Question 1

What is the frontline program rate?

Accepted Answer

One lender publishes a frontline program on its broker rate sheet: a five-year fixed rate below its standard five-year fixed, plus cashback of $500 to $2,000 depending on the mortgage size. It applies to owner-occupied homes and the lender applies its own criteria. We show the rate on this site with the date we last checked the sheet.

Question 2

Who qualifies for it?

Accepted Answer

The lender sets the eligibility list and it is confirmed on each file before anything is applied for. We check your job, your employer and the property against that list first. If you do not fit, we tell you and look at the rest of the market instead.

Question 3

Is the frontline program always the right fit?

Accepted Answer

No. On some files a different lender comes out ahead once the cashback, penalty terms and prepayment room are counted. We compare the whole file, not one line on one sheet.

Question 4

Do I have to pay the cashback back if I break the mortgage early?

Accepted Answer

Usually yes, in part. Cashback is almost always clawed back on a sliding scale if the mortgage is discharged before the end of the term, so breaking in year two costs more of it back than breaking in year four. We read the exact clawback wording on your commitment before you sign and tell you what leaving early would cost.

Question 5

Does the frontline rate apply to a rental or a second property?

Accepted Answer

The program we track is owner-occupied only. A rental or a second property goes to the general market, where pricing depends on the property type, the down payment and how the rental income is counted. Those files are still worth doing, they just do not use this program.

Question 6

Does a lender contact my employer?

Accepted Answer

Usually, yes, to confirm what the employment letter says. It is a verification call or an email to human resources or payroll confirming your position, status and pay. It is routine and it does not tell them why you are asking.

Question 7

I just got promoted. Does the new rate count right away?

Accepted Answer

Once you are being paid at it, yes. A promotion letter plus one or two stubs at the new rate is normally enough, and a permanent promotion inside the same service is one of the easiest income changes to document.

Question 8

Does paid duty, overtime or shift premium count as income?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes. Lenders differ on how they count it, most use a two-year average, and some count only part. We read your pay stubs and your collective agreement and put the income on the file the way each lender accepts it.

Question 9

Why does my mortgage application show less income than I actually earn?

Accepted Answer

Because a lot of frontline pay sits in lines that a quick read treats as bonus or optional. Shift premium is often folded inside regular wages on the stub, paid duty can look like a side job, and overtime gets discounted or dropped if nobody shows the history behind it. The fix is documenting each line and showing where it comes from in the agreement.

Question 10

How much overtime history do lenders want?

Accepted Answer

Two years is the common ask, evidenced by two years of T4s or a T4 plus a year-to-date stub. Some lenders will use one year with a strong explanation, and some will not use it at all. Where a lender averages two years, a strong recent year gets pulled down by a weaker one, which is worth knowing before you pick the lender.

Question 11

Is paid duty treated as employment income or self-employment?

Accepted Answer

It depends on how it is paid and how it lands on your tax slips. Paid duty that flows through your employer and appears on your T4 is normally treated as employment income. Paid duty invoiced or paid outside the employer can be treated as self-employment, which changes the documents and can change the qualifying figure.

Question 12

Does shift premium count?

Accepted Answer

It can, and it is the line most often missed. On many stubs the premium is already inside the regular wage figure rather than shown separately, so it never gets identified as premium at all. We name it from the agreement and show the lender where it is.

Question 13

What about acting pay, standby pay, court time and callback?

Accepted Answer

Each is a defined article in most agreements and each can be presented as income, subject to the same history test as overtime. The strength of the case comes from the agreement text plus a documented pattern on your stubs and T4s. These lines are usually left off applications entirely, which is why the number comes out low.

Question 14

Does a uniform or equipment allowance count as income?

Accepted Answer

Generally no. Allowances that reimburse a cost are not usually treated as qualifying income, even when they appear on a stub. They still matter for your budget, they just do not add borrowing room.

Question 15

I am on a secondment or a temporary assignment. Does that hurt?

Accepted Answer

Not on its own. What matters is whether your underlying permanent position and pay continue, which the assignment letter usually shows. We document the substantive position alongside the assignment so the file reflects the job you return to.

Question 16

I am part-time or casual. Can I still qualify?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and the approach changes. Part-time and casual income is usually averaged over two years and read alongside your hours history, so a consistent record matters more than a single strong stretch. Some lenders treat a permanent part-time line very differently from casual hours, so lender choice does real work on these files.

