Reverse mortgage blog
CHIP Reverse Mortgage Rates in Canada (2026)
General information for Canadian homeowners, not personal financial, legal, or tax advice. Rates and lender details verified as of August 4, 2026.
Key takeaways
- CHIP rates run from 6.39% (the advertised 5-year fixed special) to 8.95% (CHIP Open) as of August 2026, depending on the product and term — every number comes from HomeEquity Bank's own tables, and this page puts them in one place.
- The advertised rates are new-client specials. The posted schedule — what an existing mortgage resets to when a term ends — runs higher, currently 6.99% on the 5-year fixed (HomeEquity Bank posted rates).
- The product moves the price: CHIP Max runs a full 1 point above the standard schedule on every term, and CHIP Open's repay-any-time freedom is priced at 8.95% (HomeEquity Bank).
- Reverse mortgage rates sit roughly 2 to 2.5 points above the best regular 5-year fixed mortgages — the price of years with no required monthly mortgage payments, plus the No Negative Equity Guarantee (The Globe and Mail).
- A term here is a rate reset, not an exit: the early-payout charge follows the date the money was first advanced, so the rate at each reset moves the lifetime cost more than the starting rate does (how paying off early works).
- Posted rates are the retail price. Unpublished broker-channel specials routinely land below the advertised figure, and a broker compares every lender free — the lender pays the broker, not you.
CHIP reverse mortgage rates start at 6.39% as of August 2026 — the advertised 5-year fixed special for new clients — and every other rate in HomeEquity Bank’s published tables runs higher.
Most homeowners looking into CHIP want the same thing first: the actual current rates, in one place, before talking to anyone. Finding them is harder than it should be. HomeEquity Bank — the federally regulated Canadian bank behind CHIP — spreads its numbers across separate pages, one product at a time, and the advertised rate is a starting point rather than a quote.
The rate that applies to a particular homeowner depends on three things: the term chosen (six months to five years, or a variable rate), which CHIP product is being used — the standard CHIP Reverse Mortgage, CHIP Max, CHIP Open, or Income Advantage — and details like age, home value, and location. This page gathers every published CHIP rate into one table, dated August 2026, explains why the advertised special and the posted rate differ, and covers what actually determines the rate a homeowner gets.
The rate is only one part of whether CHIP is the right lender. The full CHIP reverse mortgage review weighs all of it — the fees, the products, and who CHIP is wrong for.
What are CHIP reverse mortgage rates right now?
As of August 2026, the advertised CHIP 5-year fixed special is 6.39%. That’s the number the television ads point to — and it’s one number in a much larger table. Here’s every rate HomeEquity Bank currently publishes, across all four CHIP products:
| Term | CHIP — advertised special (new clients) | CHIP — posted (applies at reset) | CHIP Max | Income Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-year fixed | 6.39% | 6.99% | 7.99% | 6.99% |
| 3-year fixed | 6.69% | 7.29% | 8.29% | 7.29% |
| 1-year fixed | 6.99% | 7.59% | 8.59% | 7.59% |
| 6-month fixed | — | 6.99% | 7.99% | — |
| Variable | 6.86% | 7.11% | 8.11% | 7.11% |
CHIP Open sits outside the table because it comes in one form: a variable rate of 8.95% (August 2026), in exchange for the right to repay the entire balance at any time with no early-payout charge.
A dash in the table means HomeEquity Bank doesn’t publish a special for that spot. Posted rates move often — treat any published number as a dated snapshot, not a quote.
What the two CHIP columns mean
The advertised specials are for new mortgages only, in certain locations, and HomeEquity Bank’s own fine print describes them as reductions off its posted rates. The posted column is the schedule an existing mortgage resets to when its term ends.
Both columns come from the bank’s own published tables — most rate pages only ever show you the first one.
Each rate also has an APR — the same rate with the one-time set-up cost folded in — which is covered in the FAQ below. On the benchmark 5-year fixed: the 6.39% special carries an APR of 6.81%, and the 6.99% posted rate an APR of 7.42%.
Why are CHIP’s rates higher than a regular mortgage?
Because the lender waits years — sometimes decades — to be paid. A regular mortgage lender collects a payment every month. A reverse mortgage lender advances money with no required monthly mortgage payments and gets repaid when the home is sold, when the last borrower permanently moves out, or after the last borrower passes away.
On top of that patience sits the No Negative Equity Guarantee: as long as the homeowner obligations are met — property taxes paid, home insured, the home reasonably maintained — neither you nor your estate ever repays more than the home’s fair market value at the time the mortgage becomes due.
If the market ever falls short of the balance, that loss is the lender’s. The waiting and the guarantee are what the extra cost buys.
That extra — currently about 2 to 2.5 points over the best regular 5-year fixed mortgages — still sits far below credit cards, unsecured loans, or private mortgages. And it applies across the whole market, not just at CHIP: the full Canadian rates comparison measures it across all four lenders.
