The quoted rate is not the price.
Lender fee, broker fee, legal, appraisal, a renewal fee if you stay — the shorter the term, the more those fees change the real cost of any mortgage, and nowhere more than private and alternative lending. This calculator solves the true APR of the whole package over your real timeline, shows the exit-early trap, and prices it against a B-side placement so you know what the alternative is worth.
The offer in front of you
Private firsts commonly quote 7–10%; seconds 10–14%.
Typically 1–3% of the mortgage on firsts, more on seconds.
On private deals the broker fee is charged to you and disclosed in writing before you commit.
Private deals usually have you pay both sets of legal fees.
Your real timeline
Be honest here — this number moves the true APR more than the rate does.
Compare the alternative
Desk rate for a 1-year fixed, B-side, today.
Assumes no broker fee and ~$1,500 legal/appraisal, 30-yr amortized — typical for a B-side 1-year fixed.
The gap between the quoted rate and the true APR is the fees, spread over how long you actually keep the money.
Where the money goes over 12 months
- Monthly payment
- $749 (interest-only)
- Interest paid
- $8,990
- Lender + broker fees
- $3,000
- Legal + appraisal
- $2,500
- Total cost of funds
- $14,490
- Cost per $100K per month
- $1,208
Total cost over 12 months — private vs B-side placement
Placement gap: $7,182 over 12 months. That's what getting the file to a B lender instead is worth — when the file can be placed. Speed, CRA urgency, or a credit event sometimes make private the only lane; then the job is the exit plan.
Guardrails — shown, not hidden
- If you exit at 6 months instead
- true APR 20.66%
- Fees don't shrink with time
- Day-one fees over fewer months = higher APR
- Watch the fine print for
- Minimum-interest clauses (often 3 months), per-diem interest, holdbacks
- If you'll need it 18+ months
- A B-side or repair-first route usually wins
Private lending is a bridge, not a destination — priced fairly for speed and flexibility, expensive as a place to live. Before any commitment you must receive formal written cost-of-borrowing and broker-fee disclosure; this tool is shopping math, not that disclosure. We place private files with the exit written down before the entry.
- Solves the actual IRR of your cash flows — quoted rate, lender fee, broker fee, legal, renewal fees, and the month you actually exit — not 'rate plus fees' eyeballed
- Shows the exit-early trap in numbers: the same day-one fees over 6 months instead of 12 pushes a quoted 8.99% past a 20% true APR
- Prices the file against a B-side 1-year at today's desk rate, so the value of better placement is a dollar figure, not a claim
- Honest by construction: set every fee to zero and the true APR equals the quoted rate — the gap you see IS the fees
Get your real mortgage approval amount
Calculators give estimates. We give exact numbers — based on your income, credit, and the lender most likely to say yes. Free, no obligation, same-day reply.
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Case Studies — files like this
Anonymized case studies from our files. Names and identifying details removed.
- Case study · Residential / PrivatePharmacists Re-Certifying in Canada Completed a Langley Presale: A Private One-Year Open Mortgage at 74%Two pharmacists re-certifying in Canada, salaries of about $32,000 each and a 523 score: a private one-year open mortgage at 7.95% in 2022, about $549,000 against a $745,000 appraisal, completed their Langley presale with the rise in value counted toward the down payment.Read the file →
- Case study · Residential / PrivateA 599 Score and a Bank First Worth Keeping: A Private Second Mortgage at 61% in Coquitlam Cleared the Debts and Funded the UpgradesA 599 credit score, personal and family debts, and a bank first mortgage worth keeping. A private second mortgage of $250,000 at 61% in 2025, interest-only on a one-year open term, cleared the debts and funded the home's upgrades.Read the file →
- Case study · Residential / PrimeBusiness Owners on a Port Moody View Home: A $2.3 Million Major-Bank Refinance at 66% Read Salary, Dividends and an Add-BackBusiness owners whose income came as salary, dividends and an add-back. A major Canadian bank refinanced the Port Moody view home at 66% in 2023, about $2.3 million at about 5.8%, paying out unsecured debt and funding their child's education.Read the file →
More case studies that use this calculator (25)
- Private Open Mortgage Held a Rental Condo
- Alberta Rental's Tax Arrears Cleared
- Sixteen Debts Into One Private Second
- Business Owner's Rental Off Private Rates
- Judgment, CPL, 497 Score: Title Cleared
- Alberta Condo Out of a Private Mortgage
- Consumer Proposal Paid, 1.79% First Kept
- Second Mortgage With an Interest Reserve
- Franchise Owners: Two Private Mortgages Out
- Alberta Presale on a Private Open Mortgage
- Presale Sold, Two Private Mortgages Paid Out
- Presale Carried on an Open Private Mortgage
- Buying Before the Presale Sold, Inter Alia
- Business Owner Out of a Private Mortgage
- Alberta Retirees' Written-Off Debts Cleared
- Consumer Proposal: From 10% to Under 5%
- Foreclosure Stopped With a MIC Refinance
- $14K a Month Saved on a Private Mortgage
- Retirees' $236K of Debt in One Private Loan
- Retirees: Private to a Bank in One Year
- Two Private Mortgages to an A Lender
- Bank First and Private Second Folded Into One
- Private Second Funds a New Franchise
- Low Appraisal, Private Second Closed the Deal
- $7.5M Estate CRA Financing Approved
Why is the true APR so much higher than the quoted rate?+
Because the fees are charged on day one and the term is short. A 3% fee package on a 12-month mortgage adds roughly 3% to the annual cost all by itself — and if you exit at month 6, the same fees compress into half the time and add roughly 6%. On a typical private first quoted at 8.99% with standard fees, the true APR lands around 15%.
What fees are normal on a private mortgage?+
A lender fee of about 1–3% of the mortgage on firsts (more on seconds), a broker fee of about 1–2% — on private deals the borrower pays the broker, disclosed in writing — plus legal for both sides and an appraisal. All of it typically comes off the advance, so you receive meaningfully less than the face amount while paying interest on all of it.
What happens at the end of the term?+
The full balance is due. If the exit isn't ready, most private lenders will renew — for a renewal fee, often around 1%, and sometimes at a reset rate. Renewing twice can quietly cost more than the original fee package. This is why we write the exit plan — sale, B-side refinance, or completed credit repair — before the entry.
See it on a real file: Retirees: Private to a Bank in One Year →
Is interest-only a red flag?+
No — interest-only is the standard structure for a bridge and keeps the payment manageable while you fix what needs fixing. The risk isn't the payment structure; it's reaching the term date without a credible way out. A private mortgage without an exit plan is the actual red flag.
When does private lending genuinely make sense?+
When speed or the file leaves no alternative: a CRA balance about to become a lien, a purchase closing in days, an active consumer proposal with equity, construction draws, or a credit event that B lenders won't touch yet. Used for months with a written exit, it's a fair tool. Used for years, it's an expensive place to live — and usually a placement failure.
See it on a real file: Low Appraisal, Private Second Closed the Deal →
Do I get formal cost disclosure?+
Yes — before you commit, your broker must provide written cost-of-borrowing and fee disclosure showing the APR with fees included, and on private deals the broker's own fee must be disclosed in writing as well. This calculator is shopping math so you can pressure-test an offer; the regulated disclosure documents are what you sign against.
Related: Private & bridge lending programs → · Your dated route back to prime → · Closing costs by lending lane →
Every calculator here is built on published Canadian government rules and lender methodology, and was last checked for accuracy on October 18, 2026 — the arithmetic re-verified and every page re-read on screen. Rates and thresholds change — we confirm the current numbers for your file before you rely on them.