Canadians are increasingly turning to mortgage brokers and better understand what the channel offers. But despite that progress, some misconceptions continue.
According to Mortgage Professionals Canada’s 2025 Consumer Survey, one-third of Canadians used a mortgage broker to secure their current mortgage. However, two-thirds say they’re at least somewhat likely to work with a broker in the future, and 81% of those who have used one before intend to return, compared with just 58% of bank mortgage customers.
Client satisfaction when working with a broker was also up across nearly every attribute tracked in the survey compared with 2024, including ease of doing business, reliability, knowledge, trust, timeliness, personalization and communication.
At the same time, the survey highlighted a few misconceptions about how brokers operate, how they’re compensated and how they differ from the Big Banks.
What brokers do
Serve everyone
Colin Shea, the principal broker at TMG Performance, describes brokers as the bridge between lenders and everyday Canadians.
“A lot of times, the clients don’t really understand what the bank is looking for, and the bank needs to hear things the way they want to hear them,” he says. “Brokers are the intermediary that can help smooth out the edges and help the two communicate.”
That role, however, has evolved over time, leading to some outdated ideas about the broker community.
There was a time when brokers were limited to non-bank products and largely served borrowers turned away by traditional lenders. Now, brokers can work with clients at every credit level and have access to products from most of Canada’s Big Six banks.
“There still is a little bit of that misconception—especially among the older generation—that we only deal with B-lenders, we don’t deal with the bank and we’re more of a last resort,” says Shea. “That’s for sure changed.”
Though some still see brokers as a place for those with few options, the opposite is now true. While banks are limited to selling their own products, brokers have access to products across many providers, from non-bank lenders to most major financial institutions, allowing them to offer clients more options.
Understand the products they’re selling
Many of the mortgages facilitated through brokers are provided by the major banks, leading many to assume that the bank’s staff are the main experts on the subject.
Just because their logo is on the paperwork, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that the representatives at the local branch have a deep understanding of the product.
“The person at the branch is a generalist — they understand a little bit about mortgages, credit cards, bank accounts, RSPs (registered savings plans), and all the other financial tools they offer — we only focus on mortgages,” Shea says. “Good mortgage brokers know their bank guidelines better than the person at the branch.”
What brokers don’t do
Charge fees for mortgages that banks offer without fees
One of the biggest misconceptions about mortgage brokers is how they get paid.
According to MPC’s 2024 consumer survey, respondents who chose not to work with a broker most often cited concerns about having to pay for the service.
While brokers can charge clients directly in specific situations, these cases are uncommon. For most traditional mortgages, the broker is compensated by the lender rather than the borrower.
“If you’re putting a borrower into a prime mortgage, the lender pays the broker for sending them that deal, which is colloquially referred to as a ‘finder’s fee,’” explains Katie Caravaggio, the Vice President of Membership and Professional Development for MPC.
In other words, Canadians who qualify for a traditional mortgage and turn to a broker to help them find the best deal do not pay the broker directly, since the lender they choose covers the compensation.
“When it comes to the private or MIC (mortgage investment corporation) side, there is a finder’s fee that goes to the mortgage broker, but for these deals there’s more work for the broker, and more risk, so the broker may charge the client directly,” Caravaggio explains. “There are stipulations around those costs, it is a regulated space, and the mortgage broker must provide a disclosure to that client in advance as to what they’re charging them and why.”
Most borrowers, and especially those who qualify for a traditional loan with a major bank, never see a bill from their broker, while the few that do typically require specialized services not offered by banks, and are informed of those fees in advance.
Offer services without a licence
The rapid growth in the housing market during the low-interest pandemic period may have created the impression that brokers were entering the industry as part of a gold rush.
Mortgage brokers, however, need licences to sell loan products in Canada and undergo training before they can legally work in the industry.
“There are educational requirements involved in obtaining a licence to practise as a mortgage broker across Canada, there are different acts and regulations per province, but they all generally follow a similar path,” says Caravaggio.
“There is mandated education, there are background checks, an approval process, a requirement to join a brokerage that has a principal broker, so there is a process to become a broker,” she adds.
Provide the same information that’s available online
Canadians can find plenty of mortgage information online, and many prefer to research what may be the biggest financial decision they’ll make. However, even with more information at their fingertips, key details and lender-specific options aren’t always accessible, meaning those who go it alone may miss out.
“They don’t have access to the suite of lenders that a mortgage broker has,” Caravaggio says, explaining that some loan products are offered exclusively through brokers and are not available to individual consumers. “People can do their own research, but not everything is accessible to them, so why not utilize someone who has expertise in that area?”
Furthermore, while online advice is often generic, brokers seek to gain a deeper understanding of their customers’ financial situation to offer more personalized recommendations.
“A good broker understands a client’s financial history and can be the expert that places them in the most suitable mortgage,” Caravaggio says. “They dig in deep with a client to find out exactly what they want and present them with suitable options based on their expertise.”
Coming next: Part 2 of our series looks at who is using brokers today, from newcomers and first-time buyers to seniors and self-employed Canadians, and why the channel is seeing demand across every borrower group.
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Last modified: November 10, 2025