Learning Centre

Mortgage Guides for Canada: Lender Policy, Rates and the Arithmetic, Explained Properly

Mortgage rates are the easy part and everyone publishes them. This is the rest: what each lender actually approves, how the arithmetic works, and which of the ten situations you are in.

Your situation

The ten cases where the advertised rate does not apply to you, and what actually decides the answer.

Lender policy

What each lender will and will not approve — how it reads income, what it wants documented, who it is not for. No other Canadian rate site publishes this.

The numbers

How the arithmetic works and where the figures come from: semi-annual compounding, the stress test, land transfer tax by jurisdiction.

Market commentary

What moved rates this month and what it means for a renewal in the next ninety days.

Your situation

The ten cases where the advertised rate does not apply

A salaried buyer with 20% down and clean credit gets roughly what the board says. These do not, and the gap between the advertised rate and the real one is where the money is.

Self-Employed Write-offs that save you tax cost you mortgage. Lenders in Canada read business-for-self income very differently from one another, and which one reads yours generously decides the whole file. Bad Credit A bruised credit file is not a decline, it is a different lender. Here is what Canada borrowers with collections, missed payments or a past bankruptcy can realistically expect. Mortgage Renewal Roughly seven in ten Canadians sign the renewal letter their lender sends. That letter is almost never the lender’s best rate. Here is what Canada borrowers can switch to instead. Refinance A refinance cannot be default-insured in Canada, so it prices off the uninsured shelf — higher than the rate advertised for a purchase. Here is what that costs in Canada and when it still makes sense. Debt Consolidation Rolling credit cards at 22% into a mortgage at single digits is usually the cheapest money available to someone carrying balances. Here is how it works in Canada, and where it goes wrong. First-Time Buyer Minimum down payment, the land transfer tax rebate you are owed, and what income the stress test actually demands in Canada. New to Canada Permanent residents and work-permit holders can buy in Canada with as little as 5% down, without Canadian credit history, through newcomer programs at most major lenders. HELOC A home equity line gives you revolving access to your equity at a variable rate. Here are the loan-to-value limits that apply in Canada and what they mean in dollars. Private Mortgage Private lending is equity lending: the property matters more than the borrower. Expensive, fast, and short-term. Here is what it costs in Canada and when it is the right answer. Rental Property Non-owner-occupied property needs 20% down and prices on the uninsured shelf. How lenders in Canada treat the rental income is what decides how many you can hold.

All situations, by province →

Lender policy

What each lender will actually approve

77 profiles, written for a borrower rather than a broker. How the lender reads employment, self-employed, commission, rental and pension income; what it typically wants documented; and who it is plainly not for.

Banks

profiles

Monolines

profiles

Credit Unions

profiles

Private Lenders

profiles

The whole directory →

The numbers

How the arithmetic works, and where the figures come from

Semi-annual compounding

Canadian mortgages compound semi-annually, not in advance — i = (1 + j/2)^(2/n) − 1. Most free calculators on the internet use the American monthly formula and quietly overstate every payment they produce. On a $500,000 mortgage at 5.00% over 25 years the Canadian payment is $2,908.02; the American formula returns $2,922.95.

Fifteen dollars a month, on pages that look authoritative. The payment calculator shows its working.

The stress test

You qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus two percentage points, or 5.25%. The affordability calculator shows GDS and TDS separately, because which of the two is binding tells you what to fix.

Land transfer tax

All 13 provinces and territories plus Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Every rule carries its effective date and a link to the government page it was read from, checked 22 August 2026. Anything we could not confirm renders a visible caution rather than a confident number — Nunavut is currently flagged, because the territorial legislation site blocks automated access.

Land transfer tax by province and city →

Method

Where a figure comes from, how often it is re-checked, and what happens when it cannot be verified.

How we source and check rates →

Free Renewal Tracker

Track Best Renewal Offers up to 90 Days before Maturity

Get notified on best mortgage rates for transfer and refinance to compare your monthly savings.

Market commentary

Now publishing

What moved rates this month, what the Bank of Canada actually said rather than what the headline said it said, and what it means for a renewal landing in the next ninety days — written by the rate desk, published on a schedule.

Read Market Commentary →

Mortgage questions, answered

Is any of this gated?

Every calculator and lender profile is free to use. A free account unlocks the full rate board with the lender behind every rate, saves your application as you go, and powers the Renewal Tracker.

Who writes it?

The rate desk. Lender policy is compiled from lender documentation and checked against the lender's own published material; tax figures are read off primary government sources with the date of the check printed on the page. Where something could not be confirmed, the page says so rather than presenting it as settled.

Why publish lender qualification policy at all?

Because the rate is the last thing that gets decided and the first thing everyone publishes. Which lender will read your income generously, what it wants documented and what it will treat as an exception decides whether you are approved at all — and it is nowhere on the consumer internet. A borrower who understands that walks into the conversation knowing what they are choosing between.

How often is it updated?

The rate board every two to three business days. Lender profiles when a lender changes a programme or is acquired — three of the profiles were rewritten in the last eighteen months for exactly that reason. Tax tables are re-checked every January, because Quebec indexes annually and municipal rates move with budgets.