They leave because the 9pm call went unanswered, the file sat in a bottom tier queue, or the marketing support turned out to be a logo file. Here are the eight reasons, and what to ask next time.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
Ask a broker why they moved and the split comes up third or fourth. What comes first is a specific bad day: a decline that a better lender panel would have funded, a compliance question nobody could answer, a hard file with no one to call. This page lists the eight reasons we hear most from brokers who move to us and from brokers who leave anyone, and turns each into the question that tells you whether the next place has fixed it.
The most common reason and the least discussed. A brokerage that lists training but has no underwriter, no mentor and no team chat leaves you alone at the exact moment it matters. Ask: who takes my call at 9pm on a file I cannot place?
Your files take fifteen days where a top producer's take five, because the brokerage's volume with that lender is thin or you are new. Ask: what status will my submissions carry, and from which day?
A portal that is a shared drive, a mandatory platform fee, a CRM that nobody set up. Ask: what is included, what is a member rate, what is full price, and who set it up for the last broker who joined?
The promise was marketing support. The delivery was a branded template. Ask: show me the last three things marketing produced for a broker at my volume.
The $3 million file the client mentioned had to be referred away, and the client went with it. Ask: what happens to a commercial, construction or private file I cannot structure myself?
FINTRAC, disclosure, the MSA in BC, a licence renewal date nobody tracked. Ask: who reviews my files, who tracks my deadlines, and what happened at the last audit?
Desk fee, transaction fee, technology fee, royalty, termination fee. Ask for every line in writing and run the eight line worksheet.
Same desk, same split, same files in year six. Ask: what does a broker who joined three years ago do differently now, and who helped them get there?
Seven of the eight are about support, not money. The brokerages brokers leave are the ones that sold the split and went quiet. The ones brokers stay with carry the parts a broker cannot carry alone: lender status, hard files, compliance, processing, and a person who answers.
Book a confidential call. We will walk you through compensation, lender access and support, with every fee in writing.
A named answer to the 9pm question. Top tier lender status from your first submission. An underwriter for the files you would otherwise refer away. Compliance, payroll and processing carried at head office. Technology that is included or priced honestly. Every fee in writing. A visible path from where you are to where the brokers who joined before you are now. Those are the things we built the experienced broker path around, and the questions to ask before you sign anywhere, including here.
Map the pipeline file by file, run the licence transfer and lender resets in parallel, and line up the first hard file for the Deal Desk. Read how switching works in BC, Alberta and Ontario.
A move here is planned around your pipeline, not ours. We map every live file with you, run the licence transfer and the lender registrations in parallel, and line up the first hard file for the Deal Desk so your first week is a funded file rather than a form. Clients you originate are yours, including the renewal and the referral, and that is written down.
How a mortgage licence transfer works in BC, Alberta and Ontario: notice, the regulator filing, lender registrations, live files and the timing.
Six things that decide whether a new mortgage agent funds files in year one: training, a mentor, lender status, underwriting support and a 90 day plan.
Ten brand names, three parent companies. Who owns what in Canada's mortgage brokerage networks and how that changes the way you read a recruiting pitch.
Most recruiting pitches compete on one number. A framework for comparing brokerages on what lands in your account after fees, royalties and lender status.
Book a discovery call. Bring your last twelve months and the reason you are looking, and we will show you what changes here.