A straight answer
What it costs — every item, from the lenders' own published figures.
Nothing on this page is a guess and nothing is from memory. Each figure is what HomeEquity Bank, Equitable Bank or Bloom Finance publishes on its own website, with the page named and the date we read it. Lenders change these, and your commitment letter is the number that binds — but this is the honest shape of the bill, and one line on it is harder to defend than the others. We say which.
The bill, item by item
Two kinds of cost: the one you pay when it happens, and the ones that come out of the money you receive so nothing leaves your pocket.
The appraisal
Paid when it is done — or out of the advance
An independent appraiser confirms what the home is worth, because the advance is a share of that figure. HomeEquity Bank puts it at about $300–600 on one page and around $300–400 on another. Equitable Bank does not include it in its set-up fee and does not publish a figure on the pages we read — the appraiser sets it.
Bloom Finance publishes a flat $350 and deducts it from the proceeds with its other fees, so nothing is paid up front — the only one of the three that publishes a single figure and finances it.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: HomeEquity Bank — Reverse mortgage costs in Canada · HomeEquity Bank — Closing costs · Equitable Bank — Solutions and rates · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees
Independent legal advice
Out of the advance, in most cases
Your own lawyer or notary, confirming you understand what you are signing. Required by HomeEquity Bank and Equitable Bank and built into Bloom Finance's standard fees — and it is for your protection, not theirs. HomeEquity Bank: about $300–700 (one page says $400–700). Equitable Bank: not included in its set-up fee; your lawyer sets the fee.
Bloom Finance: an independent-legal-advice certificate fee of $300, deducted from the proceeds. Bloom calls it an estimate of the legal-advice part of your legal costs, and says the full cost of your own lawyer is outside its control and not included.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: HomeEquity Bank — Reverse mortgage costs in Canada · HomeEquity Bank — Closing costs · Equitable Bank — Solutions and rates · Equitable Bank — Reverse mortgage FAQs · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees
The lender's set-up fee
Deducted from the proceeds
HomeEquity Bank charges a closing fee of $1,795 "for most clients, although individual circumstances do vary" — its closing page gives the range as $1,795–1,995. It is deducted from the proceeds rather than paid out of pocket, and in the bank's own words it covers legal and administrative costs, discharging any prior mortgage, and registering the reverse mortgage, title search and title insurance included.
Equitable Bank charges a one-time set-up fee of $995, deducted from the initial advance. The appraisal, your legal advice and the legal work of closing are not included.
Bloom Finance charges a one-time processing fee of $1,650, deducted from the proceeds — in its words, to compensate it for costs such as hiring lawyers to prepare and register your mortgage. The appraisal and the legal-advice certificate are separate lines, listed above.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: HomeEquity Bank — FAQ · HomeEquity Bank — Closing costs · Equitable Bank — Reverse mortgage FAQs · Equitable Bank — Solutions and rates · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees
The legal work of closing
Inside the fee at two lenders, separate at the third
Someone has to register the mortgage and discharge the old one. At HomeEquity Bank its own lawyers do most of that work inside the closing fee above, and Bloom Finance describes its processing fee the same way — the lawyers who prepare and register the mortgage are what it pays for. At Equitable Bank the closing lawyer or closing service is separate from the $995 and is quoted on your file — which is why the three set-up fees cannot be compared on their own.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: HomeEquity Bank — Closing costs · Equitable Bank — Solutions and rates · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees
Repaying early
Only if you pay it off before the term ends
Equitable Bank publishes its schedule: five, four and three months' interest in years one, two and three; three months' interest in years four to ten; nothing from year eleven. And from year six on, the whole balance can be repaid with no charge on three months' written notice. Paying down the interest monthly carries no charge.
HomeEquity Bank: a prepayment charge applies if the mortgage is paid off before the end of its term, worked out by calculators it publishes per contract rather than one schedule. There is no charge if the last surviving borrower dies, and the charge is halved on a move into a nursing home.
Bloom Finance publishes no prepayment schedule on the pages we read. Whatever applies is in the commitment letter — ask for that line before you sign.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: Equitable Bank — Solutions and rates · Equitable Bank — Reverse mortgage FAQs · HomeEquity Bank — Closing costs · HomeEquity Bank — Prepayment charges · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees · Bloom Finance — FAQs
Interest
The biggest cost over time
Everything above is paid once. Interest is paid for as long as the loan runs, and with no payments it compounds — Bloom Finance's page puts it plainly: calculated daily, compounded semi-annually, the convention the calculators on this site use. Reverse rates typically run 1.5 to 2.5 percentage points above a 5-year fixed mortgage; we print no rate here because rates move and the lender quotes yours in writing. What a rate does to the balance, year by year, is on Are the rates too high?
