Challenging mortgage files are all too common and, fortunately for brokers, there’s a support network that can secure approvals
Challenging mortgage files are all too common and, fortunately for brokers, there’s a support network that can secure approvals.
Based in Langley, B.C. and servicing all of Canada, The Funding Department launched in June 2017 to help brokers secure funds from alternative lenders. According to co-founder Adam Coultish, there are a few reasons The Funding Department can do things that some brokers can’t.
“Sometimes brokers just don’t know how to package the deal, so we help them with that,” he said. “We also help brokers with deals they don’t want to do. For the sake of time versus money, they say ‘Hey, here you guys go,’ and they get paid half. We’re here to make brokers’ businesses more efficient and we also really push mortgage broker education. We constantly teach brokers how we do the deal and happily give away our system and information for free. We think transparency can help brokers be better brokers, and that’s our goal.”
The Funding Department teaches brokers which documentation to request upfront, then how to put files together. Another important facet of broker education is the importance of managing client expectations.
“A lender is more likely to approve a file that’s properly put together,” said Coultish. “The second-most important part is how to make sure a client is prepared to not get a 2.99% interest rate, but to understand they will get a mortgage. If you educate your client well at the beginning, they’ll understand why you got them the approval you have. It’s all about transparency with your client, knowing what to ask for, and knowing where to send your file.”
The Funding Department receives everyone from neophyte brokers to high-producing veterans, and the reasons vary. New brokers need help assembling files; middle-career brokers may have tried 10 lenders to no avail; high-producers would rather close a few deals in under an hour than toil on one they know The Funding Department can take care of.
“We do our research—we’ve literally studied all of the lenders’ guidelines and we’ve put them in our own database, so when we package the file we match them with the lenders we know will approve them,” continued Coultish. “Lenders give us approvals where they may not for others because, one, we send them full files and, two, we’ve built relationships with them. Most brokers get a challenging file on every eight or so deals, but every file we get is challenging, so lenders do things for us that they don’t for other people because they know that when they get one of our files it’s less work for them.”
