Mortgage Broker

A licensed intermediary who shops many lenders for your mortgage.

A mortgage broker takes your application and places it with a lender, choosing from many, including monoline lenders you cannot walk into. Brokers are licensed provincially (FSRA in Ontario). For a standard prime deal the lender pays the broker, so they are usually free to the borrower; private or bruised-credit files may carry a disclosed fee. A broker widens choice and helps non-vanilla files; a bank offers only its own products but may reward an existing relationship.

General information only, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules change and vary by province; confirm the current details with the relevant authority before you rely on them.