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Self-Employed and Buried in Nine Debts: How a Calgary Couple Freed Up $2,800 a Month

September 9, 2026

After the pandemic slowed a long-running self-employed business, a Calgary family we've worked with since 2013 refinanced to clear $100,571 of high-interest debt across nine accounts — freeing up about $2,786 a month and keeping the home they love instead of selling.
Two-storey Calgary home behind loan and credit card statements merging into one mortgage folder, with headline text $100,000 of debt consolidated without selling their home

We’ve been Ryan and Michelle’s* mortgage brokers since 2013. So when the debt started to feel heavy, they didn’t call a bank — they called us.

By Josh Tagg, mortgage broker · Mortgages for Less with INDI Mortgage · Calgary, serving all of Alberta

Ryan and Michelle aren’t a “bad with money” story. Just the opposite. They bought their northwest Calgary home more than a decade ago, paid it down faithfully, watched it climb in value, and along the way built a real, comfortable life. For years, Ryan ran a strong self-employed business — the kind that, in a good stretch, brought in tens of thousands of dollars a month.

Then the pandemic hit. The steady flow of work that had powered that business for two decades stalled, and it never fully snapped back to what it was. Ryan kept the doors open and started rebuilding the pipeline, but for a couple of lean years the household leaned on credit to bridge the gap — a card here, a line of credit there, an installment loan to smooth things over. None of it reckless. All of it adding up. By the time they sat down with us, they were carrying nine separate payments totalling more than $3,160 every month, on top of their mortgage.

$100,571
High-interest debt cleared
$2,786
Freed up per month
~$33,400
Better cash flow / year
9 → 1
Payments simplified

More than one mortgage: a decade of decisions together

What makes this file special isn’t just the refinance — it’s the relationship behind it. This wasn’t the first time Ryan and Michelle trusted us with a big decision, and it wasn’t only about them.

2013
We helped them buy the home. This is where the story starts — the northwest Calgary home they’re still in today, and the equity that would quietly become their safety net years later.
Spring 2026
They helped family into home ownership. Around the same time, Michelle’s brother was ready to buy his first place. Ryan and Michelle stepped in to help him qualify for a condo of his own — and we handled that mortgage too, closing his purchase just weeks before their refinance.
2026
They refinanced to reset. With the business rebuilding and the debt weighing on them, we replaced their mortgage with a new one and rolled every one of those nine debts into it — clearing $100,571 and freeing up nearly $2,800 a month.

This is what a mortgage broker is supposed to be: not a one-time transaction, but someone who knows your history and is there for the next chapter — buying, helping family, or getting back on solid ground.

The turning point: they thought they might have to sell

Here’s the part that surprised them most. Before we talked it through, Ryan and Michelle assumed their options were narrow: keep grinding through the payments, or sell the family home to get out from under the debt. They love that house — it’s where they raised their family — but the monthly pressure had them genuinely wondering whether staying was realistic.

What they hadn’t fully clicked into place was that the home wasn’t the problem. It was the solution. Twelve-plus years of paying down the mortgage and steady price growth in northwest Calgary had built real equity — and a refinance lets you tap that equity, roll the debt into one lower-rate mortgage, and stay exactly where you are.

“They didn’t need to leave the home they love. They just needed a way to use it.”

What we actually did

1

Valued the home & equity

The home came in around $1,073,000, with roughly $639,000 left on the existing mortgage — plenty of room to refinance and stay well inside lender limits.

2

Rolled the debt in

We combined the mortgage payoff with $100,571 of credit cards, lines of credit and installment loans into one new mortgage of $800,000.

3

One simple payment

Ten obligations became one. The mortgage payment rose modestly — their total monthly outflow dropped by nearly $2,800.

The nine debts we consolidated
What it wasBalanceMonthly payment
Installment loan$29,873$953.33
Installment loan$18,940$654.00
Credit card$19,974$599.22
Line of credit$11,207$336.21
Credit card$6,854$205.62
Credit card$6,770$203.10
Credit card$4,003$120.09
Credit card$2,825$84.75
Credit card$125$3.75
Total rolled into the mortgage$100,571$3,160.07

Nine separate high-interest payments — consolidated into one mortgage payment at a far lower rate.

The before & after that made it a no-brainer

The magic isn’t just that the debt disappeared — it’s what happened to the family’s monthly cash flow. Yes, the mortgage payment went up by about $374 a month. But that increase replaced more than $3,160 in other payments. Here’s the whole picture side by side:

Monthly obligationsBeforeAfter
Mortgage payment$3,494$3,868
Credit cards, loans & lines of credit$3,160$0
Total out the door each month$6,654$3,868

A single mortgage payment of $3,868 replaced $6,654 in combined monthly payments.

Before-and-after refinance chart showing total monthly payments falling from $6,654 to $3,868, freeing up about $2,786 per month for a Calgary family

That’s roughly $2,786 a month — about $33,400 a year — back in the family’s pocket. And the new $800,000 mortgage on a $1,073,000 home left them at just under 75% loan-to-value, comfortably inside the 80% limit lenders allow on a refinance, with roughly $273,000 of equity still in the home.

