If you ask the folks over at The National Post, they would seem to suggest, “yes.”
An article ran in the Financial Post last week about “Joe Schmo” lenders that I personally felt was a little misleading, since they were talking about the “dangerous” lenders while interviewing people from alternative, albeit “A-lenders” like Street Capital, First National, and MCAP. The latter three are A-lenders, who basically use the same lending criteria as the Big-5 banks; they just don’t have old-lady chequing accounts and security deposit boxes, like the Big-5 banks.
So should we be worried about “Joe Schmo lenders doubling their stake in Canada’s mortgage market,” as the Financial Post article suggests? Or should we be happy that there are options outside of the banking oligopoly?