Question 17

What is a pay grid?

Accepted Answer

The table in your collective agreement that sets what each rank or classification earns at each step of service. It is the reason two people doing the same job are paid differently: they are at different steps. Everything on this site is read out of those tables.

Question 18

My employer is not on this site. Can you still help?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The grids here are the ones we have read and dated so far, not the limit of who we work with. Tell us who you work for and we will read that agreement next.

Question 19

Where do the pay grids on this site come from?

Accepted Answer

Each one was read out of the collective agreement, arbitration award or salary schedule for that employer, and each grid page names the document and the date a person checked it. Nothing is copied from a salary aggregator or a job posting. If we could not confirm a figure in the document, it is not on the site.

Question 20

How do I find my own collective agreement?

Accepted Answer

Most Ontario agreements are filed with the Ministry of Labour and are free to search and download. Police and firefighters sit outside that filing rule, so their agreements usually come from the association or from an arbitration award. There is a guide on this site that walks through both routes.

Question 21

My agreement expired. Which rates apply right now?

Accepted Answer

The rates in the expired agreement are the rates in force. Under Ontario labour law the terms of a collective agreement continue after the expiry date once notice to bargain has been given, so the grid keeps applying until a new agreement or an award replaces it. The table on this site is your current pay, not an old one.

Question 22

What happens to my mortgage when a retroactive raise lands?

Accepted Answer

A retroactive settlement pays the increase back to the expiry date, usually as a lump sum plus a new ongoing rate. For a mortgage already funded it changes nothing about your approval. For a file in progress it can raise your qualifying income once the new schedule is signed and your employer confirms the new rate.

Question 23

Can I use my step increase before I reach it?

Accepted Answer

Not usually as income. Lenders qualify on income you receive now, not on the next step you are scheduled to reach. The step matters for planning, and it is worth knowing when it lands, but the application uses today.

Question 24

My service amalgamated with another one. Which grid applies?

Accepted Answer

The grid of the employer that now issues your pay. Amalgamations usually carry over service and step placement, and the successor agreement or award will say how. Where we know a service was amalgamated or renamed, the grid page says so and points to the current employer.

Question 25

How much will my monthly payment actually be?

Accepted Answer

Payment depends on the mortgage amount, the rate, the amortisation and the payment frequency. The tool at the top of this site gives a realistic figure once it knows your income and down payment, and we confirm it exactly before anything is signed.

Question 26

Can I buy before I sell my current place?

Accepted Answer

Often, with bridge financing covering the gap between the two closing dates. It needs a firm sale on the property you are leaving, and the cost is usually interest for the days you hold both plus a small administration fee.

Question 27

Can I buy a home while I am on probation?

Accepted Answer

Yes in most cases. Probation does not automatically stop a mortgage, but it narrows which lenders will look at the file and it makes the offer letter and pay documentation matter more. A full-time permanent position with a signed offer is a very different file from a casual position, even when both are inside a probation window.

Question 28

How much do I need for a down payment?

Accepted Answer

Five percent on the first $500,000 of the purchase price and ten percent on the portion above that, up to the price ceiling for insured mortgages. Below twenty percent down the mortgage must be insured and the premium is added to the balance. Twenty percent or more avoids the premium and opens the conventional side of the market.

Question 29

What is the stress test and how does it apply to me?

Accepted Answer

You have to qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus two percent or 5.25 percent, not at the rate you actually pay. It applies to insured and uninsured mortgages at federally regulated lenders. It is why the income lines on your file matter so much: every properly counted dollar buys back room the stress test takes away.

Question 30

Should I renew with my current lender or switch?

Accepted Answer

Compare before you sign anything. A renewal offer that arrives in the mail is a starting position, and switching lenders at the end of a term normally carries no penalty. The comparison worth making is the total cost over the next term, including the rate, the penalty wording and the prepayment room, not just the rate.

Question 31

What will it cost me to break my mortgage early?

Accepted Answer

Either three months of interest or an interest rate differential calculation, whichever your contract calls for, and lenders calculate the differential in materially different ways. On a fixed mortgage the differential is usually the larger number and can run into five figures. We read your specific terms and calculate it rather than estimating.

Question 32

Can I use my home equity to pay off debt?

Accepted Answer

Often yes, up to eighty percent of the value of the home on a refinance. Whether it helps depends on the rate you are leaving, the penalty to break the current mortgage and the term you end up in. It is worth running the arithmetic properly before deciding, because the penalty can erase the saving.

