Home Trust Mortgage Review: Rates, Lending Guidelines and Who They Suit

Home Trust Mortgage Review: Programs & Lending Guidelines

How Home Trust's lending guidelines read from the broker side — the programs on the shelf, how income is qualified, credit floors, terms and where they lend. Consumer-facing policy only: broker submission mechanics and compensation are out of scope, and guidelines change, so confirm anything you are planning around with the lender or a licensed broker.

Home Trust's Mortgage Offering — Residential

Home Trust runs three distinct shelves, and a borrower who does not fit one is frequently placed on another.

Accelerator — the prime shelf. Insured and insurable mortgages on purchases, transfers and rentals, priced and underwritten to insurer standards, including newcomer, stated-income self-employed and second-home programs.

Classic (Alternative) — the alternative shelf, and the one Home Trust is known for. Purchases and refinances on owner-occupied homes and rentals, with no minimum credit score, debt service to 60% and beyond, and a wide view of income. Nothing here is insured.

EquityAccess — reverse mortgages for homeowners 55 and over.

Equityline Visa. A revolving line of credit accessed through a Visa card, secured against the home, in first or second position — including behind another lender's mortgage. It can be combined with a Classic first mortgage under one registration, is available on rentals as well as owner-occupied homes, carries no minimum credit score, and is fully open. Payments are interest only. Very little else in this directory does the same thing.

Also available: secondary financing to 80%, lending in a holding or operating company with a personal guarantee, small commercial lending on buildings of five units and up, assumptions on both shelves, and a transfer program with legal and title costs covered.

No bridge financing, no standalone second mortgage product, and no variable or adjustable-rate mortgages at all — every term here is fixed or open.

Home Trust Income and Qualification Requirements

Ratios by program.

Qualifying rate. The greater of the contract rate plus two points or the benchmark.

How income is read. The Classic shelf accepts salaried, hourly, contract, part-time, bonus, casual, commission, seasonal, pension, investment, disability, support, foster, adoption and child benefit income. Child benefits count in full where they run the length of the term and can be grossed up. Non-taxable income is grossed up on the alternative side. Maternity and parental leave counts with a signed employer letter confirming salary and the return date. Employment Insurance and workers' compensation are considered.

Rideshare, delivery and short-term rental income counts with two years of history and supporting bank statements — treated as self-employment.

Foreign income is accepted on the alternative side where the borrower's permanent residence is in Canada, supported by a job letter, six months of pay records, six months of foreign bank statements showing deposits, and evidence the money is being wired into a Canadian account. Most lenders here require income to be declared on a Canadian return; this is a genuine alternative for a borrower earning abroad and living here.

Self-employed borrowers have two routes. On the alternative side, twelve months of bank statements with financial statements establish income. On the Accelerator side there is a stated-income program requiring two years of self-employment and a minimum 10% down payment, half of which must be the borrower's own. Commission income is not eligible for that program.

Down payment may come from own resources, a gift from immediate family, or borrowed funds, secured or unsecured — which is rare outside insured programs. Vendor take-back financing is not accepted.

There is no closing cost requirement, which quietly helps a purchase where the cash is tight.

Non-residents are financed under Classic, and non-permanent residents are considered individually.

Home Trust's Specialty Programs

Classic (Alternative). No minimum credit score on purchases or refinances. Debt service flexible to 60% and, with support, beyond. Consumer proposals and past bankruptcies are acceptable. Amortization to 30 years, lending to 80% of value. This is the core alternative offering.

Equityline Visa and Classic One Charge. A revolving secured line accessed by Visa card and cheques, up to $1 million on the Visa portion, to 80% of value in combination with a mortgage or 65% for the line on its own. Available in first or second position, including behind another lender's mortgage, and permitted on rental properties. No minimum credit score. Interest-only payments. The limit can often be increased within the first few months without a full re-underwrite.

EquityAccess reverse mortgages. Three tiers for owner-occupied homes worth at least $250,000, with no minimum credit score: a lump-sum product to 40% of value; a version adding scheduled and ad-hoc advances to 55%; and a boosted tier for borrowers 70 and over reaching 59%. Repayable on sale, on vacating the home, or on death.

Accelerator new to Canada. Newcomers within five years, with zero credit score accepted on insured files at the relevant credit standard, or credit established through an international report or two alternative references. Three months of Canadian full-time employment required, and debts held abroad count in the ratios. Foreign income is not accepted on this program.

Accelerator second and vacation homes. Secondary homes to 95% with 5% down; two- and three-season vacation homes to 90% with 10% down — a property type most lenders here decline outright. Loan sizes are capped by region and the property value ceiling moves with the ratio.

Accelerator stated income. Self-employed borrowers to 90% of value with two years in business, insured, requiring a 10% down payment of which half must be the borrower's own.

Alternative rental program. To 80% of value, amortization to 30 years, flexible debt service, gifted down payment permitted, and up to eleven doors — ten rentals plus the borrower's home. Rental income counts generously: 95% offset on other properties, 80% added back on the subject.

Accelerator rental program. Insured, duplexes to fourplexes only — no condominiums and no single-family homes — with ratios at 39/44 and no gifted down payment.

Corporate lending. Mortgages in a holding or operating company with a personal guarantee, rentals included.

