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"Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

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Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#221

Post by bonestamp2 »

topspin wrote: post #186
ThisIsMyAltAcct wrote: post #25

> The whistleblower, whom The Bureau is calling D.M., immigrated to Canada as an international student from India, making him a minority among mostly Chinese-Canadian co-workers at the Aurora branch. > “I am going to reveal potential mortgage fraud at HSBC Bank Canada and possibly some employees benefited from the fraud, financially pocketing thousands of dollars, which I call the proceeds of crime.” > FINTRAC’s stud…

> Sounds like that branch is compromised "Since 2015, the whistleblower concluded, more than 10 Toronto-area HSBC branches had issued at least $500-million" It's not a branch. It's the whole bank. And you can safely infer it's not the only bank.

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely a problem, and something needs to be done, but lets also try to keep it in perspective... $500 million could well be 500 mortgages in Toronto. That would be about 0.02% of the private dwellings in Toronto.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#222

Post by bonestamp2 »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #128
ThisIsMyAltAcct wrote: post #25

> The whistleblower, whom The Bureau is calling D.M., immigrated to Canada as an international student from India, making him a minority among mostly Chinese-Canadian co-workers at the Aurora branch. > “I am going to reveal potential mortgage fraud at HSBC Bank Canada and possibly some employees benefited from the fraud, financially pocketing thousands of dollars, which I call the proceeds of crime.” > FINTRAC’s stud…

Are US banks just a lot more strict about source of income than Canadian banks?

No. I've purchased homes in both countries and from what I've seen, US banks are far less strict. Policies, procedures, and operations are very undisciplined at many US banks (compared to Canadian banks). I have noticed some are starting to become more strict in the past 5 years though.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#223

Post by csdreamer7 »

gspetr wrote: post #180
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Canada is the most overrated of all the developed countries You're also a politically stable energy and resource exporter bang next to a global economic superpower and security guarantor. Oh, and access to two oceans and soon a third. Canada has plenty of problems. But it's also tremendously blessed.

What's funny is that if we substitute Canada with Russia in your comment, every word of it still holds true. I suppose "stable" and "stagnant" are two sides of the same coin.

Calling China Russia's security guarantor is a stretch at best. The military difference between the two, while growing, is no where near the difference between the USA and Canada.

I would argue Russia's nuclear arsenal is a far more reliable guarantor of their security then China would ever be.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#224

Post by ashconnor »

diego_moita wrote: post #163
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #108

I have said this over and over again: Canada is the most overrated of all the developed countries. The whole country is a gigantic house of cards propped up by real estate, with horrible service quality, terrible healthcare, no jobs, ZERO innovation, risk taking and entrepreneurship. Having lived and travelled extensively, most Canadians want a house somewhere in the woods instead of doing something meaningful with t…

As an immigrant into Canada: even if that description were true, it still would make it a lot better than the majority of other countries in the world. Luckily, Canada is a lot better than your description.

The comment is complete hyperbole and isn't even correct. Real estate is bigger in the US than Canada.

Every developed country is running into immigration and housing issues. Canada isn't alone and isn't even the worst case.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#225

Post by vexna »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #219
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #108

I have said this over and over again: Canada is the most overrated of all the developed countries. The whole country is a gigantic house of cards propped up by real estate, with horrible service quality, terrible healthcare, no jobs, ZERO innovation, risk taking and entrepreneurship. Having lived and travelled extensively, most Canadians want a house somewhere in the woods instead of doing something meaningful with t…

> Where US got the best talent from India, Canada got the worst, the ones who scam their way here and take the lowest level jobs. Source? I haven't heard this claim before.

Canada currently has an issue with handing out way too many student visas to students going to strip mall diploma mills. I believe the federal government has just enforced a cap for the next 2 years.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#226

Post by gscott »

avidiax wrote: post #193
SunlightEdge wrote: post #100

To maybe offer a different perspective: I think the Canadian mortgages linked to Chinese accounts will likely all be paid. What may be happening is that there is a lot of underground chinese financial activity that is not recorded in Canada and part of this 'network' is utilized to get money out of china.

> I think the Canadian mortgages linked to Chinese accounts will likely all be paid. This is a "heads, I win", "tails, you lose" type of scam. The mortgage holders are all judgement proof. They have no income or assets to go after. So if the housing market crashes, the banks have no recourse. It's the same as taking out a mortgage and instead of buying a house, you go to the casino and bet double or nothing. Sure, th…

There is probably an unlimited number of people in China would would like to own Canada real estate. As long as you don't block those sales it can continue forever.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#227

Post by boringg »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #108

I have said this over and over again: Canada is the most overrated of all the developed countries. The whole country is a gigantic house of cards propped up by real estate, with horrible service quality, terrible healthcare, no jobs, ZERO innovation, risk taking and entrepreneurship. Having lived and travelled extensively, most Canadians want a house somewhere in the woods instead of doing something meaningful with t…

It's annoying that the top comment isn't related to the article but just a self-hating Canadian ranting about the current woes of the country. It's also classic Canadian behavior.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#228

Post by raydev »

hnarn wrote: post #121
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #108

I have said this over and over again: Canada is the most overrated of all the developed countries. The whole country is a gigantic house of cards propped up by real estate, with horrible service quality, terrible healthcare, no jobs, ZERO innovation, risk taking and entrepreneurship. Having lived and travelled extensively, most Canadians want a house somewhere in the woods instead of doing something meaningful with t…

> The whole country is a gigantic house of cards propped up by real estate That’s quite the statement, I assume you have quite the source for it. The price-to-rent ratio isn’t that far off from the US, for example.

> The price-to-rent ratio isn’t that far off from the US, for example.

I'd love to see the numbers that back this up that also don't include SF, LA, NYC, Miami, or Seattle.

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#229

Post by [deleted] »

avidiax wrote: post #193
SunlightEdge wrote: post #100

To maybe offer a different perspective: I think the Canadian mortgages linked to Chinese accounts will likely all be paid. What may be happening is that there is a lot of underground chinese financial activity that is not recorded in Canada and part of this 'network' is utilized to get money out of china.

> I think the Canadian mortgages linked to Chinese accounts will likely all be paid. This is a "heads, I win", "tails, you lose" type of scam. The mortgage holders are all judgement proof. They have no income or assets to go after. So if the housing market crashes, the banks have no recourse. It's the same as taking out a mortgage and instead of buying a house, you go to the casino and bet double or nothing. Sure, th…

[deleted]

Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks

#230

Post by EasyMark »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #108

I have said this over and over again: Canada is the most overrated of all the developed countries. The whole country is a gigantic house of cards propped up by real estate, with horrible service quality, terrible healthcare, no jobs, ZERO innovation, risk taking and entrepreneurship. Having lived and travelled extensively, most Canadians want a house somewhere in the woods instead of doing something meaningful with t…

I would posit that the US is headed down a similar road with christofascism in the red states. They seem to be in a race to the bottom when it comes to freedom and prosperity. Texas once moderated that but no more, I'm due to move out of this in a couple of months and probably in a nick of time. So Canada might not be alone.
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