Skip to content
About

Who writes this site,and how it gets checked.

mortgagepreapproval.ca is an independent Canadian mortgage reference and pre-approval intake. We are not a bank and we do not fund mortgages. Every page is written and maintained by the Canadian Mortgage Compass Editorial Desk against primary Canadian sources, and every page says when it was last reviewed.

Editorial desk

Canadian Mortgage Compass Editorial Desk

Editorial desk — mortgagepreapproval.ca

The editorial desk researches, writes, reviews, and maintains every page on mortgagepreapproval.ca. We work from primary Canadian sources — OSFI, CMHC, FCAC, the Bank of Canada, FINTRAC, and provincial regulators — and we publish the date a page was last reviewed. Mortgage applications themselves are handled by licensed mortgage professionals in the reader's own province; this site is not a lender.

What the desk covers

  • · Mortgage pre-approval process and documentation
  • · OSFI Guideline B-20 stress test mechanics
  • · CMHC default insurance and down payment rules
  • · Provincial land transfer tax and closing costs
  • · Mortgage renewal, switching, and payout penalties
Not a lender

We explain qualification and collect intake details. Applications are handled by licensed mortgage professionals in your province.

Educational, not advice

Nothing here is mortgage, legal, or tax advice, and nothing here is an offer of credit or a rate guarantee.

Canada only

Every rule cited is Canadian — federal guidelines plus the provincial layer that actually applies where you are buying.

Editorial process

How a page gets published

The same four steps apply to every guide, calculator, and answer on the site.

  1. Step one

    Sourced

    We start from the document that actually sets the rule — OSFI, CMHC, FCAC, the Bank of Canada, FINTRAC, or the relevant provincial regulator — rather than from secondary commentary.

  2. Step two

    Drafted against a real file checklist

    Guides are structured around the order a Canadian lender assesses a file, so the reading order matches the decision order.

  3. Step three

    Desk review

    The desk re-reads the draft against current sources. Anything we cannot support with a primary source is cut, not softened.

  4. Step four

    Dated and maintained

    The review date is published only when a review actually happened. Material regulatory changes trigger an out-of-cycle update.

Commitments

What you can hold us to

Primary sources first

Numbers, thresholds, and rules come from the regulator or agency that sets them, not from another blog. Where a figure moves (qualifying rates, policy rates), we say when the snapshot was taken.

Dated review, not fake freshness

A page only shows a 'last reviewed' date when the desk actually re-read it against current sources. We do not bump dates to look recent.

Corrections in the open

If something is wrong, email the desk. Substantive corrections are made promptly and noted on the affected page.

Education, not advice

This site explains how Canadian mortgage qualification works. It is not mortgage, legal, or tax advice, and it is not an offer of credit.

No pay-for-placement

Guidance content carries no affiliate links and no paid rankings. We do not sell position inside explanatory content.

Assumptions shown with every calculator

Each tool states its formula, its assumptions, and its limits, and runs entirely in your browser.

Corrections

Found something wrong? Tell us.

Accuracy matters more to us than tidiness. Email the desk with the page and the figure you think is off.

Primary sources

The desk monitors these sources and reviews affected pages when they change.

Written and reviewed by the Canadian Mortgage Compass Editorial Desk. This page is general information for Canadian readers and is not mortgage, legal, tax, or financial advice, and not an offer of credit. Rules, rates, and lender policies change; confirm your own situation with a licensed mortgage professional in your province. Editorial policy · Corrections