01/23/2026
I am quoted extensively in The Financial Post today.... I can't post a link, so here's the whole darn article!
NEW BENEFITS FOR BORROWERS AS COMPETITION HEATS UP IN REVERSE MORTGAGE SPACE by writer Robert McLister
Nothing keeps companies honest quite like competition, and it works for reverse mortgages, too.
In fact, if you’ve had a reverse mortgage for a while, new entrants have made it possible to put some cash back in your pocket.
Case in point: reverse mortgage “switches.”
In Canada, qualified borrowers with regular mortgages have long been able to switch lenders at renewal with minimal cost. The new lender typically pays your switching costs and/or provides cash back of up to a half per cent of the mortgage amount as an incentive.
That sort of incentive was absent from reverse mortgages until last year, when Equitable Bank introduced one per cent cash back for switchers, up to $4,000.
Equitable has been actively trying to take reverse-mortgage market share from the long-standing leader, HomeEquity Bank, and it’s not being subtle about it.
The scrappy rival not only offers this cash incentive but it’s undercutting its rivals on rates, offers a $995 setup fee waiver and loudly advertises “We’ll beat any reverse mortgage rate posted in Canada.”
Equitable and fellow rival Bloom Finance have dragged the industry into a more competitive mindset and consumers are the obvious beneficiaries.
Rebecca Awram, a reverse mortgage specialist at Indi Mortgage, says she’s seen a ramp-up in interest as more reverse mortgage lenders come online.
“There are two main groups of borrowers,” she said. “The ones that still have a mortgage at retirement, and/or lots of unsecured debt, looking to improve their cash flow to avoid downsizing or renting, and the ones with clear-title homes and substantial resources who understand the strategic advantage of a reverse mortgage for financial planning.”
That latter group uses the product to minimize government Old Age Security clawbacks, avoid selling other investments, avoid taking in income that would put them in a higher tax bracket, gift down payments to their kids or buy a second home or income property.
“Seniors are often insulted by the standard financial planning advice that they should simply downsize,” she said. “They like having their home and yard where they’ve built years of memories. They don’t want to be shuffled into a condo or rental.”
“Having four lenders in the space has improved the product,” added Awram. As just one example, Home Trust came to market last year, promising it would not upcharge renewers with higher rates than new customers get — a terrible practice that had gone on far too long, in this author’s opinion.
And competition also breeds innovation. We saw that with Bloom Finance’s new fixed-for-a-lifetime reverse mortgage rate and reverse mortgage credit card.
HomeEquity Bank can feel the pressure and has no intention of responding with polite silence. It recently hired the executive who helped steer Home Capital Group through a near-disastrous bank run in 2017.
“There’s an opportunity for real innovation,” said the bank’s new chief executive, Yousry Bissada, who’s known for differentiating through technology. “We have a lot of great products coming with a lot of great features. I have thought about HELOCs, annuity-like products and other things. All of those are on the table.”
“I don’t think the influence of the internet can be understated; today’s seniors are savvy researchers,” Awram said. More and more of them compare reverse mortgage rates and terms online just like regular mortgage shoppers, she said, as they should.
If you’re five years or more into a reverse mortgage and your lender tries to slip in a higher renewal rate than what’s posted elsewhere, don’t quietly accept it.
Payoff penalties to switch range from nothing to just three months’ interest. Offers such as Equitable Bank’s one per cent cash back can absorb most of that cost, with any leftover often erased by lower rates.
(Unfortunately, Equitable only lends in Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec. HomeEquity Bank is Canada’s only coast-to-coast reverse lender.)
If you’re a senior with a reverse mortgage, you may not realize how much power you have when renewal rolls around.
Lenders need you to stick around because your first contract barely covers their origination, marketing, funding and compensation costs. If you leave after a single term, the economics of their model break down.
In other words, there’s a good chance your lender will match the economics of another lender’s offer at renewal, but only if you ask. And we can thank new players in the space for that.
