Radius Financial Mortgage Review: Rates, Lending Guidelines and Who They Suit

Radius Financial Mortgage Review: Programs & Lending Guidelines

How Radius Financial'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.

Radius Financial's Mortgage Offering — Residential

Radius is a prime lender working through mortgage professionals, concentrating on insured and insurable lending with a conventional shelf behind it.

Insured and insurable mortgages on purchases and transfers, and conventional uninsured lending on purchases and refinances.

Eligible properties: owner-occupied homes, second homes occupied by the borrower or family — insured and insurable only — and rental properties where the file supports it.

Also available: purchase-plus-improvements and refinance-plus-improvements with six months to complete the work, assignment purchases, private sales, spousal arrangements, and porting in all three forms.

Every Radius mortgage is assumable, which is stated plainly rather than being an exception — a feature worth more in a rising-rate market than it sounds, because a buyer can take over a below-market rate.

Transfers are supported for both standard and collateral charges, with insured transfers qualifying at the contract rate rather than the stress-tested rate, and up to $3,000 of costs capitalized on the collateral route. Terms available on a transfer are limited to the longer options — one- and two-year rates are not offered on incoming transfers.

The offering does not extend to alternative or equity lending, and there is no published home equity line of credit or bridge program.

Radius Financial Income and Qualification Requirements

Ratios. 39% GDS and 44% TDS across the insured and insurable programs, following insurer standards.

Qualifying rate. The greater of the contract rate plus two points or the benchmark. Insured transfers qualify at the contract rate with no stress test, which is one of the clearest advantages of moving an existing insured mortgage here.

How income is read. Employment income needs a recent employment letter and pay record, with the employment verbally confirmed within 30 days of closing — so a job change late in the process will surface. Where the employer is a relative, two years of assessments are added.

Bonus, overtime and tip income needs two years of filed history. Part-time income counts in full with two years behind it, taken at the lesser of the two-year average or the most recent year; with less than two years, the employer must confirm guaranteed hours. A second job counts at up to full value with two years of history, which is more generous than the partial credit several lenders apply.

Commission income is averaged, with the two-year average used where the recent year has dropped materially. Commission income is not eligible for the stated-income route.

Seasonal income is taken at the lesser of the two-year average or the most recent year, and Employment Insurance counts where it stays within 30% of total income and there is a consistent track record. General social assistance is not accepted.

Self-employed borrowers with two years in business qualify on the average of two years or the most recent year, with a gross-up for sole proprietors and partnerships but not for incorporated borrowers. Under two years, there are insured routes — an enhanced program and a stated-income program — both built around six to twelve months of bank statements, invoices and a detailed description of the business.

Maternity and parental leave is generous here: full estimated return-to-work income where the borrower returns within eighteen months, against the twelve-month window most lenders use.

Pension income counts. Registered retirement income counts where the draw is confirmed to run at least five years. Support income counts at half by default, or in full where it stays under 30% of gross income and receipt is confirmed — and it cannot carry a file alone. Foster income counts with two years of experience where the borrower lives on site and the property is urban. Non-taxable income is grossed up.

Permanent disability income counts; temporary disability generally does not, unless the employer confirms continued employment and a return date. Provincial disability support is not accepted.

Foreign and offshore income is accepted where it is declared in Canada, the main earner is a Canadian citizen or resident, and the property is owner-occupied.

Radius Financial's Specialty Programs

New to Canada. For borrowers who arrived within the past five years, holding permanent resident or landed immigrant status or a valid work permit, with at least three months of employment. At the highest ratios, credit is established through an international bureau or two alternative references — rental history plus utilities, insurance or a bank reference. At lower ratios, six months of bank statements will do. Uninsurable lending is not available under this program, so the file has to work as an insured or insurable one.

Enhanced self-employed (insured). For borrowers under two years in business, on purchases and purchase-plus-improvements only, owner-occupied, to 95% of value with a property price ceiling. Requires a strong credit score, two seasoned trade lines and clean credit history. The down payment must include a minimum from the borrower's own resources with the balance gifted — borrowed down payment is not eligible.

Stated income (insured). Also for borrowers under two years self-employed, assessed on the reasonableness and continuity of the stated figure against the industry, years in the field and the borrower's profile. Commission income is excluded.

Purchase- and refinance-plus-improvements. Available on owner-occupied files, including under the newcomer and self-employed programs, with quotes required up front, six months to complete the work and an inspection report at the end.

Second homes. Insured and insurable only — there is no conventional route to a second property here.

Assumable mortgages. Every mortgage Radius writes can be taken over by a qualified buyer.

Transfers. Insured transfers qualify at the contract rate with no stress test, and there are no title company fees on insured five-year terms. Collateral transfers run through a title program with fees capitalized. Re-registration costs are the borrower's.

