The originator's job is the client and the lender. Everything else a brokerage exists to carry. This is the list, and the line between the two.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
A mortgage broker is a licensed professional and a small business at the same time, and the second half generates paperwork the first half never sees on the brochure: licence renewals, continuing education, errors and omissions coverage, commission statements, invoices, tax records, compliance files, software subscriptions and the audit trail on every file. Some of it is yours by law. Most of it is a brokerage's to carry, and where the line sits is one of the real differences between brokerages.
Your licence, your continuing education and your own conduct. Regulators in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario license the individual, and the renewal, the education hours and the disclosures you sign are personal obligations no brokerage can take. Your tax affairs are yours: most brokers are paid as independent contractors and need their own bookkeeping, HST or GST registration where it applies, and an accountant who understands commission income. And the knowledge is yours: you sign the FINTRAC record and the disclosure, so you have to understand them.
Payroll, meaning the commission statement from the lender is reconciled, the split is applied and the broker is paid on a schedule without chasing. Compliance review, meaning files are checked centrally before and after submission and the audit trail is kept in a form a regulator can read. Licence deadline tracking, so the renewal date is on someone's calendar besides yours. Errors and omissions arrangement, so coverage is in place and explained before the first file. Processing support, so the document chase is not the broker's evening. And the technology the file runs on: a portal with the documents, the submissions, the invoices and the training in one place.
Every funded file produces a lender payment to the brokerage, a statement, a split calculation and a payout. Brokerages differ on how quickly that cycle runs and how visible it is. Ask any brokerage you are considering to show you the statement a broker sees, how often payouts run, and what happens when a lender pays late. At A.I.M.I. Collective payroll is processed in house, statements and invoices sit in the portal, and the team is one message away when a payout question comes up.
Every tool is a subscription, a login and a renewal date. The tech stack guide makes the case for seven tools rather than twenty, and administration is the reason: each tool you drop is a bill you stop paying and a password you stop resetting. The portal here is included at no cost. BrokerDam, the CRM, is a separate paid product available at a member rate and is a choice, not a bundle.
Before you join any brokerage, get the list in writing: what they carry, what you carry, and what each costs. Read net income, not split for how the administration you carry yourself shows up in the comparison. The brokerage that carries more is often the better offer at a lower split, and it is always the one that leaves more of the week for the client.
Renewal dates, continuing education hours, your own conduct. Head office tracks the dates; you do the work.
Contractor income, HST or GST where it applies, an accountant who knows commission income.
You sign the FINTRAC record and the disclosure, so you understand them.
Lender payment reconciled, split applied, payout on schedule, statement in the portal.
Central review, audit trail kept, deadlines tracked.
Document support, the portal, submissions and invoices in one place.
Payroll is processed in house. Compliance review, licence deadline tracking and processing support are carried at head office. Errors and omissions coverage is arranged and explained during onboarding. The portal is included; the CRM is a member rate option. You get every cost in writing on the discovery call, before you sign anything.
A dedicated compliance team reviews files centrally and the Deal Desk places the hard ones, so your hours go to clients.
How a mortgage broker keeps a file clean from application to funding: document standards, the audit trail and what head office carries.
How a mortgage broker manages a pipeline: the stages that matter, the weekly review, the numbers to watch and how to unstick a stalled file.
The communication rhythm that keeps files moving and clients loyal: response time, status updates, the funding call, the annual review and CASL.
How mortgage brokers manage time: the two blocks a week that fund files, batching documents and lender calls, and what to hand off.
Book a discovery call and we will walk through what head office carries, what stays with you and what each costs.