Explained
Understand your Canadian mortgage
The rules that decide what a Canadian mortgage costs are not intuitive, and most of what is written about them is either American or too shallow to act on. Each of these states the method, names the primary source, and works one example through — computed by the same engine the calculators on this site run on, so the explanation and the arithmetic cannot drift apart.
How Canadian mortgage penalties are calculated
Two methods, one of which costs several times the other on identical numbers — and your contract decided which one applies before you signed it.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Semi-annual compounding, explained
Canadian mortgage rates compound twice a year rather than every payment. It is a rule in the Interest Act, not a convention — and it is why an American calculator gets your payment wrong.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Which mortgage lenders are federally regulated, and why it changes your switch
OSFI writes the stress test, and OSFI regulates banks — not credit unions, not monolines, and not every institution whose name suggests otherwise.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Prepayment privileges: what 20/20 actually buys you
The pair is quoted as though it were one number. It is two, they are percentages of different things, and on an ordinary mortgage one of them is fifteen times the other.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Trigger rate and trigger point: two different things
One is arithmetic anybody can compute from three numbers. The other is a clause in your contract, and anyone showing you a calculated one is showing you a guess.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Accelerated payments: what the extra payment actually does
Bi-weekly does not save you money. Accelerated bi-weekly does — and it does it by taking more money, which is the part the brochure leaves out.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Term and amortization are not the same number
The term is how long your contract lasts. The amortization is how long the debt does. Confusing them is the most expensive misunderstanding in Canadian mortgages.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Deducting mortgage interest on a rental property (T776 line 8710)
The deductible amount is the interest, never the payment. On an ordinary rental mortgage that is about two-thirds of what leaves your account — and the share falls every year you hold it.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Blend and extend: what your lender is really offering
A way to take today's lower rate without paying a break penalty — at a rate that is not today's. Whether it is the better deal turns on a figure your lender has no reason to mention.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Renewal payment shock, calculated exactly
The most-asked mortgage question in Canada has an exact answer, and it is not a forecast. It is your balance at maturity, re-amortized over the years you have left, at whatever rate you are offered.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Home equity and loan-to-value: where the 80% line sits
Equity is not what your house is worth minus what you owe. For every purpose that matters it is that number measured against a threshold your lender enforces.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Mortgage life insurance from your lender: what it costs per dollar of cover
The premium is level for the life of the policy. The benefit is your outstanding balance, which falls every month. Those two facts together decide everything about the product.
Last reviewed August 25, 2026
Educational, and explicitly not advice. Which mortgage to take, and when to break one, stay with you, your lender, and a licensed professional.
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