UNDERSTANDING YOUR OPTIONS

Compare the paths that fit your situation

These filters compare lending strategies—not volatile lender-by-lender rate quotes. A formal review confirms the right path and total cost for your file.

The short version

Prime

A lenders

Salaried or two-plus years self-employed, credit above roughly 680, debt ratios inside standard limits, and a property a bank is comfortable with.

WORKS FOR YOU

• Best available rate
• Widest product choice
• Longest terms

THE TRADE-OFF

• Least flexible on income documentation
• One awkward detail can sink the file

WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU

• Every dollar of income has to be provable on paper the way the lender wants it
• The stress test applies — your options look at a higher rate than you pay
• Breaking a fixed term early can carry an interest rate differential penalty that surprises people

Alternative

B lenders — Equitable, Home Trust, Haventree, CMLS and similar

Self-employed with real income that does not show on tax returns, credit rebuilding after a rough patch, newcomers without Canadian credit history, or an unusual property.

• Approves files banks decline
• Bank statement and contract income accepted
• Fast, pragmatic underwriting
• Higher rate
• Lender fee applies
• Short term means you must plan the next move
• This is not a lesser mortgage, it is a different underwriting standard — they look at the whole picture instead of one ratio
• The higher rate buys you an approval now; it is priced as temporary because it is meant to be temporary
• The fee is real and should be quoted to you up front, in dollars, before you commit

Private

Individual lenders and MICs

Arrears or an active foreclosure, a closing that has to happen this week, a property no institutional lender will touch, or income that cannot be documented at all yet.

• Fastest close
• Equity-driven, not income-driven
• Solves problems nothing else can
• Most expensive option
• Fees on both sides
• Requires a defined exit before you sign
• Private money buys time and nothing else — the value is entirely in what you do with that time
• Equity is what qualifies you here, not income or credit
• If nobody has shown you a written exit plan, you are not being properly advised

Every B or private mortgage needs an exit plan

This is the part that gets skipped, and it is the part that costs people money. A short term is not a catch — it is the mechanism. You take the higher rate for a defined period, fix the specific thing that kept you out of prime, and move. If nobody has told you what you are fixing and by when, the plan does not exist yet.

Name the blocker precisely

Not "bad credit" — the specific score, the specific missed payment, the specific missing tax year.

Fix it on a schedule

Payments on time, revolving balances under 30% of the limit, two full years of filed income. Most of this is measured in months, not years.

Start the move six months early

Not at renewal. Six months before, so there is room to shop and no pressure to accept whatever is offered.

Compare the total cost, not the rate

A slightly higher rate with no fee sometimes beats a lower rate with a 1% fee. Run the actual dollars.

Not sure where your file lands?

Four questions and no obligation will tell you which tier fits, what is standing in the way, and the route back to prime.