In Canada, all lenders require us to provide proof that you have the down payment and closing/legal costs—from your own resources (not borrowed).

Depending on where the down payment is coming from, certain documents are required. This is required to satisfy lender underwriters as well as insurers that you are not borrowing the down payment, which would change our lending ratios—and the funds are not laundered money into real estate.

Provide a 3-month history of bank statements

• If the money is not yet in your chequing or savings account, please WAIT until the funds are transferred into the account.
• The statements must have your name clearly indicated on them—or your account number, together with something that links your account number to your name, such as a void cheque from that account—internet statements are fine as long as we can prove ownership of the account number as most don’t have a name printed on them
• From larger deposits (greater than $1,000) that are not pay cheques—we need to provide proof of where they came from. For example:
• If you deposited a tax refund, we need the tax return—or Notice of Assessment—or ideally, a copy of the tax refund cheque
• If you transferred money over from a savings or investment account, we need to show 90 days savings or investment account history and the transfer our to this bank account

Tip:

• If the money is in more than one bank account
• Don’t transfer the money between accounts until we verify each account.  This will make it easier to verify the history.  This is to avoid the need to provide 90 days of history of each bank account.
• Please send actual statement copies (i.e. the statements you would download from your online banking).  Ensure all pages are sent so there are no missing pages.  Please do not send screenshots.

If the money is being gifted from a parent / immediate family member

• Provide a standard form gift letter
• Lenders each have their own special gift letter template for both you and your parents/family member to complete.  We will give you the form depending on lender.
• if money is being gifted from anyone other than a parent, please discuss with us as this is not common.
• Provide a bank statement in your name, showing the matching gift amount being deposited into your account

• If the money is in a TFSA or RRSPs or investments
• Provide a current statement of balance
• Provide the most recent quarterly statement, so combined we are showing the 90-day history
• Provide an additional bank statement to show the money has been transferred out of your investment account and deposited in your bank account (i.e. to your chequing account)
• Ask your financial advisor how long it takes to transfer funds so you can coordinate in advance of your completion.
• If the money is in a RRSP: Ask your financial advisor If there are any documents that you need to provide to qualify for tax exemptions for withdrawing these funds.

• if the money is being borrowed from a friend, credit card, or line of credit
• Let us know upfront
• borrowing funds will make you qualify for less mortgage approval
• depending on the source of the funds (i.e. friend) you may not be allowed to use this money to buy a house in Canada with mortgage lender

• if the down payment is coming from a house you are selling
• Please provide the firm sale agreement and a document from the lawyer called a statement of adjustment showing how much money you will have from the sale of the house.
• You may also need to provide a bank statement showing the net proceeds has been deposited into your account

• if the money is coming from another country
• you need to talk to us about where it is coming from, what your ties are to that country and when the money will be here

Large deposits in your bank accounts:

Lenders will need to have proof of the source of any deposits showing in your bank statements for more than $2500 or any suspicious transactions in your account.  If you have any large deposits, we may need to provide extra documentation about where they came from. 

Deposit Money

When you make a purchase, you will need to make a deposit to remove subjects.  This amount is usually about 5% of the purchase price.  This money is held in trust on your behalf until closing date and is part of your total deposit.