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Mortgages, refinancing and debt, explained

A short course for anyone who'd like to understand the numbers before talking to a lender, with worked examples, something to try in every lesson, and a few questions at the end. Finish a lesson's questions to earn its badge.

12 lessons, about 82 minutes in all. Free, no sign-up. Educational information only, not financial advice.

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Mortgage basics

What a mortgage is made of, and the contract you sign.

  1. Lesson 1

    How a mortgage works: principal, interest and amortization

    What your payment is made of, why the early years are mostly interest, and what a longer amortization really costs.

    7 min read

  2. Lesson 2

    Fixed or variable, term and renewal: the parts of a mortgage contract

    The difference between a term and an amortization, how fixed and variable rates behave, and what happens when the term ends.

    7 min read

Buying a home

Saving, qualifying, and getting help with the paperwork.

  1. Lesson 3

    Buying your first home: down payment, insurance and closing costs

    Every cost between saving up and getting the keys, from the minimum down payment and mortgage insurance to land transfer tax and legal fees.

    8 min read

  2. Lesson 4

    How much can you borrow? The stress test and debt ratios

    The rules every Canadian lender starts from, worked through for one household, and what changes the number.

    7 min read

  3. Lesson 5

    Working with a mortgage broker or lender: what to ask and what to gather

    What brokers do and how they're paid, the questions that matter beyond the rate, and a checklist of the documents lenders ask for.

    6 min read

Managing your mortgage

Paying it down, changing it, borrowing against it, and moving.

  1. Lesson 6

    Paying off your mortgage faster: prepayments, lump sums and accelerated payments

    Three ways to pay down a mortgage sooner, what each saves on a $400,000 example, and the limits and trade-offs to know.

    6 min read

  2. Lesson 7

    Refinancing and breaking a mortgage: what it costs and how to weigh it

    The difference between refinancing, switching and breaking, how penalties are calculated, and how to compare the cost with the saving.

    8 min read

  3. Lesson 8

    HELOCs and home equity: how borrowing against your home works

    What home equity is, how much of it can be borrowed, how a HELOC works day to day, and the risks of interest-only borrowing.

    6 min read

  4. Lesson 9

    Moving with a mortgage: porting, blending and bridge financing

    What happens to your mortgage when you sell, how porting and blended rates work, and what bridge financing is for.

    6 min read

Debt and credit

Credit cards, paying down what you owe, and your credit score.

  1. Lesson 10

    How credit card interest works, and why the minimum payment takes so long

    The grace period, how interest is charged once you carry a balance, and what paying only the minimum looks like over the years.

    6 min read

  2. Lesson 11

    Paying down debt: avalanche, snowball and consolidation

    Two ways to order your payments, what consolidation changes and what it doesn't, with one household's numbers worked through each way.

    8 min read

  3. Lesson 12

    Credit scores in Canada, and a budget that holds up

    What goes into a credit score, how to check yours for free, and a simple way to build a budget around what lenders look at.

    7 min read

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Teaching a teenager about money?

Money basics for students is a separate set of six lessons for high school students: a first paycheque, compound interest, a first credit card, borrowing, renting, and spotting scams.

Go to the student lessons

Glossary

Short definitions of the terms used in these lessons, from amortization to compound interest, each linked to the lesson that explains it.

Open the glossary