The 2026 rule: you must qualify at the greater of 5.25% or your contract rate + 2%. We show you the math.
Every federally-regulated Canadian lender must qualify you at the higher of (a) 5.25% or (b) your contract rate plus 2%. If your 5-year fixed is 4.19%, you're qualified at 6.19%. If it's 3.19%, you're qualified at 5.25% (the floor).
Only if you switch lenders. Staying with your current lender at renewal is stress-test-exempt — a fact most borrowers don't know until we tell them.
Provincially-regulated credit unions aren't bound by federal stress test rules. Some Ontario and BC credit unions qualify you at your contract rate — meaningful for tight-DTI borrowers.
Searches for mortgage stress test reddit pull up posts still quoting the pre-2021 rule or the OSFI Q1 discussion drafts that never became law. The current-and-only test is max(5.25%, rate+2%). Anything else you read on r/PersonalFinanceCanada older than 2024 is stale.
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The greater of 5.25% or your contract rate plus 2%. Contract rate matters — not posted rate.
Yes — federally-regulated lenders apply the stress test to all mortgages, insured or uninsured.
Provincially-regulated credit unions may use their own qualification rules. Not all do — we know which ones and when it fits.
The active discussion is about renewal-switch exemptions and credit-union alternatives — both real, both worth structuring around.
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