What is a Mortgage Broker? Why Use One?

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• published: 14 Apr 2010
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http://MortgagesInVancouver.com Hi everyone! How are you? It is Leah Coss with Mortgage Center, and I wanted to actually go over what the heck a mortgage broker actually is. What is the difference between a mortgage broker and an independent mortgage broker? How much mortgage brokers cost, if anything? And really, what is the difference between coming to me, as opposed to just walking into your bank? Well, let's take this from that last one. What's the difference between going to your bank, and going to me? Well, there is two main things. The first thing is obviously, if you go to the bank, you are only choosing from one set of products from one lender. There is no real competition aspect. So by going to them, you are just choosing from one set of products. By going to me, you're choosing from 40 different products. I've got a huge list of lenders, banks as well as non banks. If you are curious what non banks are check out my blog. It will tell you there the difference between non banks, banks, and private lenders. Those are the three main categories for financing. Because of that obviously, I have created two different things; one, variety and selection. There are many different products out there. If you are self employed, or if you are a new immigrant, or if you are buying a previous grow op, or if you want to buy a rental property, those are going to be four different lenders that I would send you to based on those different criteria. So, by going to your one bank, they may decline you, whereas with another lender, you would be approved in a second. So going to a mortgage broker is obviously saving you time, it's giving you variety. Now, second thing is, what about fees? Well, if you were working with a mortgage broker, and they are trying to charge you a fee by sending you to just a regular lender, a bank or a non bank, drop them, drop them, drop them, drop them. There should be no fees involved. The banks and the non banks, they pay us. Again, we're getting huge volume discounts. We're bringing them business. We are basically working like salesman for them, and so because of that they are paying us a commission. That's where you are going to need private financing. Private lenders do not pay us anything. You have to pay them a fee. You also have to pay us a fee. So, that is how that works. Other than that, it should always be free to use a mortgage broker. We work for you, not for the lenders. Now, what was the last thing? Oh! What is the difference between a mortgage broker that works in a bank, and an independent mortgage broker? Well, I'm sure after this post, I will get many letters from different banks and different mortgage brokers who work for banks, but this is how I am going to say it. People who work for a bank are not a mortgage broker. They call themselves a "Mortgage broker," but they are not. They do not have to go through the same licensing that I do. They do not have to go through the same education and schooling that I have to. They are simply a bank employee who has been shifted into the mortgage department, and is now doing mortgages. They may call themselves "Mobile mortgage brokers," or all these things, but they are not an independent mortgage broker. If you go into Scotia, and you talk to their mortgage broker, you are only going to be offered Scotia products. Where is the brokering in there? There is no brokering. If you walk into TD, and you talk to a TD mobile mortgage specialist, they are not a broker. They are only brokering TD products. Going to an independent mortgage broker is crucial. Ask the mortgage broker, "Do you work for any one bank?" If they say, "Well, yeah. I work for CIBC, or HSBC," or something, they are not a mortgage broker. They are only going to sell you those bank's products.