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: Equitable Bank — Solutions and rates · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees
What it adds up to
HomeEquity Bank's own figure for the total to set up a CHIP Reverse Mortgage is $2,495 to $3,095 — appraisal, your lawyer and the closing fee together. Bloom Finance's own total is $2,300 — processing $1,650, appraisal $350 and the legal-advice certificate $300, all deducted from the proceeds, with your own lawyer's full fee outside it. Equitable Bank publishes no total on the pages we read: it is the $995 set-up fee plus the appraisal, your lawyer and the closing legal work, each quoted on your file.
Two of those items are costs a normal mortgage carries too. HomeEquity Bank's own page makes the comparison: appraisals for a regular mortgage run about the same $300–600, and a real estate lawyer on a regular closing typically $500–1,000 plus tax. The reverse mortgage adds one thing a normal mortgage does not have — independent legal advice, for your protection — and one thing it prices differently: the set-up fee.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: HomeEquity Bank — Closing costs · HomeEquity Bank — Reverse mortgage costs in Canada · Bloom Finance — Rates and fees
The one that is hard to defend
The set-up fee. $995 to $1,995 for paperwork is real money, and it is the line people push back on. Here is what it buys: a lender doing a full legal closing — discharge, registration, title — on a loan it will not be paid on for years, sometimes decades. Here is what it is not: hidden. It is in the commitment letter before anything is signed, and your own lawyer walks you through it.
It is also the one line that genuinely differs between lenders — but only when the whole bill is compared, because the lower fee leaves the closing legal work outside it. So that is what we do on every file: all three lenders' full costs, side by side, against the amount and the rate each will actually offer you. Then the cheaper one wins, in writing.
What leaves your pocket, and what does not
- Paid when it happens: the appraisal, usually — a few hundred dollars to the appraiser before closing. At Bloom Finance even that comes out of the advance.
- Out of the money you receive: the lender's set-up fee, and in most cases your legal advice and the closing legal work. You see them on the statement; you do not write a cheque.
- Only if you choose it: a prepayment charge, if you pay the loan off before the term ends. Selling within a couple of years is the situation to plan around — and often the reason a different tool fits better. When it fits, and when it doesn't →
Lender-published figures as of September 28, 2026. Lenders change them, individual files vary, and the commitment letter is the document that binds. Your exact numbers come from the lender, in writing.
Asked about the costs
Do I pay anything before closing?
Usually just the appraisal, which is done first and paid to the appraiser. Everything else comes out of the money you receive: HomeEquity Bank says its closing fee is deducted from the proceeds rather than paid out of pocket, and Equitable Bank says its set-up fee is deducted from the initial advance. Independent legal advice is normally financed the same way. At Bloom Finance even the appraisal comes out of the proceeds — its page says nothing is paid out of pocket.
Is independent legal advice really required?
Yes at HomeEquity Bank and Equitable Bank, and Bloom Finance builds an independent-legal-advice certificate into its standard fees. Equitable Bank marks it as required on all three of its reverse mortgage products, and HomeEquity Bank's own page says that while its lawyers carry out most of the legal work, you still need to hire your own lawyer to advise you. It is there for your protection, not the lender's — your own lawyer confirming you understand what you are signing.
What does the set-up fee actually pay for?
In HomeEquity Bank's words, its closing fee covers legal and administrative costs, discharging any prior mortgage, and registering the reverse mortgage — its closing page adds the title search and title insurance. Equitable Bank's set-up fee covers the bank's own set-up; the appraisal, your legal advice and the legal work of closing are not included and are separate. Bloom Finance's processing fee, in its words, compensates it for costs such as hiring lawyers to prepare and register your mortgage.
Is there a charge for paying the interest each month?
At Equitable Bank, no — its FAQ says you can pay down interest monthly without a prepayment charge. HomeEquity Bank allows interest payments as well; the exact terms are in your commitment letter, which is the document that binds any lender.
Which lenders are these?
HomeEquity Bank, which sells the CHIP Reverse Mortgage; Equitable Bank, whose product is the Reverse Mortgage Flex; and Bloom Finance, a reverse mortgage lender in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Bloom publishes flat fees and a total on its own site, HomeEquity Bank publishes a total, and Equitable Bank publishes its set-up fee and its prepayment schedule — which is why each item above names the lender it comes from.
The other questions people ask before they call
What's the catch? →
Compounding — shown year by year, with what softens it and when it outweighs the benefit.
Is it a rip-off? →
The price, itemised, against what it buys — and the cases where a cheaper tool wins.
Are the rates too high? →
Why the rate is higher, what one point does over 25 years, and the lever that matters more.
Want all three lenders' full costs for your own file?
Bring your numbers — or just the questions. We put all three lenders' complete costs side by side, against the amount and rate each will actually offer you, and give you a written recommendation. If the cheaper one is not a reverse mortgage at all, the recommendation says so.
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