When you buy a home, you want security to go with it. Mortgage Critical Illness Insurance1 can provide financial protection by paying off or reducing your mortgage if you’re diagnosed with a covered cancer, acute heart attack, stroke or undergo coronary artery bypass surgery — as long as you survive for at least 30 days.

Mortgage Critical Illness Insurance is underwritten by The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life). Purchase of this insurance is optional and is not required to obtain any CIBC product or service.

Did you know?

Working Canadians understand that a critical illness would have serious financial and emotional consequences. Among their top 5 financial concerns, should they become critically ill, is their inability or struggle to make mortgage or rent payments2. Yet, fewer than 1 in 10 Canadians actually have personal critical illness insurance3.

Your CIBC mortgage balance is reduced or paid off up to $500,000.

This amount is subject to certain conditions. Please refer to the Certificate of Insurance for CIBC Mortgages (PDF, 310 KB) Opens in a new window. for further details.

What does Mortgage Critical Illness Insurance cost?

Premiums are based on your age on the date of your insurance application, the initial insured amount of your mortgage and the applicable premium rate from the rate table below. 

Mortgage Critical Illness Insurance monthly premium rates per $1,000 of the initial insured amount of your mortgage (applicable taxes will be added to your premium)†:

Age group

Single coverage
18 to 29 $0.10
30 to 35 $0.17
36 to 40 $0.27
41 to 45 $0.45
46 to 50 $0.68
51 to 55 $1.01
56 to 60 $1.65
61 to 64 $2.40
65 to 69 $2.70

Your monthly Mortgage Critical Illness insurance premium = the initial insured amount of your mortgage ÷ 1,000 x applicable premium rate.

You may be eligible for discounts on your premium

You may be eligible for discounts on your Mortgage Critical Illness Insurance premiums. These discounts (tiered, joint, and bundle) can be combined and applied on top of, or in addition to one another, in this order: tiered, joint, and bundle.

Savings for initial insured amounts over $300,000

  • No discount will be applied to your Critical Illness Insurance premium for  initial insured amounts up to $300,000.
  • A 25% discount will be applied to your Critical Illness Insurance premiums for initial insured amounts over $300,000, up to $500,000.

You are 36 years old on the date of your insurance application and the initial insured amount of your mortgage loan is $700,000. The monthly mortgage insurance premium would be calculated as follows:

$150,000 (initial insured amount of your mortgage) ÷ 1,000 × $0.27 (the applicable premium rate based on age 36) = $40.50.

Premium rate applicable for a 36 year old: $0.27 per $1,000 of the initial insured amount.

  • Premium for initial insured amount up to $300,000: ($300,000/1,000) X 0.27 = $81.00.
  • Premium for initial insured amount over $300,000 and up to $500,000: ($200,000/1,000) X 0.27 X 0.75 = $40.50.

(Critical Illness Insurance covers up to $500,000 of the initial insured amount).

Your monthly Critical Illness Insurance premium with a tiered discount will be $81.00 + $40.50 = $121.50 plus applicable taxes.

Savings for two applicants (joint discount):

If you and another borrower or guarantor on the mortgage loan apply and are approved for Critical Illness Insurance on this mortgage loan, each Insured Person will receive a 15% discount on their Mortgage Critical Illness Insurance premium.

Example: assuming the same facts as in the tiered discount example above (and applying the tiered discount to the premium calculation), if a co-borrower on the mortgage loan is also approved for Critical Illness Insurance, the monthly premium would be calculated as follows:

For you: $121.50 X 0.85 = $103.26 plus applicable taxes.

Note: the 15% joint discount will also be applied to your co-borrower’s monthly Critical Illness Insurance premium (calculation not provided in this example).

Save more with more than one coverage type (bundle discounts):

If more than one coverage type is approved under the mortgage loan (i.e., in addition to Mortgage Critical Illness, Mortgage Life Insurance, Mortgage Disability Insurance, and/or Mortgage Disability Insurance Plus is approved for one insured person, or between co-borrowers and/or guarantors), all insured persons will receive a 5% discount on their premiums for all their coverages on the mortgage loan.

