Monoline lender

Because monolines have no branches, no tellers, and no cross-sell products, their entire business is winning mortgages on price and service. That's why brokers so often place A-quality files with MCAP, First National, RFA, or CMLS rather than a bank — the rate is frequently lower for the identical borrower.

You can only reach a monoline through a licensed mortgage broker; they don't take walk-ins or have a retail branch to apply at. Servicing — statements, renewals, payment changes — is handled through their own portals and call centres.

Monolines also tend to have cleaner penalty math than the Big-6 (fairer IRD calculations) and competitive prepayment privileges, which can matter far more than a few basis points on rate if there's any chance you'll break or change the mortgage mid-term.