Co-signers checklist
Co-signer mortgage document checklist
A co-signer is underwritten like a borrower: photo ID, a credit check, an employment letter and pay stubs, two years of T4 slips and Notices of Assessment, and 90 days of bank statements. Nothing about the property or the down payment, which belong to the main applicant. This is the list Startly sends the co-signer, on their own link, to complete on their phone.
- Documents
- 7, all required
- Applies to
- Purchase, salaried, co-applicant
- Version
- Startly’s checklist of Nov 1, 2026
The checklist
7 documents in three groups
Identity, banking and employment income for the person backing the mortgage. The down payment and property items stay with the main applicant.
Every document is required unless it says optional. Each upload is checked to be readable and the right document, plus the checks listed under it. Descriptions are shown to your client as written.
Startly’s built-in checklist. Your brokerage can tailor it; your version stays private.
Identity and banking
3 documents, all required
- 1
Government-issued photo ID
Driver's licence or passport, front and back.
Checked for name, front and back, not expired.
- 2
Credit check consent
Signed consent form from your broker. Do not upload your SIN card.
Checked for name, signature and date.
- 3
90 days of bank statements
All pages, for every account you use.
Checked for name, every page, 90 days covered. Figures read and cited to the page.
Employment income
2 documents, all required
- 4
Employment letter
On letterhead, dated within 30 days: position, start date, salary or hourly rate.
Checked for name, letterhead and details, dated within 30 days, signature and date. Figures read and cited to the page.
- 5
Two most recent pay stubs
Checked for name. Figures read and cited to the page.
Employment income history
2 documents, all required
- 6
T4 slips, last 2 years
Checked for name, both years. Figures read and cited to the page.
- 7
Notices of Assessment, last 2 years
From CRA My Account. Confirms no taxes owing.
Checked for name, both years. Figures read and cited to the page.
Why these documents
What the lender is looking for
A co-signer’s income and debts go into the same debt-service ratios as the borrower’s, so the lender verifies them the same way. A guarantor sends the same documents; whether their income counts is the lender’s and insurer’s call.
- Credit check consent
- The co-signer’s credit report and debts are part of the file. Every lender pulls it, and CMHC’s insured-mortgage rules want a score of 600 or more from at least one borrower or guarantor.
- Employment letter
- Position, start date and pay, on letterhead and dated within 30 days: the first proof of the income that will carry the mortgage if the borrower cannot.
- Two most recent pay stubs
- Show the income in the letter is being paid now, with the year to date.
- T4 slips, last 2 years
- Two years of year-end income from the employer, averaged by the lender.
- Notices of Assessment, last 2 years
- CRA’s own figure for each year, and confirmation no tax is owing. Arrears can stop a file for a co-signer as surely as for the borrower.
- 90 days of bank statements
- The co-signer’s own accounts, for debts and payments the credit report does not show.
How Startly reads them
Send one link. Startly checks every page.
Step 1
Send one link
Open an Application for a purchase, and add the co-signer as a co-applicant with their own link. Startly picks this checklist; tailor it, then send your client their link by email or text.
Step 2
Your client sends them
They enter a code we email them, with no account to create and nothing of the main applicant’s to see, and photograph or upload each item. Reminders follow, by default on days 2, 5 and 9, until everything is in.
Step 3
Startly checks each upload
Readable, the right document, the co-signer’s name, a letter dated within 30 days, both years of T4 slips. When something is missing, your client is asked for it, not told what we found.
Step 4
You review and decide
Startly reads the co-signer’s employment figures and cites each to its page. Findings show what doesn’t add up; you dismiss each with a reason, accept each document, then download the package.
Questions
Common questions
What does a co-signer need to provide for a mortgage in Canada?
Government photo ID, a signed credit check consent, an employment letter and two recent pay stubs, two years of T4 slips and Notices of Assessment, and 90 days of bank statements. A self-employed co-signer sends two years of T1 Generals and Notices of Assessment with the business’s records instead. A co-signer who owns a home may also be asked for its mortgage statement and tax bill.
What is the difference between a co-signer and a guarantor?
A co-signer is a co-borrower: on the mortgage and on title, with income and debts counted in full and liable from the first day. A guarantor signs the covenant only, is not on title, and is liable if the borrower defaults. In Startly a co-signer is a co-applicant and a guarantor is a guarantor; both get this checklist on their own link.
Does a guarantor’s income count toward the mortgage?
It depends on the lender and the insurer. CMHC limited it to a spouse or partner who will live in the home; some insurers accept a direct family member with their debts included in the ratios. A co-signer’s income always counts. Ask the lender before you promise either.
Does the co-signer see the main applicant’s documents?
No. Each applicant has their own link, their own code and their own checklist, and sees only what they sent. The broker sees the whole file.
Does a co-signer need a lawyer?
No Ontario statute requires independent legal advice for a guarantor, but many lenders do, and Alberta requires a lawyer’s certificate for every individual guarantor. That certificate comes at closing and is not on this checklist.
Early access
Collect a co-signer’s file without the chase.
Sign in with your work email to join the waitlist. We let brokerages in a few at a time and email you when your account is ready. Early-access brokerages get their first 3 months free.