• Happy Birthday MA!
• MA Points Program Update
• Marketing Update
• Advertising & Compliance
• MAComm Update

• Extends the privilege of ownership at no cost;
• Has a multi-lender points program;
• Where an elite marketing program would deliver break-through marketing and top flight CRM; and,
• Where an expert leadership team would have both a vision and plan for the future.

• Rapid expansion in Quebec and out West;
• Strengthening our operational infrastructure to support our growth, which includes the soon-to-be-launched commission system and ongoing enhancements to the broker portal;
• Bringing our mortgage planning brand to life through tactics and materials that will help broaden the planning skills of our brokers; and,
• Developing strong relationships and programs with our lender partners. 

Lead Planners who have recently joined MA:
Hugh Jean-Claude, Montreal, QC
Russ Bain, Dorchester, ON
Alison White, Windsor, ON

Associate Planners who have recently joined MA:
Joannie Robillard, Bois-Des-Filion, QC
Nathalie Charland, QC
Danielle Theriault, Gatineau, QC
Joanne Fleming, Dorchester, ON
Brenda Matfin, Burlington, ON
Everton Squire, Hamilton, ON
Bernard Mondou, Montreal, QC
Hedens Lagardere, Montreal, QC
Martin Buisson, Montreal, QC
Marie Gina Clerveau, Montreal, QC
Adrian Capraru, Toronto, ON
Marie Antonini, Calgary, AB
Vic Lehan, Windsor, ON
Bartek Rygal, Dorchester, ON
Trevor Lee, Waterloo, ON
Taner Gorica, Windsor, ON
Sarah Carter, Windsor, ON
Sal Sarkis, Windsor, ON
Bikramjit Grewal, Windsor, ON
Carlo Zaffino, Brampton, ON
Sonny Shah, Mississauga, ON
Elizabeth Glaser, Hamilton, ON
Judy Nowik, Nanaimo, BC
Mark Parker, North Vancouver, BC
Glen Wong, North Vancouver, BC
Sherilene Bychek, North Vancouver, BC
Janis Marsden, North Vancouver, BC
Tanis Senum, North Vancouver, BC

We hope you are getting to know our Points Coordinator, Kimberly Singh. She can be reached at 877-802-9100 ext. 322 or kimberly.singh@mtgarc.ca Contact Kim if you have forgotten your login, have any questions regarding your account, or if you would like to redeem your points for an AMEX card. To arrange a vacation, please contact Best Points at 416-251-9944 to determine your location and cost of the trip. Best Points will contact Kimberly to arrange the redemption. 

Remember, you can take advantage of the Discount Points you’ve earned to buy down a rate for one of your clients. Currently buydowns are offered by myNext, Dundee and ING. For Dundee and myNext, the process is simple: enter the number of bps you would like to buy down in the comments section on Expert and the underwriter will redeem the points through Express. ING is not currently set up with Express, which results in a more manual process. Planners need to contact the underwriter to determine the cash cost of the buydown and submit a redemption form (found on the Malink) to Kimberly Singh who will redeem the points from MA’s end and submit a cheque to ING one week prior to closing.

Marketing Update

At www.mamarketing.ca a customizable rate sheet is now available under Personal Marketing > Rates. Also check out our four new ghost articles:

1. Fixed or variable rate mortgage? Right now it's a matter of style.
2. When two roofs are better than one: is it time for an investment property?
3. Smart homeowners have tax-deductible mortgages.
4. The mechanics behind mortgage rates.

1. How much home could your rent buy?
2. Homeownership is possible after divorce
3. Ten great reasons why you should talk to a mortgage broker
4. Manage your credit score...and reap the financial rewards
5. The mechanics behind mortgage rates
6. A new mortgage world for self-employed Canadians
7. Answers to mortgage questions keeping some first-time homebuyers up at night
8. Yes you can buy and not rent (flyer)
9. Countdown to moving day checklist
10. Closing with Confidence

Our feature sheet on the broker portal is currently in testing with brokers across the country. We received some great feedback that is being incorporated. Our goal is to launch to all brokers before the end of the month. Phase 2 and 3 of the feature sheet are already being planned. 

We are no longer putting ads on the marketing site because each ad request seems to be for a different size. An ad catalogue is in development that will allow you to view all of the ads that have been developed by marketing and used across the country. New debt consolidation themes are also in development, along with prior-to-closing material and a marketing plan template. 

Advertising & Compliance

Our goal in compliance is to ensure that all advertising whether it is Yellow Pages, Newspaper Ads, Flyers, Signage or Websites follows the guidelines that are set by the provincial regulators. It is the job of compliance to be sure, via a review of items submitted, that these various provincial requirements are met. As a result, all advertising must be approved by Compliance at head office prior to placement. We all work under the Mortgage Architects license and therefore must advertise as such.

• MA Logo to be prominent at the top of every page (Websites, Advertising). You are licensed under Mortgage Architects and it must be obvious to the public that this is so.
• For Ontario, the Head office address must be at the bottom of every website page.
• Websites must link to MA’s secure application and Privacy Policy.

These are just a few of the guidelines. Let’s all do things correctly the first time and show we are proud to be a part of the MORTGAGE ARCHITECTS team. If you have any questions or require an approval, please contact Hilary Imineo, National Compliance Manager at hilary.imineo@mtgarc.ca or 905-542-9100 ext. 326

MPP – new SafteyCatch notification

MPP has introduced a new SafteyCatch that will save you valuable time. If you haven’t received their communication on this, please give them a call or you can download a copy from MALink under Documents>MPP.

MAComm – the Mortgage Architects “new” Commissions Processing System

We are ready to implement the first phase that will eventually take us to weekly pay periods.

Phase 1 – Filogix data to auto populate AdminDoor Trade Records

We’ve been hearing from many of you that it would be great to have the data from Filogix auto populate into the AdminDoor Trade Records. This would save everyone a fair bit of data-entry time. In preparation for implementation of this phase, we need everyone to ensure that their Filogix data is as accurate as possible on a go-forward basis. For instance, if the volume of the mortgage has changed, technically that change should be reflected on Filogix so that the mortgage docs that are printed are correct. We realize there may be instances where the volume has changed after the docs are printed, so you will be able to make last-minute manual changes in AdminDoor but that really does defeat the purpose of the auto-populating. An application must be in an “Accepted” status in order to trigger the data to come into AdminDoor. “Accepted” means that the lender has approved this deal and that you are accepting a commitment from this lender. If you do not update the Filogix status accordingly, then when you go into AdminDoor to search for the transaction you will not be able to find it until you change the status in Filogix. Once you have located the correct TRS in AdminDoor, you will be asked to verify certain details such as commission splits, CRM info, etc. After verification the file will need to be scanned and uploaded as normal.