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If you’re disabled or applying for disability benefits, you might need to borrow money. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadians can’t be discriminated against on the basis of disability, which includes by lenders who would be able to grant you a loan.
The bad news is that you’ll still need to qualify for the loan based on your own credit and income, and that can be challenging for some people with disabilities. You’ll also need to find a lender that accepts alternative income sources such as disability insurance benefits, employment insurance or provincial income support for people with disabilities, such as Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments in Ontario. Even worse, taking out a loan can impact your eligibility for benefits.
As a guy with cerebral palsy, I’ve only ever collected ODSP once in my life–in that brief period between the end of university and the beginning of consistent full-time employment–at the time, you couldn’t have more than $7,000 in cumulative financial assets to qualify for the support payments. You had to report your income every month. The provincial government also decreed that you could only make $500 in additional income without your payment being reduced in a make-a-dollar-take-a-dollar scenario.
Those thresholds have changed in Ontario since I was collecting ODSP. Those who get the monthly cheque can make $1,000 per month before it starts affecting what they receive. After that, 75% of anything over $1,000 is deducted from your cheque, but you do get a $100 employment benefit every month as well. The asset threshold to remain eligible for ODSP has also increased since my time. Now, you can’t have assets totalling $40,000 or more as a single person, $50,000 as a married person and $500 for each dependant other than your spouse.
So, if you need a loan but still need that disability income support cheque, make sure that you not only have good credit and a means to pay the loan back but that the amount you’re applying for doesn’t exceed the asset threshold for disability support eligibility in your own province. Ontario is only one example; different provinces have different rules as part of their own disability income support programs.
We’ll examine your options and how they might impact your disability benefits. Then, you can make the best decision for your situation.
