British Columbia has one of the most opaque private-lending markets in Canada. After operating BCPrivateLoans for most of a year and routing hundreds of borrower inquiries to private lenders across sixteen BC cities, the pattern is clear. The opacity is not accidental. It is the business model.
Private lending in BC runs through a broker funnel. A borrower who cannot qualify for a traditional mortgage ends up in front of a mortgage broker. The broker has relationships with fifteen to thirty private lenders. The broker charges the borrower a fee — typically 1–2% of the loan — for the introduction. The lender also pays the broker a referral. The borrower signs paperwork without ever seeing the rate sheets of the lenders the broker did not choose.
That structure produces three predictable asymmetries. First, rate bands are invisible. A borrower who is told '10.5%' has no way to know that the same lender quoted 9.25% to another broker's client last week. Second, lender tiers are invisible. Lenders self-sort into A-tier (bank-like terms, strict criteria), B-tier (flexible criteria, rate premium), and C-tier (asset-based, high rate, tight term). Borrowers rarely know which tier the broker is shopping them into. Third, fee structures are invisible. The borrower sees their own fee. They do not see the lender's referral to the broker.
What borrowers do not know. You can usually walk directly into the lender's office without the broker and get the same rate. You can negotiate the broker fee — it is not a regulated rate, it is a quote. Most private mortgages in BC are one-year terms — a 'better rate' for a two-year term almost always has a renewal clause that resets the rate. The lender's 'discharge fee' is negotiable on origination but not on exit. The LTV on the appraisal is what the lender says it is, not what the appraiser says it is — lenders often haircut the appraised value by 10–15% for underwriting.
What lenders will not say. The rate they quote the broker is not the rate they would quote you directly. The rate floor is lower than they claim — ask for their C-tier borrower rate and their A-tier borrower rate for the same LTV and you will see a spread of 200–400 bps. Their 'network' of brokers is actually four or five who send most of the volume. They will decline a file in 48 hours but they will ghost a file for three weeks if they do not want to decline on paper.
BCPrivateLoans bypasses the broker funnel. We publish transparent rate bands by lender tier. We route the borrower directly. Our revenue comes from the lender placement, not the borrower, so the borrower pays nothing to comparison-shop. The market does not love this. The market gets used to it.
If you are a BC borrower considering a private mortgage: ask the lender, not the broker. Ask for the rate sheet. Ask for two LTV quotes — your actual LTV and one ten points lower. Ask for discharge-fee numbers on day one. Anything a broker can do you can usually do yourself with a phone call and a patient hour.