What the rate does to the balance over time
Interest is calculated the same way as on a traditional Canadian mortgage — compounded semi-annually, the standard across Canadian mortgages. The difference is where it goes: added to the balance instead of paid monthly, so the balance grows over the years. How the whole product runs, from application to repayment, is laid out in how a CHIP reverse mortgage works.
That sounds worse than it usually plays out. The home’s value is typically rising over the same years, and Canadian borrowers keep about half their equity on average, even after many years. Enter a home value, an age, and an amount, and watch the balance and the equity side by side — or use the CHIP calculator page, where the same tool comes with what the results mean around it:
Here's What Happens to Your Equity
Adjust the sliders below to see how your equity can change over time.
Need more than this estimate?In some situations we can structure additional financing to unlock more of your equity — contact us to see if it fits your situation.
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Your 15-Year Forecast
In 15 years, your home is projected to be worth $1,935,282 (at 4.5% growth). Even with the growing loan balance, you would still have$1,288,355in remaining equity!
*Disclaimer: These projections are for illustration purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Projections assume 4.5% annual appreciation and 6.44% interest rate. Actual results may vary based on market conditions and individual circumstances.
Your 15-Year Forecast
In 15 years, your home is projected to be worth $1,935,282 (at 4.5% growth). Even with the growing loan balance, you would still have$1,288,355in remaining equity!
This calculator is for illustration only. Real numbers depend on the lender, rate, product, and home — which is exactly what a free estimate works out.
Fixed or variable at CHIP — and what a term really means here
The fixed terms run six months to five years, and the variable rate is HomeEquity Bank’s prime rate — the bank’s own base lending rate — plus a set amount on top. Choosing between them starts with one thing most people don’t expect: a reverse mortgage term isn’t like a regular mortgage term.
A reverse mortgage is built as a loan for life. When a term ends, the rate resets to the posted rate for a new term and the mortgage carries on — there’s no moment where the loan matures and can be moved or paid out penalty-free.
The early-payout charge follows the date the money was first advanced, not the term chosen. So a 1-year term broken after that year still pays an early-payout charge. Paying off a reverse mortgage early covers those charges year by year.
The exit rule that changes the fixed-or-variable math
On a regular mortgage, variable buys a cheap exit — break any time for three months’ interest. Here, fixed and variable sit on the same early-payout schedule, so variable buys no cheaper way out.
What’s left is a bet: choosing variable means betting the Bank of Canada keeps cutting, and choosing a short term means betting the reset lands somewhere better.
Nobody guesses rate direction reliably, professionals included. That’s why the 5-year fixed is the term most borrowers land on — today’s known rate, held for the longest stretch on offer, with the fewest resets to get through.
How do CHIP’s products change the rate?
The product choice is a pricing decision, and it’s the decision most shoppers don’t know they’re making. Four products, four price levels — here’s what each one trades.
- CHIP Reverse Mortgage — the standard product, and the only one the advertised specials apply to. One lump sum, the lowest rates in the lineup, and the starting point everything else is priced against.
- CHIP Max — lends more of the home’s value, and charges a full point more than the standard schedule on every term, on the entire balance. The extra borrowing room is priced into every borrowed dollar, not just the extra ones.
- CHIP Open — repay everything any time, with no early-payout charge. The freedom costs 8.95% and a set-up fee of the greater of $2,995 or 1.25% of the amount — built for a short stretch measured in months, like a planned sale, not a mortgage kept for years.
- Income Advantage — scheduled monthly advances instead of a lump sum, with a $2,495 set-up fee. The advances always run on the variable rate; the fixed terms apply only to money taken as a lump sum. Interest is only charged on money actually advanced, so the balance grows more slowly than with any of the other products.
The set-up costs sit close together otherwise: $1,795 on CHIP and CHIP Max (it includes the lender’s legal work), plus an appraisal — almost always about $350 — on every file. And one line of HomeEquity Bank’s fine print applies across the lineup: fees and rates can vary by file, including “any additional rate premiums added on your file.”
Which product fits which situation is a separate question from price — the independent CHIP review walks through who each one is actually for.
Free Guide:The Canadian Reverse Mortgage Guide
- ✓How much tax-free cash you could unlock — and what moves the number
- ✓The real costs, rates, and fees — nothing buried in fine print
- ✓How the lenders (CHIP, Equitable Bank, Home Trust, Bloom) really compare
- ✓When a reverse mortgage is the wrong choice
Simply enter your info below and a PDF copy will instantly be sent right to your inbox.
Is the posted rate what you’d actually get?
Frequently not — the published tables are the retail price, and the sharpest pricing in this market doesn’t appear on any rate page.
