Mortgage rule changes problematic for the self-employed

The introduction of new mortgage rules has been detrimental to self-employed Canadians, reports The Globe and Mail.

Changes to mortgage rules brought about two years ago by the regulator of the country’s chartered banks have made taking out a home loan more difficult for many of the country’s 2.75 million self-employed workers. According to Statistics Canada, this segment of the employment market has a higher median net worth than standard paid employees.

“We went through years and years when my clients who were self-employed could get a mortgage if their credit score was 680 or higher, with next to no documentation,” Marg Green, director and broker at Concierge Mortgage Group, said in an interview.

In the summer of 2012, the federal government introduced Guideline B-20, which presented a problem for self-employed workers. These individuals typically lower their taxable income by maximizing business expenses and personal deductions, and obtained their mortgages through “stated income” applications.