A major bank may decline you outright, but ‘alternative’ lenders will welcome you with open arms
are so high right now that borrowers who would have qualified for a mortgage a year ago can no longer get approved under common underwriting guidelines.A major bank may decline you outright, but non-prime – a.k.a. “alternative” or “B” – lenders will welcome you with open arms. They have more tricks up their sleeves. They allow higher debt ratios, have easier proof-of-income requirements and offer longer amortizations and/or easier qualifying rates.
In general, though, flexibility comes at a price. You’ll never get the lowest rates you see online unless you are a low-risk rubber-stamp borrower. Some big banks show surprising flexibility for borrowers with pristine credit, a 20- to 35-per-cent down payment and other risk mitigants. We’ll be watching to see whether OSFI does anything to dissuade lenders from making these exceptions this month, when the regulator will launch a public consultation on mortgage underwriting improvements.Lenders don’t publicize their debt ratio guidelines. Hence, finding such lenders is tough unless you use a mortgage broker. Getting borrowers who have above-average but manageable debt loads to qualify for mortgages is a specialty for experienced brokers.
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