Minimum Credit Scores & Treatment of Liabilities

On the alternative side there is no minimum credit score — on purchases, on refinances, on rentals, or on the Equityline Visa. That is the defining feature, and it is published rather than negotiated.

On the Accelerator side, insured files require 640 per applicant and insurable files 680 per applicant. The reverse mortgage has no minimum.

Credit history. Classic accepts consumer proposals and past bankruptcies. Accelerator requires two trade lines with two years of history, and a bankruptcy discharged at least two years with two years of re-established credit, usually at a rate premium.

What can be paid from the proceeds: tax arrears, consumer proposals and spousal buyouts. A bankruptcy that has not been discharged cannot be cleared this way — the discharge has to happen first.

Liabilities. Heating is a flat monthly figure by square footage, with condominiums at the lowest band. Shelter costs are always included in liabilities. Property tax and half of condominium fees count on rental files.

Property taxes are administered by the lender, with borrowers able to pay directly by exception.

Guarantors are permitted but are not registered on title. On the stated-income program a spouse can only guarantee where they occupy the property.

A statutory declaration is not accepted in place of a separation agreement on a spousal buyout, which is stricter than several lenders here.

Terms & Amortization Options

Terms. One-, two- and three-year fixed, plus a one-year open. Four- and five-year terms are considered. There is no variable or adjustable-rate product anywhere in the offering, which is worth knowing before a borrower plans to float and lock later.

Amortization. Up to 30 years on the Classic and alternative rental programs. Accelerator rentals run 5 to 25 years. On transfers, insured files keep the existing schedule and insurable files take the lesser of the remaining amortization or 25 years.

Payments. Biweekly, accelerated biweekly and monthly. The Equityline Visa is interest-only.

Prepayment. A lump sum of up to 20% of the original principal on the anniversary date.

Penalties. The greater of an interest rate differential or three months' interest. A bona fide sale clause applies to closed mortgages, meaning the mortgage can only be broken on a genuine sale of the property — a borrower who simply wants to refinance elsewhere mid-term cannot. The Equityline Visa is fully open, and Accelerator adjustable files carry three months' interest.

Porting. Accelerator mortgages are portable. Alternative mortgages are not — a move is treated as an entirely new application.

Rate holds. 90 days on a purchase, 60 on a refinance. No pre-approvals.

Renewal. A mortgage with no signed renewal agreement automatically rolls into an open term, which prices higher than a closed one. Worth acting on before maturity rather than after.

Registration is a standard charge, including on transfers where collateral charges are merged into a standard registration.

Special Notes

• No minimum credit score on the alternative shelf. Published, not negotiated, and it extends to rentals and to the secured Visa line.
• The Equityline Visa can sit behind another lender's mortgage. Revolving home equity credit in second position behind an outside first is rare, and it means a borrower with a cheap first mortgage does not have to break it to access equity.
• Foreign income is accepted on the alternative side for a borrower resident in Canada earning abroad — with pay records, foreign statements and evidence of transfers.
• The bona fide sale clause is the constraint to understand. A closed mortgage here can only be broken on a genuine sale. A borrower expecting to refinance mid-term should plan around it.
• Alternative mortgages are not portable. A move means a new application.
• No variable or adjustable rates at all.
• Two- and three-season vacation homes are financed to 90% on the insured shelf.
• Borrowed down payment is permitted, secured or unsecured.
• No closing cost requirement.
• Up to eleven doors on the alternative rental program.
• An undischarged bankruptcy cannot be cleared from the proceeds, though tax arrears, consumer proposals and spousal buyouts can.
• A statutory declaration will not replace a separation agreement.
• Renewal defaults to an open term where nothing is signed.
• Rural appetite is limited. A house plus five acres, no outbuildings, near an urban area, with year-round paved access and no land rented to anyone else.
• Condominium minimums vary by market — no floor in Toronto and Vancouver, exceptions available in the surrounding regions, and 700 square feet elsewhere.

Service Area

Nine provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec. Saskatchewan and the territories are outside the footprint.

The reverse mortgage is narrower — Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Alberta only, with no availability in Manitoba, New Brunswick or the territories.

Rental lending requires marketable urban or suburban markets on both shelves.

Rural appetite is explicitly limited. Lending value covers a house plus five acres with no value for outbuildings, and the property needs to be near an urban centre with year-round paved road access and no portion of the land rented to a third party.

Condominium size minimums track the market: no minimum in Toronto or Vancouver, exceptions possible under 700 square feet in the surrounding regions and Ottawa, and 700 square feet elsewhere. Micro condominiums are considered.

An automated valuation route exists in specified locations; elsewhere a full appraisal is required on every alternative file.

Loan-to-Value Treatment

Ratio buys flexibility on the alternative shelf. Debt service runs to 60% at 80% loan-to-value, and the guidelines are explicitly more accommodating below 65% — so a larger down payment or more existing equity translates directly into more room on income.

A sliding scale applies to rentals and high-rise condominiums, reducing lending on higher-value properties in those categories specifically rather than across the board.

On the reverse mortgage, age drives everything — the older the youngest borrower, the higher the advance, with a dedicated tier at 70 and over.

Minimum loan $150,000, with no published maximum. Insurance on the stated-income program is borrower-paid above 70% of value and lender-paid at or below it.