When you submit your application IIRC will look at your bank statements and do the following.
Total funds in all accounts - any debts/loans = how much you have to bring to Canada.
For example for an applicant of 1 person you need $12,669 minimum. If you had $15500 in your account and a $4000 loan they will work out $15500 - $4000 = $11500 so in this example you would not meet proof of funds requirement (you would need the full $16,669 to meet min funds and cover your loan)
Basically IIRC do not care if you plan to pay a loan off over time they will see it as; you have a loan you need the funds to cover the full amount now. You can submit an application with a loan as I did but it lead to massive delays in processing and ultimately I would have been rejected if I had not been able to provide them with proof of additional funds to cover my loan and meet the minimum funds
Thanks again for your reply.
I'm confused - I thought in the previous posts you were saying they are not interested in net worth?
Also, the post you quoted (apologies if I am being awkward, I understand I'm probably missing something obvious!):
“I've just spoken to IRCC on the phone as I've seen this question asked many times and there's never been a consistent and authoritative answer. The agent I spoke to said the following:
The funds that you show as proof of funds must
themselves be debt free. That does not mean that you need to be debt free yourself, nor does it mean that you must show additional funds which could be used to clear your debt: it simply means that you cannot have borrowed funds in order to prove that you meet the required amount. You must be able to demonstrate where the funds came from: This may mean providing bank statements etc as an officer can do whatever enquiries and ask for whatever documents he wishes in order to establish where the funds came from. It will be down to you to then provide this proof.
The lady was very clear that you
must disclose all of your debts, including loans, student loans, car loans and credit cards. This is so that IRCC can be sure that you did not borrow funds to show POF. They are, however, not interested in your net worth at all and only want to be sure that the funds in your account are liquid and can be withdrawn at any time.
To be completely clear and to illiustrate the point: it is the
specific funds that are in your account which must beunencumbered by debt. For example: If you have $15312 in your savings account (enough for a family of two) and you have credit card debts of $5000, then you
do meet the proof of funds requirement, so long as you did not borrow that money from any source.
Those funds are not considered to be encumbered by debt. If, however, you have $15312 and you borrowed $5000 from your credit card or took a loan in order to meet the POF requirement, then those funds
are encumbered by that debt and that would leave you with a net balance of only $10,312 leaving you $5000 short.”