Refinance

Refinancing in Canada lets you borrow back up to 80% of your home's value. On an $800,000 home with a $400,000 balance, you could refinance up to $640,000 and take out $240,000 in equity — for renovations, a rental down payment, tuition, or to wipe out high-interest debt.

Refinances cannot be insured, so they price as conventional (uninsured) mortgages and require a fresh appraisal and re-qualification at the stress-test rate. Done mid-term, they also trigger your prepayment penalty — which the equity gain often still outweighs.

The most common win is debt consolidation: rolling 20%+ credit-card balances into a sub-5% mortgage can slash total monthly payments, though it stretches that debt over a longer amortization. We model the all-in cost both ways before you decide.