Mortgage insurance

When buying a home, most of us take out a mortgage to finance the purchase. Depending on the size of the mortgage and other factors, there are types of mortgage insurance that may be involved, such as mortgage life insurance, mortgage loan insurance and mortgage disability insurance.
 * Mortgage life insurance pays the remaining balance on your mortgage to the lender in the event of your death.
 * Mortgage loan insurance helps protect lenders against mortgage default, and enables consumers to purchase homes with a minimum down payment.
 * Mortgage disability insurance will make mortgage payments to your lender if you cannot work due to a severe injury or illness.

Mortgage life insurance
Mortgage life insurance, also know as creditor insurance, is offered by most banks and lending institutions. It is a life insurance policy that pays the balance of your mortgage to the lending institution if a person listed on the mortgage passes away. A more cost efficient and flexible way of achieving the same goal is to use term insurance.

Comparison with term insurance
An excellent alternative to mortgage life insurance is using term life insurance. The logic of buying term life insurance is to insure your paycheque, instead of your mortgage. If the paycheck is replaced by the life insurance proceeds, then mortgage payments -- and all the other things previously covered by your paycheque -- can still be paid. Also, for term life insurance, several quotes can be obtained (e.g. from a broker), and the cost will likely be lower than that of mortgage insurance. The following table compares the two options:

According to MoneySense magazine, "The only circumstance where mortgage life insurance — and its near instant approval — makes sense is when you have a disability, disease or lifestyle that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain other insurance."

Mortgage loan insurance
Typically, lenders require mortgage loan insurance for loans made to anyone that wishes to purchase a home with less than 20% of the purchase price. The Canadian Bank Act prohibits most federally regulated lending institutions from providing mortgages without mortgage loan insurance (also known as "mortgage default insurance") for amounts that exceed 80% of the value of the home or purchases with less than 20% down payment.

For mortgages with downpayments between 5% and <20%, mortgage loan insurance costs between 2.8% and 4.0% of the loan value. The insurance premium can be paid as a lump sum or, more commonly, added to the loan (in which case interest will be charged by the lender at the same rate than on the rest of the loan).

Mortgages with a downpayment of 20% or more do not typically require loan insurance, but CMHC offers it nonetheless. Scotiabank, for exemple, indicates that "default insurance may also be required ... when a borrower has more than a 20% down payment, if the property is in a remote location or if the borrower is qualifying under a special program considered a higher risk".

Mortgage disability insurance
Mortgage disability insurance is a specialized version of disability insurance.

Mortgage life insurance

 * Toronto Star, Mortgage vs life insurance: Which is best? (May 3, 2012)
 * Canadian Capitalist, Mortgage Insurance versus Life Insurance (April 22, 2009)

Mortgage Loan Insurance

 * Consumers — Mortgage Loan Insurance | CMHC