Energy & Money Smarts for Renovations
January 7, 2012
Has the time come to replace that aging dinosaur of a hot water tank or that inefficient noisy gas furnace? Or even better yet, considering a complete or partial renovation of your house? If the answer is yes and you’re looking for financing options, we just came across one from VanCity Bank that has been available since late 2010.
The City of Vancouver and VanCity Bank have teamed up to test a pilot program called the ‘Greenest City 2020 Home Energy Loan Program’. The program is aimed at providing easy and affordable financing for energy efficient upgrades/ renovations to your home. We’ve looked over the list of eligible upgrades, the terms and conditions that must be met in order to qualify, and the financing features, and it appears to be a no-brainer that if taking out a loan to do some or all of the eligible upgrades is the route you’re considering, then this is definitely an option to look into.
Vancity’s Home Energy Loan key features:
- low fixed interested rate of 4.5%
- 10 year amortization period
- 4.5% rate is available for loans approved prior to April 13, 2012 while rates for loans approved after this date are currently undisclosed
Should that not entice you enough to pursue such energy-smart purchases/renovation, there are a couple of rebate programs, both at the provincial and federal government levels, to be had which can be used to pay down your VanCity (or other) loan for your energy-efficient upgrades!
For residents outside of the City of Vancouver (ie. Burnaby, New Westminster etc), VanCity does provide a similar package, which in conjunction with the province’s LiveSmart BC program, sets out to achieve the same thing – to provide an avenue for financing your homes energy efficient upgrades.
So, go replace that old energy-consuming appliance with an efficient one or commit to that home renovation you have been toying with and be confident that you’ll not only be reducing your carbon footprint and saving money with energy smart upgrades, but you’ll also be making smart financing choices too!
