Getting a mortgage after bankruptcy in Canada has changed since dramatically since Oct 2008. Sub prime lenders no longer exist, and no longer offer the “day after discharge” options, nor are most of them even operating at all!

To understand how to gain a mortgage after bankruptcy, you should follow a simple 6 step process which will properly walk you through the hoops you need to jump through in order to gain trustworthiness again.

Step 1 - Gain your Absolute Discharge First.

Since you are not fully complete your bankruptcy until you are discharged, your first priority should be gaining your absolute discharge which would mean fulfilling your trustee’s directions as soon as you possibly can. Once you have been discharged for 2 years, or proposal paid for 2 years, you can qualify for a mortgage again with regular interest rates as if you had not gone bankrupt.

Step 2 - Clean Credit Score

By far the most important step I can assure you that 95% of the time is done incorrectly or has not been done at all. You need to review your credit score to ensure it is reporting accurately and the information from your Absolute Discharge are reporting accurately. I have provided a easy process to fix your credit reports on your own with both Equifax and TransUnion. You can visit that information on my site by Googling "ShopMyMortgage Bankruptcy" and look for Step 2

Step 3 - Gaining New Credit

It is important that you need to gain new credit from AFTER the date of your Discharge. Holding credit though your proposal or bankruptcy will help your credit score number rise if you are using it responsibly, however, it will not count towards “ReEstablished Credit” which is vitally important. You will need anywhere from 1 year of ReEstablished Credit to 2 Years of ReEstablished Credit with a minimum of 2 trade lines reporting over $1,000 each. It is a good idea to gain stronger limits of $1,000 or more, $200 credit cards really don’t support strength in ReEstablishment.

Step 4  - Accumulating a Down Payment

Today it is possible to gain a mortgage with as little as 5% as a down payment after bankruptcy. You would still be able to gain the same interest rate with 20% down as well, however, the more down payment you have the better the capacity it will show the lenders that you have, which will increase their trust level with you and their application. The more the merrier with down payments.

Step 5 - Gaining A PreApproval

Once you have the first 4 steps out of your way, you want to gain a lenders affirmation that they are prepared to move forward with your application. Gaining a PreApproval will not guarantee your success to financing, however, it will give you affirmation that the lender is willing to proceed with you, as long as the insurer agrees with the risk assessment they just preformed on you. The property still would need to come into play, and that information is not available when you do a PreApproval.

For a full detailed summary of more information on each of these Steps, feel free to visit my website at:

"ShopMyMortgage Bankruptcy" - Look for the 6 Step Process