Starting January 1-2018 OSFI's ( Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions of Canada) will introduce Guidline B20. The largest change will be qualifying clients for new purchases and refinances using the new qualification criteria for uninsured and insurable mortgages where the loan-to-value (LTV) is 80% or less. These applicants will be qualified using the greater of either:

• The contractual mortgage rate plus an extra 2%, representing OSFI’s newly imposed ‘stress test’ rate or
• The Bank of Canada five-year benchmark rate (regardless of term).