fears for the future

The possibility of a 75 basis point hike in the key rate in July, as predicted by RBC and BMO economists, worries readers of The Press whose budget is disrupted and who therefore consider postponing or canceling certain purchases. Others, better advised or more fortunate, cross their fingers in the hope of not being affected too much, at least for the moment.

Posted at 9:00 a.m.

Vincent Larin

Vincent Larin
The Press

For our part, we have been well advised and we have 4 years left at a fixed rate of 1.84% for a mortgage of $290,000. However, I fear renewal and our ability to pay if inflation continues at this rate. With three children, everything is expensive and every little unexpected puts a lot of pressure on a budget, despite a family salary of $110,000.

Dominic Aubin

It will hurt. My pension is frozen for another year and a half. We will have to make choices that we would not have thought we had to make. Extras will suffer, such as restaurants, shows, trips… We will do less!

Jean-Pierre Gagne

With a variable rate on recently purchased land, we will have to delay the construction of the chalet since we also used the home equity line of credit for the initial payment. I put a little less aside than before, so less on RRSPs/RESPs, I have a triplex and the rents haven’t increased, since my family lives there, so I absorb all the additional costs.

Martin Poirier

[Nous sommes] allocated for the purchase of a car. We push back until later. We are retiring in 2025, our mortgage will expire, impossible to think of living in our house with the new rates. You will have to sell.

Marie-Ange Goguen

Totally agree with a rate hike. As a pensioner dependent on my savings, the interest rate must be equal to or higher than inflation, otherwise I am a loser.

Jacques-Bertrand Pichette

It doesn’t affect our lifestyle or habits at all. Besides the fact that I know it will stay that way for a long time. […] For the sake of keeping track of my things, last year I set all my variable rates from 1.5% to 1.70%. Thus, the rise in rates will not be felt for us for four years.

Philippe Fournier

No, a rate hike will not affect my budget. I am in the middle class and I accompany hundreds of clients each year in their financial life at work. We simply consume too much. Knowing how to save money, reducing consumption of unnecessary items, reducing subscriptions and bills to a minimum, getting around by bike, driving slower, not rejuvenating it every three or four years, choosing affordable restaurants, drinking less alcohol, not smoking and paying your debts quickly… and so on. There are plenty of opportunities to save. You just have to have the mental click that the needs are unlimited, and the resources are not. Let’s start by changing our behaviors, and financial stress will disappear, in most cases, on its own!

Jean-Francois Levesque-Martel

For my part, I do not feel the direct effects of the latest increases, but rather the collateral effects. I don’t have big investments or a mortgage, but I’m a 31-year-old self-employed woman just starting up a business in a rural area, so I don’t have public transportation. In a precarious situation, inflation makes life very difficult. I even have to eat into the meager cash down that I have saved over the past few years to pay for everything, making the dream of one day buying a property more fanciful. I must say that I also have parents who help me financially, who lend me money when I can’t pay my rent. I don’t know how I would get there without their support.

Myriam Lefebvre

Very happy, because our investments will now pay off. A little thought for those who have seen a little too big when buying a house, a vehicle or a chalet.

Michael Caron


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