An alternative lender is an institution with broad criteria; a private lender is an individual or a fund. They don’t cost the same or serve the same files.
You can’t weigh two options unless amount, term and amortization are the same for both. Move one of them and the cheaper choice may flip. That’s where most misleading comparisons come from.
Price against flexibility
Usually one option costs less and gives you less room, and the other is the reverse. Which one is right depends on whether you’ll probably move, prepay or break the term.
Add it all up
Go back to what you’ll really pay: the monthly payment, fees, the penalty to get out, and the conditions that remain after you sign. The rate alone settles little.
Documents to gather
What the lender will ask for.
Purpose
Income and documents
Debts and credit
Property or collateral
Time frame
Lender options
Frequently asked
Which documents should I gather?+
Your last two notices of assessment, recent pay stubs, an employment letter, three months of bank statements and proof of your down payment. Ready before the offer, they make a five-day financing condition workable. Otherwise they cost weeks.
Current rates
Today’s rates, with the fine print.
These rates are indicative. Yours depends on your file, the type of mortgage (insured or not) and the lender. And look at the penalty too, it matters as much as the number.
Buying, renewing, refinancing, or something a bit out of the ordinary: tell us where you’re at, even if it’s still fuzzy. Mathieu gets back to you with next steps and the documents to pull together.
