As a first-time homebuyer, you can’t be sure of mortgage approval due to the varying requirements of lenders.
Mortgage pre-approval helps you know how much mortgage you may be eligible for based on your personal information, financial details, and credit history.
Due to its competitive mortgage rates, many people are like you are wondering if Tangerine offers mortgage pre-approval. If yes, what are the requirements and processes? Read on to learn more.
Does Tangerine Offer Mortgage Pre-approval?
No. Tangerine doesn’t offer mortgage pre-approval. Tangerine only offers rate hold allows you to secure a mortgage rate for up to 120 days. You will not get a mortgage pre-approval when you apply for a Tangerine rate hold.
Unlike a mortgage application, your financial information, such as a credit check, is not required when applying for a Tangerine rate hold.
If you’re already a Tangerine client, all you have to do is apply for the rate hold. But if you’re not a Tangerine client, you must sign up as a Tangerine client and request for Mortgage Rate Hold.
How Tangerine Mortgage Rate Hold Works
The Tangerine Mortgage Rate Hold feature allows you to secure a mortgage rate for up to 120 from the date of application.
From a 5-year variable-rate to a 10-year fixed rate, Tangerine has a different range of competitive mortgage rates in Canada.
However, Tangerine fixed-rate are guaranteed through the rate hold, but Tangerine variable rates change without notice.
How to Apply for Tangerine Rate Hold
If you’re already a Tangerine client, all you have to do is apply for the rate hold. But if you’re not a Tangerine client, you must sign up as a Tangerine client and request for Mortgage Rate Hold.
To sign in, visit the Tangerine mortgage rate hold application page to sign up in less than 10 minutes. You don’t need to complete the full application as a new client.
As noted earlier, Tangerine doesn’t require your personal and financial information when applying for a rate hold.
What Is Mortgage Preapproval?
A mortgage preapproval is a document detailing the amount of mortgage you qualify for based on your personal information, financial information, and card history.
Knowing how much mortgage you will qualify beforehand will help you determine which lender to work with and how much downpayment you need to make.
Lenders usually require personal and financial information such as Social Insurance Number (SIN), pay stubs, tax returns, etc., to determine how much mortgage you’re eligible for.
Different mortgage lenders have different application processes. However, most lenders require you to submit your financial documents and consent for a credit check. The credit check will probably impact your credit score since it’s a loan application.
Depending on your credit lenders, lenders may provide low, high mortgage amounts for you. However, some lenders may reject your application for not meeting their requirements.
A lender will send you a preapproval letter once they approve your application. The application will be valid for up to 90 or more days, depending on the lender.
Pros of Mortgage Preapproval
1. Shop for Low Rates
Applying for different mortgage pre-approvals helps you compare the best mortgage rates in the industry.
Since there’s no limit on how many preapprovals you can send, you can submit as many preapproval applications as you want. This may be the expense of your credit score since a credit check is involved.
2. Facilitate Your Home-Buying Process
Applying for a mortgage preapproval shows how serious you’re is in getting fast mortgage approval. Preapproval helps cut unnecessary steps that you may pass through if you were to apply for a mortgage directly.
Hence, lenders are ready to offer your fast mortgage approvals when you apply for mortgage preapproval.
3. Secure Rate
Lenders like Tangerine allow you to secure mortgage rates for up to 120 days.
Things change quickly in this industry. Locking up your interest rate for up to 120 days means interest rate increases in the future.
Cons of Mortgage Preapproval
1. Impact Your Credit Score
A credit check is one of the major requirements for mortgage preapproval approval. Without consenting to your credit check, most lenders will not approve your mortgage preapproval application without consenting to your credit check.
However, the credit check is a hard inquiry that can decrease your credit score. The more mortgage preapproval application you send, the more your credit score go down.
Even though the credit score decrease is temporal, it may affect you in a short while in terms of borrowing terms and rates.
2. No Mortgage Guarantee
There’s no guarantee for a mortgage preapproval application. This means you can save your time by applying for a mortgage directly instead of wasting time on preapproval.
3. Valid for Limited Period
Approval for mortgage preapproval is only valid for a certain period. Running out within the approval period means starting the application process over again. This means decreasing your credit score again.
Overview of Tangerine Mortgage
The Tangerine mortgage is one of Canada’s best mortgages with low rates and fast application processes.
Many Canadians see Tangerine mortgage as a cost-effective alternative to the big banks and private lenders as per rates and fees.
Consequently, Tangerine mortgage has over 2 million clients across different parts of Canada.
Like other neobanks, Tangerine offers low-interest mortgage rates because of its low operational cost as an online-only bank accessible online and mobile app.
You don’t have to worry about the mortgage application process with Tangerine. A Mortgage Account Manager is available to help you throughout the process.
Key Features of Tangerine Mortgage
1. Low Rates
The Tangerine mortgage has one of the industry’s lowest flexible and variable mortgage rates. These interest rates are guaranteed up to 120 days through the Tangerine Rate Hold or preapproval feature.
2. Flexible Repayment Options
Tangerine has one of the industry’s flexible mortgage repayment options ranging from 25% annual lump sum prepayment to 25% deposit of annual payments.
This allows you to pay your mortgage balance fast and save costs from interest payment.
