Mortgage commission calculator
Estimate broker commission from a funded deal — finder + trailer × term, then split with the brokerage. Convert basis points to real dollars.
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Lender commission rates vary by product (insured, alt-A, private) and lender. Confirm before quoting clients.
How Canadian mortgage broker commissions work
Mortgage brokers in Canada are paid by lenders, not borrowers (in standard A-tier deals). The compensation comes in two parts: a one-time finder fee paid at funding, and an ongoing trailer fee paid annually for the life of the term.
Typical commission rates by product
- Insured prime mortgages (CMHC, Sagen, Canada Guaranty): finder 80–100 bps, trailer 10–20 bps/yr
- Uninsured A-tier: finder 70–95 bps, trailer 10–20 bps/yr
- B-lender (alt-A): finder 50–80 bps + 1–2% lender fee paid by borrower
- Private lender: 1–3% lender fee paid by borrower; broker typically takes 50% as commission
- HELOC / collateral: 25–50 bps finder, often no trailer
- Renewal: typically half of new-deal commission, no trailer
Basis points → dollars
100 basis points = 1.00%. So a 95 bps finder on a $720,000 funded mortgage is $720,000 × 0.95% = $6,840. A 15 bps trailer on the same deal pays $720,000 × 0.15% = $1,080/year for the term.
What the brokerage takes — and what you net
Most Canadian mortgage agents split their commissions with their brokerage. Typical splits:
- New agents: 60–70% to agent
- Experienced agents: 75–85% to agent
- High-volume agents: 85–95% to agent, sometimes with a tiered structure that scales with monthly volume
- Owner-operator brokers: 100% (you ARE the brokerage)
Brokerages charge for the compliance overhead (audit, FSRA/FSCO licensing, MLS, software, leads, marketing). Whether the split is “worth it” depends on what the brokerage actually provides.
Worked example — typical 5-year deal
$720,000 funded insured prime, 95 bps finder + 15 bps trailer × 5 years, 85% agent split:
- Finder: $6,840
- Trailer: $1,080/yr × 5 = $5,400 over the term
- Gross commission: $12,240
- Agent at 85% split: $10,404 take-home
The trailer is contingent on the mortgage staying with the lender — if the client breaks early or switches, you lose the remaining trailer payments.
Compensation transparency in Canada
Under FSRA (Ontario) and equivalent regulators in other provinces, mortgage agents must disclose their compensation structure to clients in writing before they sign. The disclosure form is part of the application package. Brokers earning volume bonuses or efficiency bonuses from specific lenders must disclose those too.
Where compensation differs from posted bps
- Volume bonuses: top-tier brokers earn 5–15 extra bps on lenders where they fund $50M+/year
- Efficiency bonuses: some lenders pay extra bps for clean files with high closing rates
- Promo periods: lenders occasionally run quarterly promos with 10–25 extra bps on specific products
- Tiered commission: B-lenders sometimes pay higher bps on certain LTV bands
- Private network deals: in private deals, total compensation can be 2–5% of funded amount split however the brokerage structures it