Case Study · Residential / Prime

A Seasonal Layoff, Twins and $100,000 of Cards: A Major-Bank Refinance at 80% in Summerland Cleared the Worst of the Debt

A married couple with young twins owns a three-bedroom half duplex in Summerland, BC, appraised at about $550,000 in 2025, with a mortgage of about $375,000. One spouse stayed home after the twins arrived and returned to work in early 2025 in a seasonal job; the other earns about $130,000 as a technician. About $100,000 of credit card debt had built up.

Closed in 2025 · Published October 17, 2026

Residential
Prime lender
Refinance
Debt consolidation
Seasonal income
Okanagan

Appraised value: about $550,000
New mortgage: about $440,000
Loan-to-value: 80%
Cards paid out: about $58,000
Rate in 2025: Prime minus 0.40%

The Situation

The Challenge

The seasonal job was in its slow-season layoff when the file went in, so that income could not be counted, credit scores sat in the 600s even with every account paid as agreed, and the refinance had to stay within 80% of the value.

The Solution

In 2025 we refinanced with a major Canadian bank: about $440,000, 80% of the appraised value, on a five-year adjustable term at prime minus 0.40%, about 4.55% at the time, qualified on one salary, the child benefit and a small annuity. The proceeds paid out the existing mortgage and about $58,000 of the highest-interest cards.

The Outcome

More than half of the card debt now sits at a mortgage rate, and the seasonal income returns as extra room, not as something the mortgage depends on.

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Your debts

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Annual interest cost

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What consolidation could save

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What this calculator does that most don't

Each debt type carries its true compounding convention — credit cards and CRA debt compound daily, mortgages semi-annually, lines monthly — and the blend is computed on effective annual rates
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Questions and answers

Questions about this file

Can you refinance when one spouse's seasonal job is on layoff?+

This couple did, in 2025. The seasonal income could not be counted during the slow-season layoff, so a major Canadian bank qualified the refinance on one salary of about $130,000, the child benefit and a small annuity.

Can you get a bank refinance with credit scores in the 600s?+

In this file, yes: every account had been paid as agreed, and the bank refinanced at 80% of the appraised value.

What were the terms?+

About $440,000 on a five-year adjustable term at prime minus 0.40%, about 4.55% in 2025.

Why not pay out all $100,000 of cards?+

The refinance had to stay within 80% of the value. Within that limit it paid out the existing mortgage of about $375,000 and about $58,000 of the highest-interest cards, more than half of the card debt.

What happens when the seasonal job comes back?+

That income returns as extra room in the budget, not as something the mortgage depends on.

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