Debt consolidation calculator
Enter what you owe and what it costs you. See the single payment that replaces it, whether it fits inside 80% of your home's value, and what the trade-off actually is.
Your debts
Your mortgage & home
Results
Freed up every monthless going out the door each month
Consolidating lowers the monthly payment but stretches the debt over a longer period. The last row shows what that debt costs if you only ever make the minimum — read it before you decide.
Results are estimates for illustration only, calculated with Canadian semi-annual compounding. They are not an offer of credit, do not include property tax, condo fees, insurance or closing costs unless stated, and your actual rate and approval depend on your credit, income, property and lender. August 2026 rates.
Placed with Canada's banks, monolines, credit unions and alternative lenders
Lender names shown for reference. Availability, pricing and guidelines vary by province, property and borrower profile.
Why consolidating works, in one sentence
Unsecured debt is priced for risk the lender cannot see; mortgage debt is priced against a house they can. Moving a balance from 19.99% to mortgage rates does not make the debt disappear, but it changes what that debt costs to carry from something punishing to something manageable.
The other half of the effect is the amortization. A credit card's minimum payment is designed to keep you paying for a decade; a car loan is compressed into four or five years. Spread the same balances over a mortgage amortization and the monthly obligation falls by an amount that is usually the difference between a tight month and a broken one.
Read the last row of the results. The calculator shows what that consolidated debt costs over the full amortization if you only ever make the minimum. That number is the honest counterweight to the monthly saving. Consolidation is a cash-flow tool — it becomes a wealth tool only if you deliberately accelerate the payoff afterwards.
What consolidating usually does to your credit score
Revolving utilization — how much of your available credit you are using — is one of the heaviest inputs into a Canadian bureau score. Taking cards from near their limits down to zero typically produces a visible improvement within one to two reporting cycles.
The risk is behavioural, not mathematical. Cleared cards are open cards, and the single most common way a good consolidation goes wrong is that the balances rebuild while the mortgage carries the old ones. Close what you do not need, lower the limits on what you keep, and treat the freed-up cash flow as already spoken for.
- Ask your lender to pay the creditors directly at closing rather than depositing funds to you.
- Keep one card with a modest limit for genuine emergencies and cancel the rest.
- Set a permanent payment increase on the mortgage equal to a third of what you freed up, effective the month it funds.
- Check both bureaus about 60 days after funding to confirm every account reports a zero balance.
The 80% ceiling, and what to do when you hit it
A refinance in Canada cannot exceed 80% of the appraised value of the home. If your mortgage plus the debt you want to roll in lands above that line, an A-lender refinance is not available — but the file is not dead.
| Situation | Route | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Inside 80%, good credit and income | A-lender refinance | Best available rates |
| Inside 80%, bruised credit or non-traditional income | Alternative (B) lender refinance | Roughly 1–2% above A rates plus ~1% lender fee |
| Above 80%, or you want to keep a low-rate first mortgage | Second mortgage behind the existing first | Higher rate on the second portion only |
| Above 80% with urgency or heavy credit damage | Private second mortgage, with an exit plan | Interest-only, plus lender and broker fees |
| Debt exceeds what the equity can support | Licensed Insolvency Trustee | Borrowing is not the answer here |
When consolidating is the wrong answer
A calculator will always produce a lower monthly number, and that is not the same as a good decision. There are situations where borrowing against the house makes things worse, and an honest broker will say so.
- The debt is still growing. If spending exceeds income, consolidating converts unsecured debt into debt secured by your home and buys time without fixing the cause.
- The equity does not cover it. If the total debt is close to or above your available equity, a Licensed Insolvency Trustee will give you options a lender cannot — and that conversation is free.
- The penalty eats the benefit. Breaking a low-rate fixed mortgage mid-term can cost more than the interest you save. A second mortgage behind it is often the cheaper structure.
- You are about to sell. Closing costs and a possible penalty are hard to recover over a short horizon.
- Someone is pressuring you. No legitimate lender needs a decision today. If a deal cannot survive a night's sleep, it is not a deal worth signing.
Estimates are free. So is the real answer.
Send us the file and we will run it against our full lender panel, confirm the rate you actually qualify for, and tell you whether the move is worth making.
Turn the estimate into a real quote
A calculator uses assumptions. A broker uses your actual file.
Frequently asked questions
Up to 80% of your home's appraised value, less your existing mortgage balance. On a $780,000 home that is $624,000 total, so if you owe $395,000 there is roughly $229,000 of room before costs. Beyond 80%, a second mortgage rather than a refinance is the usual route.
Usually the opposite. Paying revolving balances down to zero removes the utilization drag that is one of the heaviest inputs into a bureau score, and most people see an improvement within one to two reporting cycles. The risk is rebuilding the balances afterwards.
It can, and it should. Ask for the payouts to be made by your lawyer directly to each creditor at closing. It removes the temptation, it guarantees the accounts actually clear, and lenders generally require it anyway as a condition of the approval.
On the consolidated balance, yes, if you only ever make the minimum payment — that is what the last row of the calculator shows. The way to get the cash-flow relief without the long tail is to commit part of the monthly saving to a permanent payment increase or an annual lump sum.
Often yes. Alternative lenders underwrite bruised credit and price roughly one to two percent above bank rates plus a lender fee of around 1%, and private lenders lend primarily against equity. Both should come with a written plan for getting you back to a lower-cost lender within one to three years.
Yes, and lenders will usually insist those be cleared through the mortgage rather than left outstanding, because tax debt can affect priority on title. Bring the assessment or arrears statement — the exact balance matters.
That depends on whether the debt is serviceable against your equity and income. If the numbers work, consolidating preserves your credit and your home. If they do not, a Licensed Insolvency Trustee can explain options a mortgage cannot solve, and that consultation is free. We will tell you honestly which conversation you should be having.
A straightforward A-lender refinance typically funds in three to five weeks. Alternative and private lenders move faster — days rather than weeks — when there is a deadline such as a collections action or a closing date.
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