Hello Vaughn, in Canada when your mortgage is paid off completely the bank will send a discharge of mortgage document into the registry office to state that there is no longer a lien on your property. It will be free and clear and your title will be clean. This means when you sell you will realize all of your equity minus any costs of selling. The bank may charge you a discharge fee of $250 to cover paperwork costs and the cost of the discharge registration. It would be a good idea at that point to get a secured Line of Credit against your property. Once its set up there are no other costs involved unless you use the line of credit. This is a good idea for 2 reasons. First off the interest rate for a secure line of credit is lower than an unsecured line of credit, a loan and definitely lower than any credit cards so if you are going to carry a balance for any reason it should be on the secured line of credit. The second reason is more for your protection as a home owner. When you get a secured line of credit the bank can register the product against the title thereby locking that equity in. What I mean by that is if some fraudster is trying to place a mortgage on your property without you knowing it (it does happen unfortunately) then there is no room for the unsuspecting bank to place a mortgage on your property because there is a mortgage already there. Remember since we are talking about a line of credit you will pay nothing to have it activated and you do not ever have to use it, this way you will not pay any interest on it if you leave the balance at zero. I hope this answers you question. If you or any reader have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. Abraham Niyazi - Mortgage Agent - Lic#M08010640 - Centum One FInancial Corp - Lic 10758. Cell: 416-993-4082 Toll Free: 1-866-728-3708 x 115 www.centum.ca/abraham_niyazi/ I deal with 25 Lenders/Banks and can do mortgages across Canada except Quebec.

Do not forget to register the discharge with the registry office as this is your responsibility not the bank. The discharge comes from the bank but to make sure that the lien is removed from your property, it has to be registered. You now own the propery fully without any mortgage. Hope this helps.