Lenders run unpublished rate specials through the mortgage-broker channel, including on flagship products, and set-up fees have room in them on files lenders want to compete for. A homeowner phoning the call centre sees the advertised number. A broker sees what every lender — HomeEquity Bank included — will actually do for that specific age, home, and plan.
The starting rate isn’t the whole cost
The advertised special applies once, at the start. What the mortgage costs over its life is set by numbers that get less attention: the rate at each reset (applied to a balance that has grown), the early-payout charges if plans change, and the fees along the way.
Renewal-time rates move the total cost of borrowing more than the starting rate does. That’s why a broker reviews every reset about six months ahead, re-checks the market, and recommends a switch only when it saves more than it costs. How resets and renewals work across the market is covered in the full rates guide.
None of that costs the homeowner anything. The lender pays the broker, so the comparison — and the reset-watching after it — is free.
See what CHIP would really offer you
A free, no-obligation estimate compares every reverse mortgage lender in Canada — including the pricing that never appears on a rate page — for your age and home. No cost, no credit check.
Get my free estimateHow do CHIP’s rates compare with the other lenders?
As of July 2026, CHIP’s advertised 5-year fixed sits at the top of the four Canadian lenders’ posted range — 6.23% to 6.39% across the market, after all four lenders cut rates within weeks of each other in late June. The full four-lender comparison tracks that spread with every number dated.
Sitting highest is also the drawback most often raised about CHIP, and the downsides review puts it in context: a fraction of a point matters less than the product fit, the reset treatment, and the fees.
The four lenders aren’t interchangeable. They differ on lending amounts, product features, exit charges, and how resets are handled — only Bloom sells a rate that never resets. The lender-by-lender comparison walks through all four.
So the real question runs in order: whether a reverse mortgage is the right tool at all, then whether CHIP is the right one of the four, then what CHIP’s real price is for that specific homeowner. A broker who specializes in these mortgages runs all three questions at once. The comparison is free, and the lender pays the broker — never the homeowner.
Frequently asked questions
What is the interest rate on a CHIP reverse mortgage?
As of August 2026, the advertised CHIP 5-year fixed special is 6.39%, the 3-year is 6.69%, the 1-year is 6.99%, and the variable is 6.86%. Those are new-client specials on the standard CHIP Reverse Mortgage. The posted schedule — which existing mortgages reset to — is higher, currently 6.99% on the 5-year fixed, and CHIP Max and CHIP Open price higher again. Rates move often, so treat any published number as a dated snapshot.
How often do CHIP rates change?
There is no fixed schedule. HomeEquity Bank adjusts its published rates as the cost of the money it lends moves — sometimes within weeks, as in late June 2026, when all four Canadian reverse mortgage lenders cut rates in the same stretch. The variable rate moves with HomeEquity Bank's prime rate, which tends to follow Bank of Canada decisions. Check the date on any rate you read.
What is the difference between the rate and the APR on a CHIP mortgage?
The rate is what the borrowed money grows at. The APR — annual percentage rate — folds the one-time set-up cost into the math, spread over five years, so it shows the cost of borrowing as one combined yearly figure. That is why the APR always reads higher: on the advertised 5-year special of 6.39% with the $1,795 closing and administrative cost, the APR works out to 6.81%. The APR can also include any extra rate premiums the bank adds for an individual borrower.
Can you negotiate a CHIP reverse mortgage rate?
The advertised rate is not the floor. Real pricing depends on age, home value, location, product, and term — and lenders run unpublished rate specials through the mortgage-broker channel that never appear on a rate page. A broker compares every reverse mortgage lender in Canada for the same homeowner, and can often get rates and set-up fees reduced when lenders are competing for the business — at no cost to the homeowner, because the lender pays the broker.
Does CHIP have a variable rate?
Yes. The standard CHIP variable rate is HomeEquity Bank's prime rate plus a set amount on top — 6.86% as an advertised special as of August 2026, or 7.11% on the posted schedule. It moves when HomeEquity Bank's prime moves, which tends to follow the Bank of Canada. CHIP Open is variable-only at a higher rate, in exchange for the right to repay the whole balance at any time with no early-payout charge.
Put CHIP's rates beside the other three lenders
A free, no-obligation estimate shows what every reverse mortgage lender in Canada would offer for your age and home — the rate, the fees, and the amount, side by side. No cost, no credit check.
Get my free estimate About the author
Richard Hopkins
Licensed Mortgage Broker · M16000896
Richard has worked in the mortgage business since 2013 — first as a mortgage agent, today a licensed mortgage broker — and leads the reverse mortgage practice at Homestead Financial — Dominion Lending Centres, an FSRA-licensed Ontario brokerage (#11711) with roots in the industry since 1999 and more than 2,500 mortgages funded. More about Richard →
This article is general information for Canadian homeowners, not personal financial, legal, or tax advice. Everyone's situation is different — please get advice on your own numbers before making a decision. Rates and lender details verified as of August 4, 2026.