A couple with scores of 600 and 661 refinanced their detached home with a big five bank, cleared their unsecured debt and car loan, and cut monthly payments by more than $2,500.
Client details are changed or removed and figures are rounded to protect privacy.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published October 2026 · Last reviewed 5 October 2026
Official sources: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)
A couple owned a detached home in the Lower Mainland with solid equity, but high interest debt and a car loan were eating their monthly budget. Their credit scores, 600 and 661, would push most files toward a B lender at a higher rate. Yet they had never missed a payment.
Both applicants were off work for about a year and a half. One returned to full time work in early 2024, the other in early 2025.
They covered every payment from savings and lines of credit. High balances pull scores down even when nothing is late.
Every tradeline reported R1, paid as agreed, with no late payments through the whole period.
A short credit explanation tied the score drop to a dated event and showed both applicants back at full time work.
The note stated plainly that every account was R1 with no late payments, which is what an underwriter checks first.
Both are hourly employees with long tenure, about six and ten years with their current employers. Hourly pay was annualised from guaranteed hours and the actual pay frequency.
Consolidating the debt cut monthly obligations by more than $2,500, which made the household stronger after funding, not weaker.
The full amount went into a five year closed variable term portion. As it pays down, revolving credit can open up to 65 percent of value without another refinance.
Read the tradelines before you choose the lender tier. R1 across the board changes the conversation.
A credit dip with a start, an end and proof of recovery is something an underwriter can work with. Vague explanations invite more questions.
Show the monthly saving. A consolidation that lowers payments by thousands leaves the household in a stronger position.
A readvanceable structure gives clients room later. See how A, B and private lending tiers work.
Brokers here choose their own lender for every file. When a file sits on the line between A and B, the Deal Desk helps decide where it goes and what the submission needs to say.
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