How we research and calculate

Bank facts

For each bank we read its public mortgage, rates, prepayment, penalty, portability and HELOC pages. A fact is published only if we found it on the bank’s own site; each one cites the page and the date we read it (October 31, 2026). Where a page gave no answer we say so rather than fill the gap. Rates are copied exactly, including the “as of” date the bank shows, and never estimated.

Federal rules

Stress-test, insurance, disclosure and penalty rules come from OSFI, the Department of Finance, CMHC, FCAC and the Justice Laws website. Where two official sources disagree (for example, which provinces charge sales tax on insurance premiums) we show both.

Calculator conventions

• Fixed-rate payments use semi-annual compounding (Interest Act s.6); a monthly-compounding option is available for variable rates.
• Accelerated bi-weekly and weekly payments are the monthly payment ÷ 2 and ÷ 4.
• 3 months’ interest = balance × rate × 3/12. IRD = balance × (contract rate − comparison rate) × months remaining / 12, floored at zero, as in FCAC’s example.
• Posted-rate IRD comparison rate = posted rate for the remaining term − original discount. Contract-rate method = the lender’s current rate for the remaining term.
• Stress test: qualifying rate = max(contract + 2, 5.25). GDS includes property tax, heating and 50% of condo fees; defaults use CMHC’s 39% / 44% limits.
• Renewal dates are counted back from the maturity date in calendar days.

The bank-aware penalty analyzer

• Each bank’s posted and special rate tables were read on its own rates page on October 31, 2026 (rendered in a browser and copied exactly). Terms a bank doesn’t publish are left blank.
• Comparison term: the bank’s posted term closest to the time left in your term; if exactly between two, the longer one (Scotiabank states this rule; we apply it to all); under a year uses the 1-year rate.
• Rules as each bank publishes them: RBC, TD and Scotiabank compare your rate with the posted rate less your discount; CIBC compares your rate plus your discount with its posted rate and charges 3 months’ interest at your rate plus discount; National Bank charges the higher of 3 months’ interest or 1 month’s interest (max $500) plus the interest differential, with an unpublished comparison rate, so we show a range; BMO’s formula isn’t on its public pages, so we show a range between the contract-rate and posted-rate methods.
• If you don’t enter the posted rate from your documents, we use the Bank of Canada’s typical posted rate for your signing month and term (1-, 3- or 5-year series) as an estimate.
• IRD uses simple interest over the months left, as in FCAC’s example. RBC, TD and Scotiabank say they discount to present value, which makes their real figure somewhat lower.
• “Is breaking worth it” compares interest over the rest of the term at your rate and at the new rate on the same balance and amortization; it ignores legal, appraisal and discharge fees.

Head-to-head pages

Verdicts are computed from the same data: lower published 5-year special; larger stated lump-sum privilege; lower penalty for a new $450,000 5-year at each bank’s own special and posted rates, broken after 24 months with posted rates unchanged and 1 point lower; longer stated early-renewal window. They describe published terms, not a ranking.

Rate data

The posted-rate, prime and policy-rate series are fetched from the Bank of Canada’s Valet API (V80691333–35, V80691311, V39079). Charts use the last observation in each month.

No rankings

We do not rank banks. Your priorities (paying down fast, moving, re-borrowing) decide which terms matter, so we show the terms and give you the tools.