Key takeaways
- →Since April 1, 2023, the federal portion of Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans no longer accrues interest — permanently, per the Government of Canada.
- →Borrowers get a six-month non-repayment period after leaving school before regular repayment obligations begin, per the National Student Loans Service Centre.
- →A loan still in study or in the non-repayment window can look inactive on a bureau pull even though it's very real debt that will need to be qualified against once repayment starts.
- →Provincial loan portions, where they exist alongside the federal loan, can carry their own separate rules — don't assume the federal interest change covers the whole balance.
A recent graduate's student loan can show up on a credit pull looking almost dormant — no payment history, sometimes no reported balance yet — simply because it's still inside the government's built-in non-repayment window, not because anything is wrong with the file.
Here's how a student loan actually reports at each stage, verified against the National Student Loans Service Centre, and what that means for how a broker should treat it in a mortgage application.
01 · What are the actual stages a student loan moves through?
- 01In study. Full-time students generally aren't required to make payments, and the federal portion doesn't accrue interest.
- 02The non-repayment period. A six-month window after a borrower leaves school, per NSLSC, before regular repayment obligations begin.
- 03Active repayment. Once the non-repayment period ends and scheduled monthly payments start.
Which stage a borrower is in changes both what shows on the bureau file and what a lender should qualify the file against going forward.
02 · Do Canada Student Loans still accrue interest?
As of April 1, 2023, the Government of Canada permanently eliminated interest accumulation on the federal portion of Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans. Interest that accrued before that date is still owed, but no new interest accrues on the federal portion going forward. Provincial loan portions, where a province runs its own parallel program, aren't automatically covered by this federal change — check the specific provincial program rather than assuming the same rule applies to the whole balance.
03 · What is the six-month non-repayment period, exactly?
Per the National Student Loans Service Centre, borrowers get a six-month non-repayment period after leaving school before regular repayment obligations start, during which a borrower can also make voluntary lump-sum payments if they choose. A loan inside this window can look different on a bureau pull than one already in active repayment — sometimes with no reported scheduled payment yet — which is a timing artifact, not a sign the loan doesn't exist.
04 · How should a broker treat a student loan for GDS/TDS purposes at each stage?
A loan already in active repayment gets qualified against its actual scheduled payment, the same as any other debt. A loan still in study or inside the non-repayment window is trickier — since real payments are coming once repayment starts, most lenders will still want it reflected in the qualifying ratios in some form, often using a set percentage of the balance as a proxy payment, rather than ignored outright, precisely because the debt is real even though the bureau isn't showing an active payment yet. Confirm the specific approach with the lender, since practice varies.
A loan in transition, documented correctly
Don't let a student loan get qualified on guesswork.
Treadstone's fulfillment associates confirm exactly which repayment stage a student loan is in before it goes into a submission's ratios.
05 · What should a broker document when a client has a student loan in transition?
The loan balance, the stage it's in (in-study, non-repayment, or active repayment), and the anticipated start date of full payments if not already active — enough for the underwriter to see exactly where the file sits without guessing from a bureau report that may lag the client's actual situation.
Frequently asked questions
This article is general information to help you scale — not a substitute for tailored advice on your specific business, licensing, or compliance obligations. All figures are illustrative examples for planning purposes; actual costs vary by province, market, and brokerage.