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

The honest answer is: it depends on which kind of mortgage, and the range is wide — from “during the proposal” at one end to “about two years after discharge” for prime pricing at the other. 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 — just as important — 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 discharge 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.

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 discharge to buy or refinance if you have a genuine need.

Once you’re discharged, 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 discharge, which is why discharge is such a meaningful milestone even though it isn’t prime.

For A-lender (prime) pricing, most lenders look for the proposal to be discharged and for you to have re-established credit for roughly two years — commonly two or more trade lines reporting clean for 12+ months, with low balances and a stable income story. Some lenders also want to see the proposal aging off (or already off) your bureau.

“Roughly two years” is a range, not a rule: individual A-lenders set their own thresholds, and a strong rebuild with solid income and equity can qualify sooner at some lenders than others. The two-year figure is a planning anchor, not a guarantee — which is exactly why a broker who knows each lender’s appetite matters.

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

• Stage — active vs discharged 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 — a proposal generally stays on your report a few years after completion, which some lenders weigh.
• 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 discharge with credit already seasoning — which can shave a year or more off the road to prime.

Three moves compress the timeline. Begin re-establishing credit immediately, even mid-proposal, so trade lines are seasoning before discharge. Consider paying the proposal out early with home equity if the math works, which starts the discharge clock now. 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.