3. Mortgage Calculators
If you’re uncertain of your actual monthly mortgage payment, the Tangerine mortgage payment calculator can help you out. Tangerine also has a calculator for estimating mortgage amounts.
4. Mortgage Account Managers
Applicants for Tangerine mortgages don’t have to worry about the complex application process for a mortgage. Tangerine’s Mortgage Account Manager helps each applicant throughout the application process.
Tangerine Mortgage Rates
Tangerine mortgage rates are one of the industry’s lowest. The following table presents Tangerine variable and fixed mortgage rates as of the time of writing this article:
Mortgage Term | Rate |
5-Year Variable Mortgage | 1.45% |
1-Year Fixed Mortgage | 2.89% |
2-Year Fixed Mortgage | 2.29% |
3-Year Fixed Mortgage | 2.29% |
4-Year Fixed Mortgage | 2.64% |
5-Year Fixed Mortgage | 2.74% |
7-Year Fixed Mortgage | 3.24% |
10-Year Fixed Mortgage | 3.69% |
Tangerine Variable vs Fixed Rates Mortgage
It’s essential to know the cost of applying for the Tangerine variable and fixed rate. The variable rate is subject to prime fluctuations and can change without notice. In other words, your mortgage interest can increase when prime rates increase.
That said, a significant portion of your payment will be used to clear your principal when the primate rate falls. However, a significant portion of your payment will be used to clear your interest when the prime rate increases.
The variable rate is the best option if you have a high-risk profile and are comparable to predicting a forthcoming prime decrease.
However, Tangerine allows you to convert your variable mortgage rate to a fixed mortgage rate to enjoy interest stability.
Tangerine’s 5-year variable mortgage has one of the industry’s low rates of 1.45%. Having a 5-year variable mortgage rate means you don’t have to worry should the prime rate fluctuate within the 5-year period.
Hence, the 5-year variable mortgage term is the most used mortgage term among Canadians.
That said, if you’re looking for a Tangerine mortgage, the interest is fixed and secured for up to 120 days of application.
READ MORE: Tangerine Mortgage Rates
Tangerine Mortgage Payment Options
Tangerine has different payment options to suit borrowers of different incomes. You can make mortgage payments on the following schedules:
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Monthly
- Semi-monthly
If you want to fasten your mortgage payment, Tangerine allows you to make accelerated weekly and bi-weekly payments.
Tangerine Mortgage Prepayment Options
The Tangerine mortgage has two major prepayment options, which are not common with other mortgages in Canada. These are:
- 25% annual lump sum prepayment
- 25% deposit of annual payments
With these flexible prepayment options, paying your mortgage ahead of time has been made easy.
Tangerine Home Equity Line of Credit
Once approved for the Tangerine mortgage, you can use your home equity to secure a recurring line of credit known as a home equity line of credit (HELOC).
The beauty of HELOC is that it allows you to qualify for the industry’s lowest interest rates with favourable terms.
Taking a loan while having a mortgage can be a risky adventure, especially if you don’t have a stable means of income. However, a HELOC allows you to take advantage of your existing home equity to secure low-interest loans.
The Tangerine home equity line of credit offers low-interest loans with interest-only monthly payments. Not until you reach your credit limit, you can borrow as much as you want through HELOC.
However, meeting your HELOC interest payment alongside your monthly mortgage payment can be a difficult task.
With Tangerine Fixed Payback Plan, you can pay your complete interest and principal at once instead of monthly.
Tangerine Mortgage Account Manager
As mentioned previously, the Tangerine has a Mortgage Manager Account to help applicants pass through the mortgage application process successfully.
A Mortgage Account Manager will be assigned to you immediately when applied for a Tangerine Mortgage. The main function of the Mortgage Account Manager is to guide you through the complex process of a mortgage application.
In addition to helping you apply for a mortgage, the Mortgage Account Manager is also available to help you refinance or renew your mortgage and HELOC application.
Tangerine Mortgage Pros and Cons
Like other mortgages in Canada, the Tangerine mortgage has good and ugly sides. The following are the things you need to know before applying for a Tangerine mortgage.
Pros
- Competitive rates: Tangerine mortgage has one of the industry’s lowest flexible and variable mortgage rates.
- Rate Hold: Tangerine interest rates are guaranteed up to 120 days through the
- Flexible repayment options: You can repay your Tangerine mortgage fast through a 25% annual lump sum prepayment or a 25% deposit of annual payments.
- Mortgage Account Managers: Applicants for Tangerine mortgage don’t have to worry about the complex application process for a mortgage. Tangerine has dedicated Mortgage Account Managers that help each applicant throughout the application process.
- Mortgage calculators: The Tangerine mortgage payment calculator helps you calculate your exact monthly mortgage payment. You can also use the estimate calculator to know how much a particular mortgage costs.
Cons
- Collateral charge mortgage: While it is less expensive to refinance your mortgage with Tangerine, it costs a lot to switch to another lender.
Verdict
That’s everything you need to know! No Tangerine mortgage pre-approval!
While Tangerine doesn’t offer mortgage approval, it allows you to secure a mortgage rate for up to 120 days.
If you need more clarification or have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment below.