The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that the Bank of Canada has tossed borrowers another bone with a quarter-point rate cut. The Post's Robert McLister writes that the benchmark prime rate is down to 6.45 per cent, directly benefiting floating-rate borrowers. Leading variable rates are now as low as 5.15 per cent. You will shell out at least 45 basis points more (5.60 per cent) if your mortgage is uninsured. As for home equity lines of credit, they now start with a "6" again. A slew of lenders dropped HELOC rates to 6.95 per cent, but you might be able to negotiate even less if you are well qualified. The same forces pushing the BOC to cut rates are also helping fixed-rate borrowers. Fixed rates are benchmarked to bond market yields, which are tanking faster than the Liberal government's re-election hopes. One popular gauge of the price lenders pay for mortgage funds is Canada's five-year government bond yield. The yield has sunk to a 17-month low. As a result, we are probably not far from seeing 3.99 per cent five-year fixed rates for the first time in more than two years -- at least of the insured variety. That is a welcomed departure from the 5.54-per-cent peak we hit at this time last year.