Example: assuming the same facts as in the tiered discount example above (and applying the tiered and joint discount to the premium calculation), if a co- borrower on the mortgage loan is approved for both Critical Illness and Disability Insurance, your monthly Critical Illness Insurance premium will be calculated as follows:

For you: $103.26 X 0.95 = $98.35 plus applicable taxes.

Note: the 5% bundle discount will also be applied to your co-borrower’s monthly Critical Illness Insurance and Disability Insurance premiums (calculation not provided in this example). 

Use the Mortgage Payment Calculator  to help calculate your estimated mortgage payment, including estimated mortgage creditor insurance premiums.

† If your CIBC mortgage payment frequency is other than monthly, your insurance premium will be adjusted accordingly.

Am I eligible to apply for Critical Illness Insurance for CIBC Mortgages?

To be eligible to apply for Critical Illness Insurance on your CIBC mortgage loan, you must:

  • be approved for the mortgage loan;
  • be a Canadian resident†;
  • be 18 to 55 years old††;
  • be a borrower, co-borrower or guarantor on the CIBC mortgage; and
  • have less than $500,000 of critical illness insurance coverage on all your critical illness-insured CIBC mortgage loans.

† A person who: 

  • has lived in Canada for a total of 183 days or more during the 365 days prior to the date of your insurance application (days do not need to be consecutive); or 
  • is a member of the Canadian Forces.

†† Available for clients under 70 years old under Prior Coverage Recognition.

You can make a claim using the claim form below (also available at CIBC Banking Centres) or by calling the CIBC Creditor Helpline at 1-800-465-6020 Opens your phone app.. We recommend that you make a claim as soon as possible following an insured event.

Notice and proof of claim must be made to Canada Life no later than one year from the date of diagnosis or coronary artery bypass surgery, otherwise the claim may not be payable. Please refer to the claim form below for further details:

Critical Illness insurance claim form (PDF, 210 KB) Opens in a new window.

  Tip: Download the form by right-clicking the file and selecting “Save link as.” You can then open it using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Important documents and other information

Important documents

Your Certificate of Insurance will contain the full details of your coverage, including benefits, cost, eligibility conditions, limitations and exclusions.

To help you make an informed decision, you can access a sample Certificate of Insurance and other important documents below.

  Tip: Download the form by right-clicking the file and selecting “Save link as.” You can then open it using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Information about CIBC

CIBC receives fees from the insurer, The Canada Life Assurance Company, for providing services to the insurer regarding this insurance. Also, the risk under the group policy may be reinsured, in whole or in part, to a reinsurer affiliated with CIBC. The reinsurer earns reinsurance income under this arrangement. Representatives promoting this Insurance on behalf of CIBC may receive compensation.

Frequently asked questions

Get started

Call us at 1-866-321-3639 Opens your phone app.
Find a CIBC Banking Centre Opens a new window in your browser.

For more information about product terms and conditions or further assistance, call CIBC's Creditor Insurance Helpline at 1-800-465-6020 Opens your phone app..

Terms and conditions

1 Critical Illness Insurance for CIBC Mortgages is an optional creditor’s group insurance underwritten by The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life) and administered by Canada Life and CIBC. CIBC receives fees from Canada Life for providing services to Canada Life regarding this insurance. Also, the risk under the group insurance policy may be reinsured, in whole or in part, to a reinsurer affiliated with CIBC. The reinsurer earns reinsurance income under this arrangement. Representatives promoting this insurance on behalf of CIBC may receive compensation. This insurance is subject to eligibility conditions, limitations and exclusions (which are circumstances when benefits are limited or not paid). For the complete terms and conditions, review the sample Certificate of Insurance (PDF, 275 KB) Opens in a new window.. You can also contact Canada Life at 1-800-387-4495Opens your phone app. or visit canadalife.comOpens a new window in your browser.. The information in these pages is general only. Products and their features may change at any time. In case of discrepancy between the information and examples provided on these pages and your Certificate of Insurance, your Certificate of Insurance prevails.

2 Source: GWL/CLA/LL Critical Illness Insurance — Thought Leadership Research 2015 (1786 online interviews)

3 Source: Edward Jones via Leger online panel of 1564 Canadians in October 2016

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