Could a line of credit impact my mortgage application? + MORE Nov 16th

Prospective house hunters and those looking to refinance an existing mortgage should consider the impacts of their lines of credit on their mortgage application. That’s because lenders take non-mortgage debt, including line of credit payments, into account when determining how much you can afford to borrow. 

How a line of credit affects a mortgage application

Lenders consider factors like a borrower’s creditworthiness, income and existing debt before lending them money.

When it comes to mortgages, they want to know what percentage of your income will be spent on housing costs, to ensure you can afford your future mortgage payments. This is called the gross debt service ratio (GDS), and it is based on your mortgage principal and interest, taxes, heating costs and condo fees (if applicable) divided by your income. 

But lenders also want to know that you will be able to pay your mortgage in addition to all your other existing debt. To figure this out, they use what’s called the total debt service ratio (TDS)…

 Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has a another new transfer bonus offer for their Guest program. This time they are offering bonus elite status tier miles when you convert bank rewards points to Guest miles. Here in Canada we have one option for conversions to Etihad and it does qualify for this offer. That option is converting American Express Membership Rewards points. The offer provides one (1) bonus Etihad Guest Tier mile for every mile deposited to your account from participating bank transfer partners. There is a minimum requirement of 5,000 miles to be deposited to your account and a maximum bonus of 20,000 tier miles awarded. What this means is that you would have to convert at least 6,700 Membership Rewards points to reach the 5,000 mile minimum as Canadian Membership Rewards points convert at a 1:0.75 ratio to Etihad Guest. To max out the bonus you would need to convert 26,700 points. With this promotion you won’t be able to achieve status outright unless you already have status with Etihad and you use the 20,000 max to qualify for Silver…

Here’s your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year!  AIR MILES Shops Early Black Friday Event will start on November 19! You can earn 15x the Miles sitewide! Makes me wonder what the actual Black Friday offer will be? 20x miles? I hope that’s the case!  As well AIR MILES Bonus Boom Boost launches on November 18 – this time you can earn up to 800 bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles and be entered to win up to 1 Million Miles. You’ll earn 400 miles if you use 4 different Bonus Boom offers, 600 when you use 6 different Bonus Boom offers or 800 when you use 8 different Bonus Boom offers. We’ll follow up with a separate post on the 18th once the event is live!Images via AIR MILES  — Several times over the past few weeks we’ve brought you the details of some hotel loyalty programs extending points expiry but were warning about World of Hyatt and Radisson Rewards Americas as they had not announced any plans to do so…

 The new Air Canada Aeroplan LCBO partnership is now live! As announced earlier this year Ontario’s liquor retailer left the AIR MILES program to join up with Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. The program launches today with existing members now being able to earn Aeroplan points at LCBO retail stores along with a bonus and if you are not a member yet you can join Aeroplan now and earn an additional bonus on your first LCBO purchase. In the near future you will also be able to redeem Aeroplan points for LCBO gift cards. Here are the simple specifics of the new partnershipEarn 1 Aeroplan point for every $4 spent in LCBO retail storesEarn bonus points when purchasing select LCBO productsComing soon! Redeem for LCBO gift cards at the Aeroplan eStore, starting at just 1,000 Aeroplan points for a $10 LCBO gift cardLCBO customers who are not members can join Aeroplan through November 28, 2021 and earn 250 bonus points on their first LCBO retail store purchase. New and existing members who spend $50 or more at a LCBO retail store through November 28, 2021, will earn 2x the base points on their first purchase (i…