Transcript of Video Blog:
Hi everybody! Rowan Smith with the Mortgage Centre. We’re doing a Myth-busting series here. I’m going to do a 10 part series that I’m going to release over the following weeks. So, I’m just going to address a number of different myths within finance and real estate.
The one I want to come at the hardest right at the gates is: “My bank didn’t ask me to verify my income a few years ago so how come you, Rowan, are doing it now?” Well, in many, many cases what went on a few years ago simply can’t occur now. The sub-prime mortgages, the no-income mortgages, the stated-income mortgages, the liar-loans — whatever you want to call them — that were going on in the United States and, to a certain extent, up here in Canada, simply don’t exist any more!
Those lenders are gone. So while you may not have had to prove your income before, at the very least today you’re going to need to show that you have the capacity to earn a living. Simply having a large down payment isn’t enough any longer.
So, when you’re looking at my request for documentation and you see “notices of assessment” or “T4” and all those types of things, we’re not asking for anything that’s more onerous than any other bank or financial institution. We’re simply doing the due-diligence that is now the way the industry has gone. You can expect heavier documentation requirements today than you would have a few years ago and that’s just the nature of the beast.
There’s nothing we can do about it. All we can do is play by the bank’s rules, fit you within their box and move on. If you know anybody that’s in this situation and has been hassled for too much paperwork, there are maybe ways that I can reduce that but I can’t do anything if I don’t have an application.
From the Mortgage Centre, I’m Rowan Smith.
