Products and terms
Insurable mortgage
A mortgage with 20% or more down that the lender can still insure in the background, priced between insured and uninsured.
Insurable is the middle of the 3 pricing tiers, and it's the one most people haven't heard of. You put 20% or more down, so you pay no default insurance premium. The mortgage still meets the criteria that let the lender insure it through a bulk portfolio policy.
The criteria are the usual ones for insurability: a purchase price under $1.5 million, an amortization of 25 years or less, an owner-occupied home, and a property type the insurers accept.
Because it costs the lender less to fund, an insurable mortgage is priced below an uninsured one. So choosing a 30-year amortization on a conventional purchase can move you from the insurable tier to the uninsured tier and raise your rate, whatever the market is doing.
Ask which tier your file falls into before you compare rates. An insured rate tells you nothing about what an uninsured file will pay.
Related terms
Mortgage default insurance
Insurance that protects the lender if you default, required with less than 20% down and paid for by you.
Conventional mortgage
A mortgage with a down payment of 20% or more, which doesn't need default insurance.
Uninsured mortgage
A mortgage that can't be default-insured (a refinance, a rental, a home over $1.5M or a long amortization), so it's priced highest.
This definition describes how the term is used in Canadian residential mortgage lending. It’s general information, not advice on your file. Rules, thresholds and rates change. Where a figure is quoted, it’s current as of the date shown on the related guide.
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