Products and terms
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.
Uninsured is the top of the 3 pricing tiers. A mortgage lands here when it can't be insured at all. Skipping the premium with 20% down doesn't put you here on its own.
The usual reasons: it's a refinance, which is never eligible; the property is a rental or isn't owner-occupied; the purchase price is over $1.5 million; or the amortization is longer than 25 years on a file that doesn't qualify for the first-time buyer or new-build exception.
This surprises borrowers with a lot of equity. Having 45% equity won't get you an insured rate on a refinance, because the transaction type decides the tier, whatever your equity.
It also means your amortization choice can change your price. Taking 30 years on a conventional purchase can move a file from the insurable tier to the uninsured tier and raise the rate, whatever the market is doing.
Related terms
Insurable mortgage
A mortgage with 20% or more down that the lender can still insure in the background, priced between insured and uninsured.
Mortgage default insurance
Insurance that protects the lender if you default, required with less than 20% down and paid for by you.
Refinance
Replacing your mortgage with a larger one and taking the difference in cash, capped at 80% of the property's value.
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.
Sharp rates. The full picture.
Ask Daniel about this term
Daniel De Sousa, Mortgage Associate, can walk you through it before you sign anything. Or get a rate quote: 6 questions, about two minutes, and no credit check to start.
No credit check, and no commitment.