Income tax, HST, or payroll arrears. Frozen bank accounts. A lien on title. Banks walk away from these files — but lenders exist who will pay the CRA in full at closing from your home equity. We have closed these deals, including files where every other option had failed.
No credit check required for initial assessment · OAC · FSRA Licensed
Unresolved tax arrears are one of the few problems that make every major bank walk away, regardless of your income or equity. The reason is legal, not personal: certain CRA claims can take priority over a lender's mortgage, and once the CRA escalates to collections — requirements to pay, garnished receivables, frozen bank accounts, a lien registered on title — an institutional lender's credit policy simply says no.
Meanwhile the debt grows. CRA interest compounds daily at the prescribed rate plus 4% and is not tax-deductible. Enforcement escalates on the CRA's schedule, not yours. Waiting is the single most expensive strategy available.
The solution most homeowners and business owners never hear about: lenders exist who will fund specifically to pay the CRA out in full at closing. The arrears are paid through your lawyer, the lien is discharged, accounts are unfrozen, and the enforcement stops — in one transaction.
1. Refinance your first mortgage. Where the numbers and timing allow, a new first mortgage (often with a B lender) pays out your existing mortgage plus the full CRA balance. One payment, institutional rates, done.
2. Second mortgage behind your existing first. If your current first mortgage has a great rate or a heavy penalty, a second mortgage raises only what the CRA requires — without disturbing the first. Typically the fastest institutional-adjacent route.
3. Private first mortgage. When accounts are already frozen, a lien is registered, or the file is too complex for B lenders, private funding closes in days. The CRA is paid directly from proceeds at closing; private mortgage rates start as low as 5.49% for strong, low-LTV first positions, with most transactions ranging from 8% to 14% annually. Lender and broker fees apply and are disclosed in writing before commitment (APR is higher than the stated rate). OAC.
In every structure, the mechanics are the same: your real estate lawyer obtains the CRA payout figure, funds flow directly to the CRA on closing, and proof of payment triggers the release of liens, garnishments, and account freezes.
✓ Self-employed with income tax or HST arrears — the write-offs that lowered your taxes also complicated your bank relationship, and now the balance has compounded.
✓ Business owners with payroll or director's liability assessments — corporate tax problems that have reached you personally.
✓ Homeowners with frozen bank accounts — the CRA has issued a requirement to pay to your bank, and everyday banking has stopped working.
✓ A CRA lien registered on your home — often discovered only when trying to refinance or sell.
✓ CRA arrears layered on top of mortgage arrears — including power of sale situations where the tax debt must clear for any rescue financing to work. See our Power of Sale Bailout service.
Bowmanville — $730K home, CRA-frozen bank accounts. Self-employed owner carrying a first, a second, consumer debts, and CRA arrears that froze the accounts. One private first mortgage paid everything including the CRA — accounts unfrozen within days of closing, renovation and business capital advanced, twelve months fully prepaid. Rate: 6.99% (OAC).
Brampton — $2.1M home, power of sale plus CRA judgments on title. Behind on both mortgages with active CRA judgments and bruised credit. New private first mortgage stopped the power of sale, discharged the CRA judgments from title, and cut monthly obligations from $12,000 to $1,320. Rate: 5.49% (OAC — a low-LTV outcome, not typical).
Anonymized closed transactions. Rates achieved on these specific files; lender and broker fees applied, so APR exceeds the stated rates. Not an offer to lend — every file prices on its own merits. OAC.
A CRA payout mortgage — especially a private one — is built with the exit planned before closing. Once the tax problem is gone, your file transforms: no arrears, no lien, no enforcement. Over the following 12–24 months we track your progress toward refinancing to a B lender or bank at substantially lower rates. The goal is never to keep you in expensive money a day longer than the file requires.
For the full picture on how tax debt interacts with mortgage qualification, read our guide: CRA Debt & Mortgages in Ontario →
No judgment, no pressure, no hard credit pull for an initial assessment. Just a straight answer about what's available and what the path forward looks like.
OAC. Rates subject to change. Paul Hunjan, Mortgage Broker #M09001187, MA Mortgage Architects #12728, FSRA regulated. Not a lender.