No statute defines an A lender. The tiers are market shorthand, and knowing where the real lines fall is what lets you place a file first time.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 5 October 2026
Brokers talk about A, B and private lending as if they were regulatory categories. They are not. No Canadian statute or regulator defines them, and no two lenders draw the lines in quite the same place. They are useful market shorthand — as long as you know what actually sits underneath them.
A, B and private are market shorthand, not categories any Canadian statute or regulator defines. The real line for A lending is whether the borrower qualifies at the minimum qualifying rate on that lender's terms. B lenders take files that miss there, and private lenders lend on the exit plan rather than the past three years.
Federally regulated and insurable-adjacent business. Underwriting is shaped by OSFI's Guideline B-20 and the minimum qualifying rate, which is why documentation and debt-service ratios are unforgiving.
Alternative and near-prime. Broader income documentation, higher tolerance for credit history, priced above A. Often the same institution's other shelf, or a monoline built for it.
Individual lenders and mortgage investment corporations outside federal prudential regulation. Shorter terms, equity-driven, priced for risk and for the exit.
What separates A from everything else is less the lender's name than whether the borrower qualifies at the minimum qualifying rate on that lender's terms. A file that fails there is not a worse file — it is a file for a different shelf.
A dedicated compliance team reviews files centrally and the Deal Desk places the hard ones, so your hours go to clients.
The useful question is not which tier a borrower belongs to. It is which specific constraint is binding: income documentation, credit history, property type, debt service, or timing. Files fail for one reason far more often than three, and naming that reason tells you where the deal fits.
Equity-driven lending in particular is decided on the exit. A private lender is asking what happens in twelve months, not what happened three years ago. Packaging a private deal around the exit is most of the work.
They say nothing about the disclosure obligations attaching to a file, which are set by your provincial regulator and are heaviest on private deals. They say nothing about conflicts, which are assessed on the relationship rather than the tier. And they say nothing about suitability, which in some provinces is a formal, documented assessment rather than a judgment call.
Brokers here submit directly to more than 100 lenders, including major banks, monolines, credit unions, B lenders, private and alternative lenders, with top tier status on every file and no middle layer taking a cut between you and the approval. Weekly lender training covers policy changes and declined files, and the Deal Desk places the files that need a lender you have not worked with before.
The A, B and private labels are industry convention and are not attributed to any regulator here, because no regulator defines them. OSFI's Guideline B-20 and the minimum qualifying rate are real and published at osfi-bsif.gc.ca. Current as of 1 September 2026.
MIC meaning in plain English: how a mortgage investment corporation works, what MIC loans cost in 2026 and how MICs compare with B and private lenders.
When a mortgage becomes an investment product sold to investors, a second regulator is involved. Where mortgage brokering ends and securities law starts.
Look up any mortgage agent or broker licence in Ontario, BC or Alberta. Direct links to each free regulator search and what to check before you sign.
Mortgage brokers became FINTRAC reporting entities on 11 October 2024. What that requires: compliance program, client ID, record keeping and reporting.
A.I.M.I. Collective brokers submit directly across the full spectrum, with a deal desk for the files that need a second set of eyes.