If you own a home and need to borrow money for renovating, paying off debt to lower interest rates, purchasing another property, or whatever your reason, it’s so much easier than Canadians’ think.   

You can pick up the phone and borrow money through your banker. This is one option but keep in mind your bank only has access to the mortgage products the banks sell. You also don’t have other lenders vying for your mortgage so you may not be guaranteed the lowest rate.

You can also borrow money through a bank broker – they are called brokers but work for the bank and are usually a mobile work force. They may have better interest rates but again they are also tied to the bank and sell banks mortgages – which again are limited.

The third and best option is getting an independent mortgage broker to shop the best mortgage rate on your behalf. Once you secure a good rate, some call it a rate guarantee and they are typically up to 120 days, you can move onto the next step of accessing funds. The approval process. Sound scary but its not. If you have good credit, have some equity in your home and a stable job, borrowing money is easy. Once approved, your funds will be deposited into your bank account and you make payments to the lender you were placed with directly through your account. With interest rates still historically low, it makes sense to borrow money.