Question 33

How long is an approval good for?

Accepted Answer

Rate holds commonly run 90 to 120 days depending on the lender and the product. A pre-approval holds a rate and confirms a working number, but it is not the same as a full approval on a specific property, which still needs the purchase agreement and the property details.

Question 34

Do you help with the first home savings account or the RRSP Home Buyers Plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as part of planning the down payment. Both are ways to hold and withdraw down payment funds with a tax benefit, and both have their own contribution and withdrawal rules. We work them into the plan for the purchase rather than treating them as a separate exercise.

Question 35

Does my pension contribution reduce how much I can borrow?

Accepted Answer

Not directly. Qualifying income is normally gross, before the pension deduction, so the contribution does not reduce the income a lender uses. It does affect your take-home pay, which is why the payment that fits your budget and the payment you qualify for are two different numbers worth checking against each other.

Question 36

Does a defined benefit pension help my application?

Accepted Answer

Indirectly, and mostly through stability rather than income. A secure permanent position with a defined benefit plan reads as durable employment, which supports the file. It does not add qualifying income while you are still working.

Question 37

I am retiring or close to it. How does that change things?

Accepted Answer

The income on the file changes from employment income to pension income, and lenders will want the documents that prove it. Timing matters: applying before a retirement date with employment income still in place is a different file from applying after. If a retirement is coming inside the term, it is worth planning around rather than discovering at renewal.

Question 38

How does a student loan or a car payment affect what I qualify for?

Accepted Answer

They reduce borrowing room through the debt ratios, and the size of the effect depends on the payment, not the balance. A large balance on a small payment can cost less room than a small balance on an aggressive payment schedule. Paying down the right debt before applying is sometimes the single highest-value thing you can do.

Question 39

Does a line of credit count against me even if I do not use it?

Accepted Answer

Usually yes, at least in part. Most lenders count a payment against the limit rather than the balance, so an unused limit still consumes room. Reducing or closing a limit you do not need can measurably change what you qualify for.

Question 40

How long does the whole process take?

Accepted Answer

A pre-approval conversation is usually the same week. Once you have an accepted offer, a straightforward file typically takes a few days to get to a commitment, and the rest of the time before closing belongs to your lawyer.

Question 41

Do you work with first-time buyers?

Accepted Answer

A large share of the files here are first purchases. Nothing about the process assumes you have done it before, and the questions you are worried about asking are the ones everyone asks.

Question 42

What does it cost to work with you?

Accepted Answer

Nothing. On standard residential mortgages the lender pays the broker, so there is no fee to you. If a file ever needed a fee arrangement, which is rare and normally only on private lending, it would be disclosed and agreed in writing before any application.

Question 43

Who are Jeff and Emily?

Accepted Answer

Jeff and Emily Mudrick are licensed mortgage agents working with Ontario frontline workers, operating as Mudrick Mortgages, a team under BRX Mortgage Inc., FSRA licence 13463. Jeff is a Mortgage Agent Level 2, licence M21001275. Jeff worked at CAMH before becoming a mortgage agent and Emily was a nurse with Toronto Public Health.

Question 44

Where are you licensed to work?

Accepted Answer

Ontario. Mortgage brokering is licensed provincially, so we arrange mortgages on Ontario properties for Ontario borrowers. If you are outside Ontario we will say so rather than take the file.

Question 45

Do you only work with police, fire, paramedics and nurses?

Accepted Answer

Those are who this site is built for, but no. Corrections officers, 911 communicators and other public service workers run into the same pay-reading problems, and the get started form has an option for a job that is not listed.

Question 46

What do you need from me to start?

Accepted Answer

A conversation first, then documents. The usual set is two recent pay stubs, two years of T4s, a recent Notice of Assessment, and confirmation of your down payment source. If your income includes overtime, paid duty or premiums, the collective agreement matters too, and we can usually pull that ourselves.

Question 47

Is my information shared with anyone?

Accepted Answer

Only with the lenders and insurers needed to place your mortgage, and only with your consent. We do not sell contact information and we do not share your file with anyone who is not working on it.

Question 48

What if I am not ready to buy yet?

Accepted Answer

That is a normal starting point and worth a conversation anyway. Knowing your real number, which debt to clear first and how your pay lines will be read gives you a plan for the next six to twelve months. There is no obligation attached to finding out.

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