How Much Does a Mortgage Broker Cost

Joel Olson • December 2, 2021

The best things in life are free?

Okay, a really great question that we get a lot is that, how much do we charge as brokers?

How much does it cost for you to come to us, have us move around you to lenders to lenders, and present your borrowing request in front of different banks, credit unions, and other types of trust lenders, and that type of thing.

Mortgage broker services are 100% free.

How it works is that if you go into the TD Bank or you go into your local credit union, you don't actually pay to talk to the teller, you don't have to pay to talk to the loans person, but you know some way, somehow those folks are getting paid from operational costs.

They're getting a wage, all that type of thing.

So, that operational cost goes towards us as a broker because you're not going to go inside of a branch in the vast majority of cases.

You're not going to need to have them do the work, so that's not an additional cost.

So when you're using us, we are charging you nothing whatsoever and the bank's paying as a separate transaction.

But it's not something where you're getting paid for, it's getting slid in, or it's affected your rate.

It is a situation where we are getting that cost that would normally go towards a bank employee.

Now here's where it gets really, really great.

When you legally go and talk to an independent financial planner or you're going inside of your bank, they are not legally obligated to work or look out for your best interests.

If you go inside TD, they can't tell you to go to CIBC because they're going to be a better deal.

That would make them lose their job.

However, the opposite is true of a mortgage broker.

If we are always favoring one lender over another lender, that means that we are in violation of what our licensure recalls.

We have to be looking for the best possible deal for the lender.

This is why we will often hear us talk about the idea that even if you think or even if we're going to place you with your existing lender, your existing bank, it's worth it to come to us because we have to make sure that they are actually offering the best deal.

It's very common for people to get better deals to their own bank through us than it is when they go directly into the branch.

Anyway, I hope that helps you out to know that our services are free.

There are certainly some private loans we do that we charge broker or lender fees, but those are the vast majority and very, very extreme circumstances, and those cases truly we can do what no one else can do.

So if you have any questions, please reach out to us.

We have loved to answer any of your mortgage questions as well as if you could subscribe to this channel, like our post, and share with anybody you know.

We'd really appreciate that.

Thanks so much, have a great day.

Don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMm4ANhnIibo6LirxLkCAGw

And if you need to discuss any strategies, you can schedule a time on my calendar here:

https://calendly.com/joel-20/discovery-zoom-call

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What is a “No-Frills” Mortgage?

By Joel Olson • March 25, 2025

A no-frills service or product is where non-essential features have been removed from the product or service to keep the price as low as possible. And while keeping costs low at the expense of non-essential features might be okay when choosing something like which grocery store to shop at, which economy car to purchase, or which budget hotel to spend the night, it’s not a good idea when considering which lender to secure mortgage financing. Here’s why. When securing mortgage financing, your goal should be to pay the least amount of money over the term. Your plan should include having provisions for unexpected life changes. Unlike the inconvenience of shopping at a store that doesn’t provide free bags, or driving a car without power windows, or staying at a hotel without any amenities, the so-called “frills” that are stripped away to provide you with the lowest rate mortgage are the very things that could significantly impact your overall cost of borrowing. Depending on the lender, a “no-frills” mortgage rate might be up to 0.20% lower than a fully-featured mortgage. And while this could potentially save you a few hundreds of dollars over a 5-year term, please understand that it could also potentially cost you thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars should you need to break your mortgage early. So if you’re considering a “no-frills” mortgage, here are a few of the drawbacks to think through: You'll pay a significantly higher penalty if you need to break your mortgage. You'll have limited pre-payment privileges. Potential limitations if you want to port your mortgage to a different property. You might be limited in your ability to refinance your mortgage (without incurring a considerable penalty). Simply put, a “no-frills” mortgage is an entirely restrictive mortgage that leaves you without any flexibility. There are many reasons you might need to keep your options open. You might need to break your term because of a job loss or marital breakdown, or maybe you decide to take a new job across the country, or you need to buy a property to accommodate your growing family. Life is unpredictable; flexibility matters. So why do banks offer a no-frills mortgage anyway? Well, when you deal with a single bank or financial institution, it’s the banker’s job to make as much money from you as possible, even if that means locking you into a very restrictive mortgage product by offering a rock bottom rate. Banks know that 2 out of 3 people break their mortgage within three years (33 months). However, when you seek the expert advice of an independent mortgage professional, you can expect to see mortgage options from several institutions showcasing mortgage products best suited for your needs. We have your best interest in mind and will help you through the entire process. A mortgage is so much more than just the lowest rate. If you have any questions about this, or if you’d like to discuss anything else mortgage-related, please get in touch. Working with you would be a pleasure!

How to Handle Missed Payments

By Joel Olson • March 11, 2025

If you’ve missed a payment on your credit card or line of credit and you’re wondering how to handle things and if this will impact your creditworthiness down the road, this article is for you. But before we get started, if you have an overdue balance on any of your credit cards at this exact moment, go, make the minimum payment right now. Seriously, log in to your internet banking and make the minimum payment. The rest can wait. Here’s the good news, if you’ve just missed a payment by a couple of days, you have nothing to worry about. Credit reporting agencies only record when you’ve been 30, 60, and 90 days late on a payment. So, if you got busy and missed your minimum payment due date but made the payment as soon as you realized your error, as long as you haven’t been over 30 days late, it shouldn’t show up as a blemish on your credit report. However, there’s nothing wrong with making sure. You can always call your credit card company and let them know what happened. Let them know that you missed the payment but that you paid it as soon as you could. Keeping in contact with them is the key. By giving them a quick call, if you have a history of timely payments, they might even go ahead and refund the interest that accumulated on the missed payment. You never know unless you ask! Now, if you’re having some cash flow issues, and you’ve been 30, 60, or 90 days late on payments, and you haven’t made the minimum payment, your creditworthiness has probably taken a hit. The best thing you can do is make all the minimum payments on your accounts as soon as possible. Getting up to date as quickly as possible will mitigate the damage to your credit score. The worst thing you can do is bury your head in the sand and ignore the problem, because it won’t go away. If you cannot make your payments, the best action plan is to contact your lender regularly until you can. They want to work with you! The last thing they want is radio silence on your end. If they haven’t heard from you after repeated missed payments, they might write off your balance as “bad debt” and assign it to a collection agency. Collections and bad debts look bad on your credit report. As far as qualifying for a mortgage goes, repeated missed payments will negatively impact your ability to get a mortgage. But once you’re back to making regular payments, the more time that goes by, the better your credit will get. It’s all about timing. Always try to be as current as possible with your payments. So If you plan to buy a property in the next couple of years, it’s never too early to work through your financing, especially if you’ve missed a payment or two in the last couple of years and you’re unsure of where you stand with your credit. Please connect directly; it would be a pleasure to walk through your mortgage application and credit report. Let’s look and see exactly where you stand and what steps you need to take to qualify for a mortgage.