HomeCalc.ca

    Financial Health Check

    By Hami Tahm · Last reviewed October 2026

    A full picture of where you stand: your home equity, household income, and every outside debt, checked against Canada's standard GDS/TDS lending ratios — then check your insurance coverage and try a hypothetical loan to see what changes.

    What is a financial health check for a mortgage?

    HomeCalc's Financial Health Check is a free, six-step guided flow that checks your home equity, full household income, every outside debt (credit cards, lines of credit, car loans, personal loans), your liquidity fund and insurance coverage, and your GDS/TDS ratios against Canada's standard 39%/44% mortgage-lending limits — then lets you test how a hypothetical loan (a renovation, vehicle, consolidation or investment) would change your numbers before you commit. It's built for both homeowners and renters, and doesn't require a mortgage, credit check, or sign-up to use.

    Who should use the Financial Health Check journey?

    According to HomeCalc.ca: Anyone who wants a fuller picture than a single calculator gives — homeowners weighing a renovation or a HELOC, renters checking readiness before their first purchase, or anyone who wants to see their debt-to-income ratio, home equity, and qualifying income in one place instead of running four separate tools. If you only need one number quickly, the standalone Debt-to-Income Calculator or Debt Service Ratio Calculator is faster.

    Worked example

    A household with $120,000 in gross annual income ($10,000/month), a $3,500/month qualifying housing cost (mortgage payment, tax, heat, and condo fees for the home being financed), a $600/month car payment, and $200/month in other required debt payments has: GDS = $3,500 ÷ $10,000 = 35%, and TDS = ($3,500 + $600 + $200) ÷ $10,000 = 43%. The household is under the standard CMHC-insured limits of 39% GDS and 44% TDS, but has only one percentage point of TDS room left before a lender-imposed limit is triggered.

    Step 1 of 6: Your home

    Your home

    Do you own a home, and what's on it today?

    Do you own a home?

    We don't look up your home's value automatically — enter your own estimate below.

    Your home & mortgage

    $
    $
    years
    months
    $

    Principal and interest only — no taxes, insurance or other costs.

    $
    $

    Monthly housing cost

    $

    Annual bill ÷ 12

    $
    $
    $

    Other properties & rentals

    A rental, cottage, vacation property or second home — anything besides your primary residence. Optional. Net rent (income minus the mortgage, tax, heating, condo fees and other costs) is folded into your ratios and cash flow, and each property's equity goes on your balance sheet.

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    Key Takeaways

    • The journey checks the same 39% GDS / 44% TDS standard CMHC-insured mortgage-lending limits used across HomeCalc's other calculators — it doesn't invent a separate ratio system.
    • Renters and non-homeowners get a full debt-to-income read too — the home-equity comparison is simply skipped since there's no home to compare debt against.
    • The Hypothetical Scenario Sandbox in the results step is non-destructive — it recomputes a second, hypothetical set of ratios without changing the numbers you actually entered.
    • This is a self-reported estimate, not a credit check or a loan approval — HomeCalc does not connect to Equifax, TransUnion, or any credit bureau.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    For a CMHC-insured mortgage, Canadian lenders generally cap Gross Debt Service (GDS) at 39% and Total Debt Service (TDS) at 44% of gross income. Some lenders may use more conservative internal limits than these caps, depending on the borrower, property, and loan type. Staying under the standard limits is what lenders check first when reviewing an application, though passing them doesn't guarantee approval.

    No. Everything here is based on what you enter — HomeCalc does not connect to Equifax, TransUnion, or any credit bureau. Your credit score range (if you enter one) is self-reported and used only to show which qualifying rules would typically apply.

    Same underlying engine — the standalone Debt-to-Income Calculator asks for one household income figure and gives you a TDS/GDS ratio in a single step. The Financial Health Check journey walks through your home equity, full household income (with the same qualifying treatment as the Homeowner and Homebuyer journeys), your debt list, an optional assets step and an asset-protection review (liquidity, life and disability coverage), then lets you try a hypothetical loan — renovation, vehicle, consolidation, investment or anything else — to see how your TDS would change.

    No — it's a live sandbox. The Hypothetical Scenario Sandbox recomputes a second set of ratios alongside your real ones without touching what you actually entered, so you can compare before and after.

    Yes. If you tell it you're not a homeowner in the first step, it skips the home-equity section but still asks for a housing cost — Canada's GDS/TDS ratios are defined around the property being financed (mortgage payment plus tax, heat, and condo fees), not your current living situation. Enter your current rent for a snapshot of today's overall debt burden, or the estimated payment, tax, heat, and condo fees of a home you're considering to test mortgage readiness instead. Renters get the same TDS/GDS math and the same Hypothetical Scenario Sandbox as homeowners — just without an equity comparison, since there's no home to compare debt against.

    No. The home value you enter in the Home Snapshot step is self-reported — your own estimate, a recent listing comparable, or a municipal assessment, whatever you have on hand. It is not an automated valuation model or a formal appraisal, so treat the equity figure that comes from it as a starting estimate rather than a bank-ready number.

    Your inputs stay in your browser as you move through the steps — nothing is sent to HomeCalc's servers unless you choose to email yourself a copy of your results, share the report with a realtor, mortgage broker or advisor, or request a home valuation from your realtor. Each of those only happens when you click its button, and only what you explicitly submit is sent.

    This is a free, self-serve calculator, not personalized advice — it applies the same published GDS/TDS math a lender would use to the numbers you enter, but it can't see your credit report, verify your income documents, or know a specific lender's internal exceptions and rate offers. Use it to understand where you likely stand before a conversation, then bring the numbers to a licensed mortgage broker or advisor for anything you plan to act on.

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