Mortgage brokers, realtor suspended, fined

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2020 (1881 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Securities Commission has suspended two mortgage brokers and one realtor involved in a co-ordinated plan to approve a mortgage for a Winnipeg couple who did not qualify for it.

Kamaldeep Grewal and Charmaine Hernandez, both mortgage brokers, and Maneet Jassal, a realtor, have been suspended for one month and ordered to pay a total of $13,500 in costs for an investigation into their conduct.

The three admitted to multiple breaches under the Mortgage Brokers Act and Real Estate Brokers Act.

In Manitoba Securities Commission documents released Thursday, Grewal, Hernandez, and Jassal, all admitted to conduct “contrary to the public interest” and that they all “failed in (their) duty to protect and promote the best interests of (their) clients.”

According to MSC documents, in June 2016 Hernandez and Jassel introduced the couple to Grewal, a mortgage broker with Mortgage Architects, for the purposes of arranging mortgage financing for a new $290,000 home. The meeting took place days after another mortgage broker determined the couple would not qualify for a mortgage.

A week after the meeting with Grewal, Grewal contacted the couple to say he could not approve a mortgage for the couple because their credit scores were too low.

Two weeks later, Grewal provided a letter to Jassel saying the couple had been approved for a mortgage with a five per cent down payment. Grewal later acknowledged he signed the approval letter without processing the application for mortgage financing or getting approval from a financial institution or lender.

Hernandez, meanwhile, advised the couple “to focus on paying off their debts” and told them she and Jassel “were going to help with the down payment,” say MSC documents.

That “help” included a cheque from the home builder SRENA Homes Inc. for $19,500, a “loan” intended to be used as a down payment to SRENA and for closing costs.

A week later, the couple texted Hernandez to say their insurance broker could not provide fire insurance for the new home as their was no mortgage approval in place.

“Hernandez and Jassel failed to advise (the couple) that no financial provider had approved a mortgage for them and that Grewal would be unavailable to process a mortgage application for them in time for their January 2017 possession date.

The deal collapsed and the couple, who had sublet their apartment in anticipation of moving to their new home, had to find a new place to live.

The suspensions for Grewal, Hernandez and Jassal are effective Nov. 30 and will only be lifted once the financial penalties are paid.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca