Marmot Benefits
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If you need assistance, please reach out using the form below. Or you can take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions and Resources below.

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Frequently Asked Questions

At the company level, our debt relief benefit is a unique payroll code (new line item) that diverts funds to us. On behalf of employees, we remit monthly payments to Canadian student loan and residential mortgage lenders.

We operate independently of savings plan providers.

Debt relief benefits are an optional, taxable employee benefit with competitive and reasonable annual software subscription rates. Small businesses can offer debt relief for as little as $500.

Employers may or may not cover monthly transaction fees.

The debt relief component is prepaid for employers who enable savings contributions to become debt payments.

As of 2018, about 6 in 10 young people left post-secondary with student loans to repay. 

Surveys indicate 25% of working Millennials are still in student loan repayment. 

Mortgage holders will outnumber student loan holders in most workplaces.

Because the employer cost of employee financial stress is greater than the cost of these benefits.

Debt relief benefits empower employees and reduce their financial stress with extra monthly payments on their debt.

Debt relief benefits are flexible financial solutions that support employees’ financial priorities. 

Originally designed to repurpose savings plan contributions into debt payments, employers now find multiple ways of helping employees save time and money repaying a student loan or residential mortgage.

Definitions

The popular choice among Canadian employers wanting to help employees save for retirement. A group RRSP is the collection of individual RRSPs that make up the group. Group RRSPs are administered by a registered financial institution.

Employers offer group savings plans to help their employees save for retirement. In Canada, the most common retirement savings plan is a Group RRSP (registered retirement savings plan) Many employers make contributions on behalf of employees to further help with retirement savings. Retirement savings plans are a highly desirable employee benefit.

The Canada Revenue Agency allows you to claim a non-refundable tax credit based on interest you have paid on student loans. However, only interest paid on loans received under the Canada Student Loans Act, the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, and similar territorial or provincial programs qualify. If you have private, foreign, or any other type of student loan, the interest is not deductible. Additionally, if you combine student loans from any of the approved sources with an unapproved type of loan, you cannot claim the student loan tax credit. Report your qualifying student loan interest on line 319. This non-refundable tax credit helps to reduce the tax you owe but cannot result in a refund. If you don’t need the deduction, the CRA allows you to carry it forward for up to five years, meaning you can claim it on future tax returns.

The rate you pay for the use of money your lender has advanced. An interest rate is often expressed as an annual percentage of the principal. It is calculated by dividing the amount of interest by the amount of principal. Interest rates change because of inflation and Federal Reserve Board policies.

The length of time your lender requires for the full principal and interest to be repaid.

Six months* after leaving school, a student loan holder must begin repaying their student debt. The repayment schedule arranged with the lender dictates the required monthly payment. Having both federal and provincial student loans may result in two required monthly payments. *The six-month grace period for paying back loans is called the ‘six-month non-repayment period’.

Provincial Student Loans are offered by the Province or Territory to help students pay for post-secondary education at a designated college, university, or other qualifying post-secondary institution. Rules and regulations may differ based on provincial or territorial jurisdiction.

Canada Student Loans are offered by the Government of Canada to help students pay for post-secondary education at a designated college, university, or other qualifying post-secondary institution. Government student loans are based on assessed financial need.

The Canada Pension Plan is sponsored by the Federal Government of Canada and every working Canadian contributes to it with required CPP contributions on our paycheques. CCP contributions made while employed, will provide Canadians with a pension in retirement, or before.

DC pensions are the workplace pension plans of today. Pensions are subject to Federal or Provincial pension legislation and the Income Tax Act. In this type of pension, the contributions are known and the outcome (pension) won’t be known until retirement, or earlier. Employer contributions into DC pensions are separate from salary and thus do not create additional payroll tax; employee contributions are made pre-tax. Once contributions are locked-in, withdrawing money from these pension plans is limited to specific situations of need and circumstance, ensuring income in retirement.