HELOC Calculator

The revolving HELOC portion of a readvanceable mortgage is capped at 65% of your home's appraised value, and combined mortgage plus HELOC debt cannot exceed 80% of the home's value. Your available limit is whichever of those two caps leaves less room once your existing mortgage balance is subtracted.

A mortgage is a fixed loan you repay on a set amortization schedule, while a HELOC is a revolving line of credit secured against your home equity that you can draw from and repay repeatedly, similar to a credit card but with a much lower, variable interest rate.

Interest-only payments cover just the interest accrued each month, so the balance never shrinks on its own — you carry the drawn amount indefinitely until you choose to pay it down. Fixed-principal payments add a set amount toward the balance each month on top of interest, which pays the HELOC off over a defined number of months.

HELOC rates in Canada are variable, quoted as the lender's prime rate plus a spread the lender sets based on your credit profile and loan-to-value ratio. Because prime moves with the Bank of Canada's policy rate, your HELOC payment on an interest-only draw changes whenever prime changes.

Yes — because the limit is calculated as a percentage of appraised home value minus your mortgage balance, a drop in home value can reduce your available HELOC room, and an increase can expand it (subject to the lender reappraising and approving a limit increase). Paying down your mortgage balance also increases available HELOC room over time.