How Long After a Consumer Proposal Can I Get a Mortgage?

It depends on the kind of mortgage. Private lenders may fund during the proposal; specialty B-lenders often lend while it’s active or soon after completion; and A-lenders and mortgage insurers typically look for about two years after completion with re-established credit. These are typical lender practices, not fixed rules.

Anyone who gives you a single number is oversimplifying, because the timeline is set by your stage, your credit rebuild, and each lender’s own criteria. This guide lays out the realistic timeline for each lender tier and what you can do to shorten it. Everything here is general and lender-dependent, not a guaranteed schedule. For the service, see our mortgage after a consumer proposal page.

Private lenders can fund at any stage, even during an active proposal. They underwrite your equity first and care far less about the proposal itself, so if you own a home with enough equity, financing can be arranged without waiting for completion at all. It’s the fastest option and the most expensive, so it’s used deliberately: often to buy time, to bridge a purchase, or to pay the proposal out early. Ontario’s regulator publishes guidance on the costs and risks of private mortgages¹.

So if the question is “how soon is any mortgage possible,” the answer for a homeowner with equity can be “now.” The question then becomes how quickly you can climb to cheaper tiers.

A narrow set of specialty B-lenders will fund during an active proposal, provided you’re current on your trustee payments and have begun re-establishing credit (typically at least one reporting trade line). Expect a higher down payment and a rate premium, illustratively, but it means you don’t have to wait for completion to buy or refinance if you have a genuine need.

Once your proposal is completed (you receive a certificate of full performance)², the B-lender pool widens considerably and pricing improves, because far more lenders will participate. Many borrowers can access reasonable B-lender financing within months of completion, which is why it’s such a meaningful milestone even though it isn’t prime.

Typically about two years after the proposal is completed, with rebuilt credit. Most A-lenders look for the proposal to be completed and for you to have re-established credit for roughly two years: commonly two or more trade lines reporting clean for 12+ months, low balances, and a stable income story.

Mortgage insurers publish similar minimums for insured (low down payment) mortgages. Sagen, for example, requires the proposal to have been fulfilled for at least 2 years and at least 2 years of re-established credit³. “Roughly two years” is still a range, not a rule: individual A-lenders and insurers set their own thresholds, and a strong rebuild with solid income and equity can qualify sooner at some lenders than others. It’s a planning anchor, not a guarantee, which is why a broker who knows each lender’s appetite matters.

Four things move the clock, and you influence most of them:

• Stage: active vs completed sets the lender list (see active vs discharged).
• Credit rebuild: the number, age and cleanliness of your new trade lines; the single biggest lever you control (see rebuild credit).
• Bureau aging: Equifax and TransUnion remove a proposal 3 years after you pay it off, or 6 years after you signed it, whichever comes first⁴. Some lenders weigh whether it’s still showing.
• Income and equity: a strong, provable income and meaningful equity widen your options at every stage.

Start the rebuild during the proposal, and you arrive at completion with credit already seasoning, which can shorten the road to prime.

Three moves compress the timeline. Begin re-establishing credit immediately, even mid-proposal, so trade lines are seasoning before completion. Consider paying the proposal out early with home equity if the math works, which starts the post-completion clock now (a proposal can otherwise run up to five years²). And use a broker who tracks your file, placing you on the lowest-cost tier that approves today and re-shopping the moment you cross each milestone, rather than leaving you in premium pricing longer than necessary.

Mortgage Squad Advisors (FSRA #13737) maps your exact timeline across the tiers and monitors your recovery to prime. See the mortgage after a consumer proposal page, or get a confidential assessment — no credit pull to begin.