Advanced mortgage strategies from a twenty-year strategist. Written to help you pay off sooner, save more, and retire three to four times wealthier — without paying more each month.
Earning Aeroplan Points on Your Mortgage: Does Chexy's 1% Fee Cancel Out the Rewards?
A $2,800 monthly mortgage payment could throw off 33,600 Aeroplan points a year if you ran it through Chexy, the Canadian fintech that now lets you pay your lender with a credit card. The catch: Chexy charges 1.75% to process the transaction. On that same $2,800 payment, the fee is $49 per month, or $588 annually. Whether you come out ahead depends entirely on what those points are worth to you, and that number varies by a factor of four.
The math with real redemptions
Aeroplan points trade in a range. Redeem them for a short-haul economy seat during off-peak and you might extract 1.2 cents per point. Book a long-haul business-class seat with good availability and the value can hit 2.1 cents. The spread matters because it determines whether the processing fee is an expense or an investment.
Take two households, same mortgage payment, same annual points haul of 33,600.
Household A redeems for a Toronto, Vancouver roundtrip in economy during March break. The cash price for that ticket is typically $520. At 25,000 points plus $89 in fees and taxes, they're getting roughly 1.7 cents per point in value. Their 33,600 points are worth about $571. They paid $588 in fees. Net: negative $17.
Household B books a Toronto, Frankfurt business-class seat using 75,000 points plus $180 in surcharges. The cash equivalent for that ticket in June 2026 runs close to $4,200. Value per point: 2.1 cents. Their 33,600 points are worth $706. They paid $588 in fees. Net: positive $118.
Same program, same fee structure, opposite outcomes. The difference isn't the points. It's the use case.
Where Chexy wins without the math
The fee-versus-reward question misses a structural benefit that shows up before you book anything. Premium Canadian credit cards (TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite, CIBC Aventura, RBC Avion) routinely offer sign-up bonuses in the 50,000-80,000 point range, conditional on hitting $5,000 in spending within 90 days. For most households, clearing that threshold means either manufacturing spend or waiting several months. A mortgage payment clears it in two billing cycles.
Run a $2,800 mortgage payment through Chexy for three consecutive months and you've put $8,400 on the card. That unlocks the bonus, which, depending on the card, could be worth $800 to $1,400 in travel value. The $147 in processing fees ($49 × 3 months) becomes rounding error against a four-figure bonus you wouldn't have captured otherwise. The ongoing monthly use might not pencil, but the three-month sprint to hit the bonus absolutely does.
The breakeven boundary
If you're clearing minimum spend on a new card, Chexy is nearly always worth it. If you're using it as a perpetual points generator, the decision splits on redemption discipline. Casual redeemers who treat Aeroplan like a gift-card catalogue will lose. Disciplined travelers who book long-haul premium-cabin seats 10-11 months out and avoid last-minute domestic hops will win, but only if they're already people who would book those seats regardless.
The program doesn't make sense for someone who wouldn't otherwise fly business class internationally. The fee structure only works if the high-value redemptions were happening anyway and Chexy is just shifting the funding source. If you're inventing travel to justify the points, you're not beating the fee, you're paying twice.
One other variable: Chexy accepts most Canadian credit cards, but the points you earn depend on the card itself. A flat 1% cash-back card paired with Chexy's 1.75% fee is a guaranteed loss. A card earning 1.25 Aeroplan points per dollar on general purchases changes nothing (you're still at 1 point per $1 via Chexy). The play only works if your mortgage becomes the vehicle for points you wouldn't earn otherwise, either through a sign-up threshold or because you've already maxed category bonuses elsewhere.
For hitting a new-card bonus, take it. For ongoing mortgage payments, the fees win unless your redemptions consistently clear 1.9 cents per point.
A $2,800 monthly mortgage payment could throw off 33,600 Aeroplan points a year if you ran it through Chexy, the Canadian fintech that now lets you pay your lender with a credit card. The catch: Chexy charges 1.75% to process the transaction. On that same $2,800 payment, the fee is $49 per month, or $588 annually. Whether you come out ahead depends entirely on what those points are worth to you, and that number varies by a factor of four.
The math with real redemptions
Aeroplan points trade in a range. Redeem them for a short-haul economy seat during off-peak and you might extract 1.2 cents per point. Book a long-haul business-class seat with good availability and the value can hit 2.1 cents. The spread matters because it determines whether the processing fee is an expense or an investment.
Take two households, same mortgage payment, same annual points haul of 33,600.
Household A redeems for a Toronto, Vancouver roundtrip in economy during March break. The cash price for that ticket is typically $520. At 25,000 points plus $89 in fees and taxes, they're getting roughly 1.7 cents per point in value. Their 33,600 points are worth about $571. They paid $588 in fees. Net: negative $17.
Household B books a Toronto, Frankfurt business-class seat using 75,000 points plus $180 in surcharges. The cash equivalent for that ticket in June 2026 runs close to $4,200. Value per point: 2.1 cents. Their 33,600 points are worth $706. They paid $588 in fees. Net: positive $118.
Same program, same fee structure, opposite outcomes. The difference isn't the points. It's the use case.
Where Chexy wins without the math
The fee-versus-reward question misses a structural benefit that shows up before you book anything. Premium Canadian credit cards (TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite, CIBC Aventura, RBC Avion) routinely offer sign-up bonuses in the 50,000-80,000 point range, conditional on hitting $5,000 in spending within 90 days. For most households, clearing that threshold means either manufacturing spend or waiting several months. A mortgage payment clears it in two billing cycles.
Run a $2,800 mortgage payment through Chexy for three consecutive months and you've put $8,400 on the card. That unlocks the bonus, which, depending on the card, could be worth $800 to $1,400 in travel value. The $147 in processing fees ($49 × 3 months) becomes rounding error against a four-figure bonus you wouldn't have captured otherwise. The ongoing monthly use might not pencil, but the three-month sprint to hit the bonus absolutely does.
The breakeven boundary
If you're clearing minimum spend on a new card, Chexy is nearly always worth it. If you're using it as a perpetual points generator, the decision splits on redemption discipline. Casual redeemers who treat Aeroplan like a gift-card catalogue will lose. Disciplined travelers who book long-haul premium-cabin seats 10-11 months out and avoid last-minute domestic hops will win, but only if they're already people who would book those seats regardless.
The program doesn't make sense for someone who wouldn't otherwise fly business class internationally. The fee structure only works if the high-value redemptions were happening anyway and Chexy is just shifting the funding source. If you're inventing travel to justify the points, you're not beating the fee, you're paying twice.
One other variable: Chexy accepts most Canadian credit cards, but the points you earn depend on the card itself. A flat 1% cash-back card paired with Chexy's 1.75% fee is a guaranteed loss. A card earning 1.25 Aeroplan points per dollar on general purchases changes nothing (you're still at 1 point per $1 via Chexy). The play only works if your mortgage becomes the vehicle for points you wouldn't earn otherwise, either through a sign-up threshold or because you've already maxed category bonuses elsewhere.
For hitting a new-card bonus, take it. For ongoing mortgage payments, the fees win unless your redemptions consistently clear 1.9 cents per point.
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