Minimum Credit Scores & Treatment of Liabilities

Scores. The enhanced self-employed program requires 680, with the high 500s or 600 considered individually. Insured and insurable lending elsewhere follows insurer standards. Uninsurable lending carries its own higher expectations, and every automated valuation route is reserved for stronger, lower-ratio files.

Credit history. The self-employed programs require two trade lines with two years of history and no delinquencies, judgments, defaults or bankruptcies — the insolvency exclusion is absolute on those programs rather than a matter of waiting.

Foster income above half of total income reduces the maximum loan-to-value to 85%, requiring a larger down payment.

Liabilities. Standard treatment across cards, loans and lines of credit, with support payments the borrower makes carried as a liability. Where support is received, only half counts unless it stays under 30% of gross income and is well documented.

Documentation currency is tightly policed. Employment letters no more than 45 days old, pay records no more than 30 days, investment statements no more than 30 days, and a verbal employment confirmation inside 30 days of closing. Several lenders in this directory accept 60-day-old documents; here the window is shorter, and a file that sits gets re-documented.

Tax assessments must show nothing owing on the self-employed programs.

Appraisals. Automated valuation is available on insurable files at or below 65% of value in larger municipalities. Every uninsurable file requires a full appraisal, without exception.

Terms & Amortization Options

Terms. Three- and five-year adjustable rates and a five-year fixed are the core offering, with other terms considered individually. One- and two-year rates are not available on transfers.

Amortization. Minimum twelve years — a floor most lenders do not publish. Insured and insurable: up to 25 years. Uninsurable: up to 30 years. First-time buyers and new construction reach 30 years on insured files.

Prepayment. A 20/20 allowance on the enhanced self-employed program, and comparable privileges across the standard offering.

Porting. Straight ports and ports with a decrease are available on requalification; a port with an increase is assessed individually.

Assumptions. All mortgages are assumable, subject to the incoming borrower qualifying.

Rate float-down. A limited reduction is available across the product range.

Registration. Standard charge, with a collateral transfer program available for borrowers moving a collateral-registered mortgage in.

Special Notes

• Every mortgage is assumable. In a market where rates have risen since funding, an assumable below-market mortgage is a genuine asset when selling.
• Insured transfers qualify at the contract rate. No stress test on an incoming insured mortgage, which can be the difference between qualifying and not.
• Eighteen months on parental leave. Full return-to-work income where the borrower returns inside eighteen months, against the twelve-month window used almost everywhere else.
• A second job counts at up to full value with two years of history.
• Provincial disability income is not accepted, and temporary disability generally is not either.
• Commission income cannot be used on the stated-income route.
• Document windows are short — 45 days on an employment letter, 30 on a pay record and on investment statements, with a verbal employment check inside 30 days of closing.
• The self-employed programs exclude any insolvency history outright.
• New to Canada is insured and insurable only — there is no conventional route for a newcomer here.
• Second homes are insured and insurable only.
• Minimum amortization is twelve years.
• Every uninsurable file needs a full appraisal, while insurable files at low ratios in larger centres can use an automated valuation.
• Re-registration costs on a transfer are the borrower's, though insured five-year transfers avoid the title company fee.

Service Area

Lending is governed by population rather than by province, and the rules differ between the insured and insurable shelves — which is unusual enough to matter when choosing a property.

Insured files: rural properties to twenty acres, with no population restrictions. A remote property can work where the mortgage is insured.

Insurable files: a maximum of five acres, and the property must sit in a population centre of at least 5,000 people. The working rule is within roughly 20 kilometres of an approved centre of 20,000 or more, or within about 5 kilometres of an approved centre between 5,000 and 20,000.

That difference is the practical point: the same rural property may be financeable as an insured purchase and not as an insurable one, so the structure and the address have to be considered together rather than separately.

Rural lending value covers the house plus five acres in both cases, with no value attributed to outbuildings.

Automated valuation is limited to larger municipalities, which is another signal of where the lending is concentrated.

Loan-to-Value Treatment

Insurance structure sets the geography, and the geography sets the ratio. An insured file can reach the highest ratios on a rural property to twenty acres; an insurable file on the same property is capped at five acres and needs a population centre of at least 5,000 nearby. On a rural purchase, deciding between an insured and insurable structure is effectively deciding whether the property qualifies at all.

Income composition adjusts the ceiling. Where foster income makes up more than half of qualifying income, the maximum drops and a larger down payment is required.

Credit tier drives the self-employed programs, with the enhanced insured route requiring a strong score and clean history to reach the top ratios.

Down payment structure matters on the self-employed programs — a minimum must come from the borrower's own resources with the remainder gifted, and borrowed funds are not eligible.

Valuation follows the ratio. Below 65% on an insurable file in a larger municipality, an automated valuation may be enough; everything uninsurable, and most other cases, requires a full appraisal.