Mortgage payments can now earn Aeroplan points, at a cost

Canadians can now earn travel rewards on their mortgage payments following the launch of what Chexy bills as the country’s first mortgage rewards program.

Developed in partnership with Aeroplan, the new offering allows Canadians to earn one point for every dollar they spend on their mortgage without refinancing or changing lenders.

“We teamed up with Aeroplan, who we’ve been partners with over last year, to essentially enable people to pay with the same checking account they currently use to pay their mortgage and get Aeroplan points in return,” says Chexy co-founder and CEO Liza Akhvledziani Carew. “What we built essentially mimics what it would be like if you were able to pay your mortgage with an Aeroplan credit card, and we’ve seen a lot of adoption in just the first day.”

Chexy, which says it has more than 200,000 members, already enables Canadians to earn rewards on expenses including rent, utilities and property taxes.

How it works

Unlike Chexy’s other services, which can route payments through a rewards-earning credit card, its mortgage program processes payments through a dedicated account provided through Peoples Trust Company.

“They set up their mortgage payment on Chexy by linking the bank account they currently pay their mortgage with, and we find the mortgage payments and confirm the details,” Akhvledziani Carew says. “We then give you a void check, which is for a bank account held by our partner bank, People’s Trust, and this is your unique void check that you deliver to your lender to pull your money from. In other words, if your lender used to debit your bank account, they will now be debiting your Chexy account.”

Chexy then withdraws the mortgage payment and its fee from the borrower’s existing chequing account and transfers the mortgage payment to the lender.

By setting up an intermediary payment account, Chexy can award points on mortgage payments without requiring borrowers to refinance or change lenders.

“As long as your lender is able to debit any bank account in Canada, and there’s no restrictions on what bank account you pay your mortgage from — which I’m not aware of any doing — you should be able to use Chexy,” Akhvledziani Carew says. “As long as your lender can debit another bank account for your mortgage, and you bank with a major financial institution in Canada, you should be able to use it.”

The fine print

Chexy charges a 1.75% fee on each mortgage payment, or 1.5% for customers with its premium membership, which costs $20 a month or $200 a year.

Since members receive one point per dollar paid, the standard fee effectively amounts to buying Aeroplan points for 1.75 cents each, before any applicable taxes or other charges.

That means borrowers must redeem their points for more than 1.75 cents apiece to come out ahead. Published estimates of Aeroplan point values vary, and the value ultimately depends on the flight, cabin, route and timing of the redemption.

“The average redemption that we’ve seen with our members is around two to two and a half cents, which means there’s a decent amount of value for the average customer,” says Akhvledziani Carew. “And we’ve seen our members being able to redeem these points for upwards of five, six, seven cents per point, which is a ton of value — typically on longer haul flights to Europe and Asia.”

Not recommended for casual collectors  

Not every Canadian will achieve the redemption values cited by Chexy, warns David van Noppen of The Mortgage Advisors, and some may spend more in fees than they receive in rewards.

“If I’m paying one and three quarters per cent extra on a $2,000 mortgage payment, that’s about $420 a year that I’m paying to Chexy,” he says. “But if I’m earning 24,000 Aeroplan points, that works out to about $480 in Aeroplan travel value, so you’re paying $420 and getting $480. That’s the break-even point I calculated.”

That calculation assumes a redemption value of two cents per point and would produce a theoretical annual gain of $60 before applicable taxes. The break-even redemption value would be 1.75 cents per point.

Van Noppen says the math can work in favour of those who are serious about collecting and strategically redeeming points, but warns that not everyone will earn a positive return.

According to a recent study by Bond Brand Loyalty and Scene+, Canadians are sitting on an estimated $13 billion to $15 billion worth of unredeemed loyalty points, while 28% redeem their rewards once a year or less.

As a result, van Noppen says Chexy’s mortgage rewards program may not be a good fit for casual collectors, who are less likely to extract enough value from their points to offset the fees.

“It’s a big pill to swallow to pay another one and three-quarters per cent on your mortgage, so you better see the value from that,” he says. “It is a game that you can win, but you have to play the game. You have to make sure you’re on top of it and that, at the end of the day, the math adds up.”

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Last modified: August 10, 2026