The client
A separated parent in Trois-Rivières bought a $160,000 home at 15% down, on $2,600/month of their own income plus $750/month in child support.
Purchase price
$160,000, Trois-Rivières
15% down, insured
Own salaried income
$2,600/month
Child support
$750/month
Collected and remitted by Revenu Québec's own program
The problem
The child support is collected from the payor and remitted directly by Revenu Québec's own mandatory support-payment collection program -- a genuinely Quebec-specific, government-administered mechanism -- but a first lender, unfamiliar with it, demanded the same private bank-statement deposit history and payor confirmation letter used to document support elsewhere in Canada.
Two different kinds of proof
- ▸Elsewhere in Canada, support is typically documented with a running bank-statement deposit history plus the payor's own confirmation letter
- ▸In Quebec, court-ordered support is collected and remitted by Revenu Québec's Programme de perception des pensions alimentaires by default, not paid privately spouse-to-spouse
- ▸Revenu Québec's own remittance-history statement documents the payments directly, from the collecting institution itself -- a different, and stronger, kind of proof
The ratios were never the issue on this file. The form of the proof was.
The numbers
Once the right document replaced the wrong request, the purchase's own numbers were straightforward.
| The insured purchase | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | $160,000 |
| Down payment (15%) | −$24,000 |
| CMHC premium (2.80% at 80.01-85% LTV) | +$3,808 |
| Total insured mortgage | $139,808 |
| Ratio check at the qualifying rate | Figure |
|---|---|
| Payment at the qualifying rate (7.00%), 25 years | $979/mo |
| Combined income (employment + child support) | $3,350/mo |
| GDS (payment + $220 tax + $90 heat) ÷ income | 38.5% |
38.5% clears comfortably inside CMHC's 39% GDS maximum, once Revenu Québec's own remittance-history statement did what the bank-statement request never could -- document the support payments directly, from the institution actually collecting them.
The solution
A courtier hypothécaire licensed under Quebec's Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services recognized that Quebec's own collection program produces its own, stronger form of proof.
First, confirmed the support was being collected through Revenu Québec's Programme de perception des pensions alimentaires, rather than paid privately.
Second, obtained Revenu Québec's own remittance-history statement for the support payments -- an institution-issued record, not a private arrangement's bank deposits.
Third, submitted that statement in place of the private bank-statement documentation the first lender had originally requested, resolving the file without changing a single ratio.
The outcome
The purchase funded insured at 5.00% and 38.5% GDS, with Quebec's welcome tax on the $160,000 purchase coming to $1,286.
38.5% clears comfortably inside CMHC's 39% GDS maximum on this insured file.
What to take from this file
- 01Quebec's mandatory support-payment collection program is a genuinely different mechanism from a private, spouse-to-spouse support arrangement elsewhere in Canada.
- 02Revenu Québec's own remittance-history statement is a stronger form of proof than a private bank-statement deposit history. Ask for it by name.
- 03A first lender's unfamiliarity with a provincial mechanism is a documentation problem, not a ratio problem. Diagnose which one is actually stalling the file.
- 04This is distinct from dividing a pension or asset at separation. The question here is which document proves ongoing support income, nothing about equalization.
Sources
Every regulatory figure in this file traces to one of these primary sources. Client details and anything that varies by lender are illustrative, as flagged below.
- ▸CMHC — Purchase (Mortgage Loan Insurance) — default-insurance premium schedule by LTV band (25-year amortization).
- ▸CMHC — CMHC Home Start — minimum down payment tiers (5%/10%) and the $1.5M insured price cap.
- ▸OSFI — Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages — the minimum qualifying rate — greater of contract rate + 2% or 5.25%.
- ▸CMHC — CMHC Reviews Underwriting Criteria — GDS 39% / TDS 44% maximums and the 600 credit-score floor for insured files.
- ▸Provincial/territorial mortgage-broker legislation fetched directly (bclaws.gov.bc.ca, legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca, fcaa.gov.sk.ca, web2.gov.mb.ca, nslegislature.ca, assembly.nl.ca) plus FCNB's own site for NB and CanLII's index for PE — see notes for per-province method — provincial mortgage regulators and licence titles.
- ▸Gouvernement du Québec — Droits sur les mutations immobilières — Quebec's transfer duties ('welcome tax') — 2026 indexed brackets.
Illustrative in this file — lender-specific, not rules:
- ▸5.00% contract rate — rates move daily; not a quote.
Authority & provenance
How this case file was built
We publish the origin, the verification method and the reviewer for every case file, so you can judge how far to trust it before you rely on it with a client.
Where it comes from
Derived from files handled by Treadstone’s fulfillment desk and from scenarios contributed by partner brokerages. Names, employers, exact amounts and dates are changed so no client or file is identifiable.
Provenance: Composite — a pattern seen repeatedly on fulfilled files, not a single transaction.
What is verified
Every regulatory figure traces to a primary source listed above and was checked against it on the date shown. The arithmetic is recomputed by machine on every rebuild.
Anything that varies by lender is labelled illustrative rather than stated as a rule.
Who reviewed it
Reviewed for Canadian regulatory accuracy before publication, and re-checked whenever a cited rule changes.
Reviewed by: Nicholas Parson, Treadstone Associates — reviews every case file before publication.
This case file is professional reference material for licensed mortgage professionals. It is not advice to a borrower, and it is not a lender commitment. Insurer rules, qualifying rates and provincial taxes change — confirm the current position with the insurer, regulator or lender before you rely on any figure here in a live file.