Client Services – Frequently Asked Questions

We will send you a form to complete in order to access more funds.  Along with the completed form, we may request the following information: a) general use of the funds being requested; b) confirmation that your municipal and school taxes are up to date; c) confirmation that your home insurance policy is up to date; d) void cheque for the transfer of funds.  Please contact us for the form and/or any other questions you may have.

If your home has increased in value, you may be able to re-finance your HomeEquity Bank mortgage.  Please contact us with an idea of what the current market value of your property is and we will determine if we can qualify you for more funds.

Unfortunately we do not provide second mortgages.  If you are in need of more funds, please contact us with an idea of the current market value of your property and we can begin to determine if we can qualify you for more funds.

You can payout at any time.  Please contact us to confirm any prepayment charges and/or fees that may apply upon payout.

Please ask your lawyer/notary to send us a formal request 10 days prior to closing by fax to 1-888-372-3649 or by email to pa@heb.ca

Please ask your broker/banker to send us a formal request by fax to 1-877-319-2447.

Provided any interest and charges/fees on your mortgage have been paid first, you may be eligible to repay a portion of your principal. Please contact us to confirm the amount you may be eligible to repay and whether any prepayment charges may apply.

You may be eligible to pay the interest (annually or monthly). Please contact us to confirm the amount you are eligible to pay (note that prepayment charges may apply). You may also be eligible to set up regularly scheduled payments. Please contact us to learn more.

The HomeEquity Bank reverse mortgage is different from a conventional mortgage or line of credit. Since we do not require any regular payments and also guarantee that when selling the property you will not owe us more than the fair market value of the property, you can appreciate that our risk is greater over the lifetime of the mortgage. We must take that risk into consideration when setting our interest rates. Please keep in mind that all banks across Canada are at liberty to set their rates to meet their needs.

Interest rates can be found at https://www.homeequitybank.ca/rates/.  Before visiting the site, please make note of your contract number as you will need this to reference the table for your particular mortgage.

Please contact us to confirm the current interest rate on your mortgage.

If you have chosen a variable interest rate, you can change to a fixed interest rate term at any time.  Simply contact us and we will send you a form to authorize the change.  If you have chosen a fixed rate term, please contact us so we can determine when the term can be changed.

Annual Statements for income tax purposes are sent out each year in February.

We recommend all clients speak with a tax professional before claiming the HomeEquity Bank reverse mortgage on their income taxes.  In general, if the funds you received from the reverse mortgage were used for investment purposes, you may be able to claim all or a portion of the maximum interest deductible showing on your statement.

Please contact us by phone/email/mail to notify us.  We will require a copy of the death certificate, as well as the will, in order to update the file accordingly.

When the last surviving borrower passes away, the HomeEquity Bank reverse mortgage becomes due and payable within 180 days of passing.  If we have not received full repayment by the end of that period, the mortgage will fall into default.

Unfortunately you cannot take over the mortgage for clients who have passed away.  As our mortgage is based in large part on the age(s) of our client(s), the mortgage would need to be repaid in full in the event of death.  If you wish to obtain a reverse mortgage of your own on the property afterward, please contact us and we will advise you on the process for applying.

If the property is no longer your primary residence, the HomeEquity Bank reverse mortgage will become due. Please contact us to determine the due date of the mortgage in this instance.

The property must remain your primary residence. It may be rented on a month to month basis as long as you are living in the property for a minimum of 6 months of the year. No long term leases are allowed.

Yes, as long as you are living in the property for at least 6 months of the year, you may spend the rest of the year elsewhere

The appraisal report was ordered by HomeEquity Bank for our Underwriting purposes. We do not release copies of the report.

As we have a mortgage on the property, we must be listed on your insurance policy as “1st loss mortgagee” to insure that our interest is protected in the event that any major damage to the property is sustained.

HomeEquity Bank will allow you to defer your property taxes. Please contact your local property tax deferral program to determine if they will agree to defer with our mortgage in place.

Naming a Power of Attorney is not required, however it may be good to have in the event that you require assistance (temporary or permanently) with managing your affairs. If you would like more information on what a Power of Attorney is and what they can do, please speak with a lawyer and/or visit the following site for more information (please note that these links will take you to external sites and HomeEquity Bank is not responsible for their content): http://www.seniors.gc.ca/eng/working/fptf/attorney.shtml http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/pgt/incapacity/poa.php

If you signed the mortgage documentation on behalf of the client you will already have access to the information. You will only need to contact us if you did not sign the mortgage documentation on behalf of the client. We will then need to add you to the file as Power of Attorney. In order to do so, please forward a copy of the Power of Attorney document along with a copy of valid photo identification (eg. driver’s licence, passport etc), in addition fees will apply.

The expenses to maintain your property in good standing (such as the payment of overdue property taxes), legal fees and expenses incurred in collecting missed payments, and expenses incurred by the Bank to realize on its security interest can be found at https://www.homeequitybank.ca/fees/.

There are several events that can cause your mortgage to fall into default. The most common reasons include: failing to pay property taxes; lapses in home insurance; failing to pay common expense fees for the property; failing to make payments on Additional Funds borrowed beyond the reverse mortgage; filing bankruptcy. For more information please contact us.

In the event of a default, please contact our Client Relations at 1-866-331-2447 who can direct you to a Default Specialist.