Mortgage Brokers Calgary

Most people are scared of mortgage brokers - this is because mortgage brokers are still trying to make the bridge (in the public's eye) from "the last place to go for financing" to the "first, and only place to go for financing". Years ago mortgage brokers were the former ("the last place to go for financing") - you would typically only go to a mortgage broker once you were declined by every bank in town. This was because most brokers were not paid by the banks to send them a client. Therefore brokers would have to charge clients - so, if you were bank-worthy, you would just go directly to the banks. Now - things have changed (almost every bank has a broker division that pays mortgage brokers for sending them clients). Now, you may ask, why would I use a mortgage broker when I could still go to my bank? Well - everyone wants a good rate - so in order to ensure you are getting a good rate, you need to know what banks are offering as mortgage rates, so - you can go bank to bank (and see which one is offers the best rates OR you can go to a mortgage broker. The problem with going from bank to bank is that they will check your credit (and every time your credit is checked it appears as though you are applying and being declined, which then causes the credit bureau companies to think that there is something wrong with your situation and they will then lower your credit score to reflect this). Now, there is a simple argument (which all brokers use) which is - we shop the lender's for the best rate, while only using 1 or 2 credit checks - so your credit doesn't suffer. BUT I'm not going to argue that because no-one can offer the "best" rate - there are just too many lenders out there for anyone to guarentee that. My reason for going to a mortgage broker is as follows:
a) we filter - we review your situation and filter certain (irrelevant but damaging) details from getting to the lenders <-- this especially helps when there is only one or two lenders who will consider your situation, as it prevents the lender from declining you based on information that they don't need to know
b) We save time - if we are going to go from lender to lender, shopping, then we don't save time; however, a good broker knows what lenders typically offers the better rates and therefore we can usually go directly to them, which saves you a lot of time
c) We know what certain lender's like - we aren't going to go to a lender, who is obviously not interested in financing your situation, which (again) saves you a lot of time
d) We often are paid by the lender's - so (in many cases) we are free for you

Trevor Hickey, B.A. is part of a team of mortgage brokers in calgary with Concord Mortgage Group Ltd.