Why selling would have been the expensive way out

It’s worth spelling out what selling would actually have meant. On a home worth more than a million dollars, a realtor’s commission alone typically runs $25,000–$30,000. Add legal fees, moving costs, and the sheer upheaval of packing up the home where they raised their family — all to land in something smaller, likely still carrying some of the same debt.

Breaking the mortgage costs roughly the same whether you sell or refinance. So by refinancing instead of selling, Ryan and Michelle skipped the realtor’s commission, the moving bill and the disruption — and kept the home they love, with a plan that gives the business room to rebuild. Same penalty, radically better outcome.

Could this work for you?

This isn’t a rare, everything-lined-up-perfectly story. It’s one of the most common wins we see for Alberta homeowners right now — especially families whose income took a hit over the past few years. You may be a strong candidate for a debt-consolidation refinance if:

  • You own a home in Calgary, Edmonton, or elsewhere in Alberta
  • Your home has gone up in value and/or you’ve paid down your mortgage since you bought
  • You’re carrying higher-interest debt — credit cards, lines of credit, vehicle or consumer loans
  • A rough patch — a slow stretch of self-employment, a job change, the pandemic years — let balances creep up
  • You’d rather stay in your home than sell to deal with debt

Every file is different — rates, penalties, equity and qualifying all vary from person to person. The only way to know what’s possible for your situation is to run your numbers. That part is free, and there’s no obligation.

Thinking about the same move? See how a mortgage refinance in Calgary works, including what your break penalty would really be.

Self-employed and wondering what you would actually qualify for? Our self-employed mortgage page for Calgary sets out how each lender reads a business owner’s tax return, and why the same return produces very different answers in different places.

See if a refinance could free up your cash flow

Find out how much high-interest debt you could consolidate — and how much you could put back in your pocket each month. It takes minutes to start, and we’ll do the math for you.

Apply for a Refinance → Serving Calgary, Edmonton & all of Alberta · Mortgages for Less with INDI Mortgage

Refinancing to consolidate debt: common questions

What is a debt-consolidation refinance?
It’s when you replace your existing mortgage with a new, larger one and use the extra funds to pay off other debts — credit cards, lines of credit, installment and vehicle loans. Instead of juggling several high-interest payments, you’re left with one mortgage payment at a much lower interest rate. In this case study, nine payments totalling about $3,160 a month became a single mortgage payment.
How much equity do I need to refinance in Alberta?
In Canada you can generally refinance up to 80% of your home’s value. On a $1,073,000 home, that’s up to about $858,000 in total mortgage. In this example the new mortgage was $800,000 — just under 75% of the home’s value — which left roughly $273,000 of equity in place.
Will my monthly payments really go down?
Your mortgage payment usually goes up a little, because you’re adding the debt to it. But that increase is almost always far smaller than the payments you eliminate. Here, the mortgage rose about $374 a month, yet more than $3,160 in other monthly payments disappeared — a net improvement of roughly $2,786 a month in cash flow.
Can I refinance if my income dropped or I’m self-employed?
Often, yes — it just takes the right lender and a broker who knows how to present the file. In this case the family’s self-employed income had slowed since the pandemic, but their equity, payment history and the strength of the overall application still supported the refinance. Self-employed and recovering-income situations are exactly where a broker earns their keep, because we can match your story to a lender who understands it.
Does rolling debt into my mortgage mean I pay more interest overall?
It can, because mortgage debt is spread over a longer period — so it’s important to have an honest conversation about the trade-off. That said, mortgage interest rates are dramatically lower than credit card and unsecured line-of-credit rates, and the improved monthly cash flow often lets people get ahead, make extra payments, or simply stop the debt from growing.
What does it cost to refinance?
There can be a mortgage penalty for breaking your current term, plus legal or closing costs. In many cases these are modest relative to the monthly savings — and notably, breaking the mortgage triggers a similar penalty whether you refinance or sell, so refinancing avoids the added realtor commission and moving costs of a sale.
Do I have to sell my home to access my equity?
No — and that’s the misconception that nearly had this family listing their house. Selling is only one way to access equity, and usually the most expensive one. A refinance lets you tap the equity you’ve built while staying exactly where you are.
I’m in Edmonton or a smaller Alberta town — can you still help?
Yes. We work with homeowners across Alberta — Calgary, Edmonton, and everywhere in between. The process is the same wherever your home is: we look at your home’s value, your equity, your debts and your goals, then show you the options.

*Names and identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy. This case study is based on a real client file; the dollar figures shown reflect that file and are provided for illustration only. Every mortgage situation is different — rates, penalties, equity, qualification and results vary by individual and by lender, and are subject to change and to lender approval. Maximum refinance amounts in Canada are generally limited to 80% of a home’s appraised value. This article is general information, not financial, mortgage or legal advice. Please speak with a licensed mortgage professional about your specific circumstances. Mortgages for Less with INDI Mortgage.

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