Region served
With high debts, what counts is your ratios once the debts are paid off. How a lender recalculates them on a Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean file.
It all comes down to your ratios once the debts are paid off, not today’s. A tax debt weighs more than a credit card: Revenu Québec and the CRA can register a claim on the property, and most lenders require it to be paid out of the refinancing.
A list of your debts with exact balances and payments, your latest mortgage statements, your notices of assessment. If a tax debt is involved, ask for the official statement of account, the only figure the lender will work from.
A bankruptcy, a proposal, a judgment or a collection account does not close the door for good. The lender wants to know how long ago it was settled and what you have rebuilt since, in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean as anywhere in Quebec.
The lender keeps what it can verify on its own: payments made on time for several months, balances going down, credit used without going over the limit. An explanation that leaves no trace on your report does not carry much weight.
An alternative lender costs more than a bank. The real question is what that buys you: time to rebuild, or a bridge to a conventional rate. The exit plan matters more than the rate, in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean as anywhere.
A stopgap is only a stopgap if the way out is written down: what has to change, by when, and what the move back to ordinary financing costs. Otherwise the temporary arrangement becomes permanent.
To prepare
Yes. It all runs by phone, email or video call, and documents go through online. We can meet in person, but most files get settled without anyone having to travel.
Often yes, but not always with your cash. Paying down a card improves your ratios. Emptying your account to do it weakens the down payment. You have to run both numbers at the same time.
Pick the situation closest to yours.
Contact
Buying, renewing, refinancing, or something a bit out of the ordinary: tell us where you’re at, even if it’s still fuzzy. Mathieu gets back to you with next steps and the documents to pull together.