The Co-Applicant Screw Up!

Posted on July 14, 2026July 14, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

This morning I had the pleasure of waking up just steps from the ocean at my spot in Cape Breton. Picture a travel trailer parked on a rocky beach surrounded by forty acres of forest and about 1200 feet of sheltered and secluded oceanfront. I started the day on my paddle board followed by a cool dip in the ocean and a coffee on the beach. My mind tends to wander at times like this, and a recurring thought I’ve had is how the mortgage industry in Canada has screwed over so many people over t...

Mortgage Broker Mistakes That Lead To Litigation

Posted on June 25, 2026June 25, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

Inadequate or Non-existent Suitability Assessments The key question every litigator will ask as is, “was this mortgage appropriate for this borrower at the time it was arranged”? A good Mortgage Broker would have clearly answered this question in the affirmative and documented it in the mortgage file. In my experience, most Mortgage Brokers and Mortgage Agents fail to document their assessments and some fail to even consider if the mortgage they arranged was suitable for the bo...

When Affordability Collides With Suitability

Posted on May 21, 2026May 21, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

In the olden days, when a couple wanted to buy a home, they saved for a downpayment, and qualified for a mortgage on their own. Occasionally, they would get a gift from a family member, but it was generally a nominal amount. This all changed post pandemic when house prices accelerated exponentially and people became fearful of never being able to buy a home. We began to see purchasers adding multiple family members to mortgage applications just to qualify for their mortgage. In some cases, M...

Suitability Is About Judgement

Posted on May 14, 2026May 14, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

In a recent post / article I talked about the failure of many mortgage brokers and agents to comply with Section 24 and 25 of Ontario Regulation 188/08. These sections deal with disclosure and suitability. At a basic level, disclosure is about information, while suitability is about judgement. The incompetent mortgage brokers and mortgage agents of the world often fail at both levels, but I find that even the fully competent ones get trapped in the mindset that they need to get the ...

Suitability & Disclosure… the low hanging fruit!

Posted on April 29, 2026April 29, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

Until recently, the mortgage brokerage sector has largely been ignored by regulators and litigators. Everyone was making money in mortgages and even poor advice was profitable. No one complains when times are good but now that the market has turned, we are seeing just how bad the advice was that many borrowers and investors received from their mortgage broker or agent. As Warren Buffet famously surmised, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked”. Let’s just s...

“It Wasn’t Me”

Posted on January 16, 2026January 16, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

In the last year I’ve started doing a lot of work as an Expert Witness for litigation involving mortgages, mortgage brokers, or mortgage agents in Ontario. A common theme I’ve heard a lot of defendants argue is that they weren’t acting as a mortgage broker or agent for the transaction in question. Someone else was arranging the mortgage. Maybe it was a bank, another financial institution, or another mortgage broker. The defendants will argue they were just on the periphery helping th...

Core Memories

Posted on January 8, 2026January 8, 2026 by Andy MacDonald

The holidays are a great time to spend with family and reflect on what is important in life. This year my now 23-year-old daughter reminded me of what she described as one of her “core memories” growing up. The year was 2013 and she was doing competitive figure skating for the first time. The Port Credit club was hosting a competition and one of the options was a “Family Ice Dance”. This required a child and parent to perform the Canasta Tango on ice. Having played hockey all my life, I was ...

Who are you relying on for advice?

Posted on December 5, 2025December 5, 2025 by Andy MacDonald

I was recently hired to offer my expert opinion on a litigation case where a handful of investors agreed to participate in a syndicated private second mortgage on a commercial building. There were many red flags with this transaction but the thing that stuck out the most to me was the lack of experience amongst the multiple mortgage brokers and agents that were involved in the transaction. Most of them had only been in the business for a few years. There was some phuckery involved in the transa...

The Road Less Travelled

Posted on October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 by Andy MacDonald

Yesterday, I went for a walk in the woods on a road that was abandoned long ago. It reminded me of the journey we take in life. Sometimes the road is clear and other times we must look a little harder for that road. The outline of it is there but we might have to climb over a few obstacles or cross a brook to find our way. My professional journey started back in 1989. I would have taken my first mortgage application while working as a Loans Clerk at Canada Trust. That would have been t...

The Struggle in Canada is Real!

Posted on August 14, 2025August 14, 2025 by Andy MacDonald

As a card-carrying member of Gen X, I grew up at a time when life was affordable in Canada. No matter where you were on the socio-economic spectrum the basic necessities of food and shelter were attainable even if you just made minimum wage. If you needed transportation, you could always find a beat-up old car for a nominal price and if you aspired to be a homeowner that too was affordable. For perspective, my first apartment in London, Ontario, was $250 per month for a bachelor apartment in...