Real Estate

Paying property taxes - options

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 9th, 2020 8:26 pm
[OP]
Sr. Member
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Dec 24, 2011
712 posts
1557 upvotes
East, Canada

Paying property taxes - options

Hello. I’m a first time home buyer. I bought a home in Halifax. The mortgage is with CIBC. I am paying 20% down.

The mortgage agent today ran through the details and he has offered that I pay my property taxes through CIBC too. He said an additional monthly payment would be taken from my CIBC account to do this. Something came up at work during this phone call so I had to cut the conversation short, but I told him ’ok’.

Are there any pros and cons with CIBC handling my tax payments? The convenience factor is minor.

After some reflection and research tonight, I’m thinking it could be financially beneficial for me to pay my property taxes directly to the city. It seems plastiq charges 2.85% to do this by credit card: is this a smart move? I could earn 2%-ish interest during the year, plus some credit card rewards. Is this the RFD way?
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2 replies
Deal Fanatic
Jun 29, 2007
5943 posts
2462 upvotes
Vancouver
I pay property taxes directly to the city myself.

Using Plastiq is good if you need to meet min spend in order to get credit card welcome bonus.

If you don't, you can use Cdn Tire credit card and get some $ or CTM back. Check out the lengthy RFD read here.
Deal Fanatic
Jan 15, 2017
5607 posts
5879 upvotes
Ottawa
Having your mortgage lender pay your property taxes on your behalf is convenient. The mortgage lender usually estimates what your property amount will be and then collects a monthly amount based on that. Typically, the mortgage lender will over estimate your property tax amount just to make sure there is enough money in the property tax account when the taxes come due. Remember, this is money that you are giving them to keep in an account for a period of time and it doesn't earn interest. Some mortgage lenders will also have fees related to property tax accounts so make sure you check that out.

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