Mortgage tips: What is Canada’s interest rate right now? [Video]

Mortgage shopping isn’t getting much easier these days.

The highly anticipated interest rate cuts so many have been banking on this year keep getting pushed back, while borrowers lost an aggressive rate advertiser after HSBC Canada was taken over by RBC.

The challenges mean it’s all the more important to do research and negotiate on rates, mortgage experts say, though they also caution that there’s more to focus on than just what looks like the cheapest upfront option.

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It’s not just brokers who emphasize the importance of negotiating — even RBC chief executive Dave McKay points out that they’re expected.

In pushing back against criticism that the bank’s takeover of HSBC Canada would lower mortgage competition, he said the international bank’s low rates were a marketing ploy and that it generally didn’t move from them, whereas other banks do.

“They didn’t negotiate with the customer a better rate …