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Canadian mortgage amortization (6 Legacy Votes)

Quicken Community

How about adding Canadian mortgage amortization functionality to Quicken for Mac 2018! We had it for Quicken for Mac 2007. Now over 10 years ago! Really?

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Status: Under Consideration

Comments

mshiggins

Can you explain how a Canadian mortgage differs from a US mortgage?

unknown

Mostly in term of duration I believe. 2, 3, and 5 year terms are common in Canada but payments are amortized over 25 years (mostly, but can be as long as 30 years). The result is the mortgage needs to be refinanced at the end of term at a then prevailing interest rate. Unlike a US mortgage that might match term and amortization proving more certainty of payments and principal balances from time to time.

smayer97

I believe there is also a difference in the way interest is calculated, e.g. compounded vs not, or periods used for compounding.

unknown

Not certain about in the US but in Canada mortgage interest is calculated semi-annually. So one must calculate an effective rate of interest that matches the payment frequency. This was all done (calculated automatically) in Quicken for Mac 2007. It would be great if this was programmed in to Quicken for Mac 2018. Please!

Quicken_Natalie

Hello All,

This Idea seems to have fallen stagnant and due to the age of the request and lack of User Votes/Comments, it will be archived within the next 7 business days.

If you would like to see this Idea kept alive and considered for possible future implementation in Quicken, be sure to add your vote and a comment explaining how this Idea would be beneficial for you.

More information, including steps to vote and how to submit your own Ideas for future product features/improvements, is also available here.

Thank you,

Quicken Community Support Team

smayer97

This is absolutely needed. Because this is a request for a Canadian specific feature you should not expect a lot of votes to show up BUT this is about accurate calculation. It was available in QM2007 and earlier. It should be re-implemented. We Canadians need accurate mortgage calculations too, regardless of the number of votes. This affects ALL Canadian users that record mortgages in QMac.

TommyFM

I can't believe this doesn't exist already. It's basic functionality. If you're going to market a Canadian financial product, it absolutely should reflect Canadian standards. To say that more "votes" are required before core functionality is even considered for introduction into a product is ridiculous.

This is a significant flaw in the product, not merely a suggestion for potential improvement.

UKR

I'll add my 2cents (US) ...

I think it would be a helpful addition to our Canadian customers' Quicken versions, both Mac and Windows, if the Loan Wizard would correctly support the specifics of a Canadian mortgage.

Everyone, including the person who initiated this discussion …
If you would like to see this enhancement made in a future version of Quicken please don't forget to vote on it. Locate the big blue box near the top of this webpage (or page 1 for long discussions) and click the "Up" triangle under the voting count.
Wait a moment for the vote count to be registered and updated before you continue.
The little triangle changes from grey to black when you have registered your vote.
Adding extra comments helps, but does not automatically increment the vote count.

unknown

Quicken is sold in Canada and I would expect that it's Canadian version contains the features matching the Canadian market. Selling the US version just rebranded is wrong. The mortgage issue is just one. To this date Canadian version doesn't support multi currency that is very common for Canadian users. Charging the full value and labeling basic functionalities as the "ideas" for enhancement is wrong.

smayer97

Meanwhile, be sure to add your vote above if you have not already.

rbeaulne

I purchase this software to do all of my banking. I just renewed my mortgage and noticed that Quicken doesn't calculate or even offer the option for accelerated payments.
Canadians should be getting this software at a discounted prices as we cannot do the same as our US neighbors.
How many other features are not accurate for Canadians?
Please have this issue moved back up to get looked at and fixed.

Shawnsky

A year later... hey, I am looking at least for a work around for the mortgage issue (just was able to secure one. Yea!) until it is fixed for Canadian mortgages.

lbgraham

There are plenty of us down here in the US who also have Canadian mortgages we’d like to track. Please reconsider making this available to us.

Kumar H

Why is there still no solution for Canadian mortgages for Quicken for MAC?

NotACPA

Kumar H said:

Why is there still no solution for Canadian mortgages for Quicken for MAC?

We're other users ... and have no info that would allow us to answer "Why" type questions.

jacobs

@Kumar H I'm still not clear on what specific functionality is required for Canadian mortgages. However, I think manually managing a mortgage in Quicken is, while not ideal, not too difficult. Assuming you get an amortization schedule from your bank, or can generate on from a website for calculating Canadian montage amortization, print out the schedule.

in Quicken, create a liability account for your loan, with the opening balance being the loan amount or current balance. In your checking account, enter a transaction for your monthly payment, with split lines for interest expense and a transfer to the liability account (the principal payment amount). Click on this transaction and create it as a scheduled monthly transaction. Each month, you'll click on the next scheduled (gray) transaction in your register and click "Paid". Each month, or every few months, double click on each loan payment transaction in your register and edit the split amount per the amortization schedule. Yes, this takes a few seconds per month rather than having Quicken calculate the correct value for you automatically — but in about 5 minutes per year, you're tracking your interest payments and outstanding loan balance in Quicken.

Quicken Kristina

Hello All,

The status of this Idea has been changed to Under Consideration as it has reached enough votes and has been submitted to our Product and Development team for further review.

Thank you!

smayer97

Sad that for a CDN feature that is a MUST have, it even requires votes, since it is marketed to Canadians with Canadian features. Good to see that this is finally being submitted.

Quicken Kristina

Hello All,

Our teams replied to say that this feature is already in Quicken.

Does this feature meet your needs? If not, please provide additional feedback so we can let our teams know!

Thank you!

smayer97

Where does it allow specifying the use of Canadian rules for amortization? They are different that US rules.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

As I understand it, the primary difference is that the mortgages may be shorter and renewed multiple times, but are still amortized over a 25-30 year period.

Is that where the existing tool falls short? It allows you to choose the loan length, but has no option for a separate amortization period?

To give our team a better idea of what is needed, could you provide more details what changes you're looking for?

Thank you!

smayer97

It is more than just the mortgage period. The formula for amortization is different from in the US. IIRC, in part has something to do with compounding twice a year, but there may be more to it.

The tool MAY be able to take the inputs as is but Canadians do not really know the details. So, what is needed is a selection that automatically selects and sets the correct options to get the correct calculation.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your response,

I sent that clarification to our team.

Thank you!

jacobs

@Quicken Kristina You may want to refer the developers to an article like this one which details the difference in how interest is compounded in Canada vs. the US:

https://www.proapod.com/Articles/usa-canada.htm?srsltid=AfmBOopQvLimwcHBxoa44Lu_TLEIwFKVlRw3KQwsBETBAL0Ed7ZbYlsQ

From what I have read, I think other than this difference in compounding, the existing Quicken Mac mortgage set-up parameters should be sufficient for Canadian users. Although rates change on Canadian mortgageses, this isn't functionally different than a US mortgage which a variable rate that changes over time. (Hopefully Quicken has a Canadian accounting & tax consultant to call upon to verify how these things should work.)