The Canadian Mortgage Hall of Fame was created to recognize and honour mortgage industry leaders whose achievements and service have contributed to the success of the Canadian mortgage industry. Inductees to the Mortgage Hall of Fame have provided leadership, vision and inspiration in their profession and strive to make a difference to enhance industry standards. The 2011 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place on Sunday, November 20 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Mortgage Alliance first opened its doors in 1998, which included Michael and his partners and Quebec broker firm, Multi-Pret Hypotheques. The company became the fastest growing mortgage broker in Canadian history garnering many awards and industry accolades over the past thirteen years.

The company prides itself on offering the mortgage consumer a unique set of experiences including; Choice, Counsel and Convenience. Mortgage Alliance or “MAC” as it is often referred to has also created the industry’s most successful mortgage professionals by adhering to its original corporate mission statement. It emphasizes “creating an independent team of mortgage professionals through the recruitment and development of entrepreneurial people”. It goes on to say, that the company “strives to provide the optimum environment and resources to deliver its customer with these exclusive set of experiences.

Since founding The Mortgage Alliance in 1998, Michael and his partners have seen the organization grow to more than 2,000 mortgage professionals and over eight billion dollars in mortgage volume annually.

Today the company, which works with over 40 lender partners helps thousands of Canadians achieve their dreams of home ownership and financial security.

See Michael’s induction speech – click here.

For more information about Michael Beckette or Mortgage Alliance, please contact Louie Bettio at lbettio@mortgagealliance.com or by phone at 1886-705-4447

Since it began, the VIP Hub has provided the Mortgage Alliance Network with access to top-tier service and incentives from over 12 major lenders. And the strategy seems to be working well.

During the month of April alone, the National VIP Lender Hub reviewed 398 files, submitted 329 of those files totaling over $75,000,000.00 in mortgage volume. This is an astounding amount of mortgage origination through one source.

“We started the VIP Lender HUB to provide access to many lenders for mortgage agents who may otherwise not have enjoyed that benefit.” “However, we’ve witnessed a much larger mass-appeal than we originally anticipated” said Michael Beckette, President & C.E.O. of Mortgage Alliance.

He went on to say “It’s very difficult for the average mortgage agent to get top level service and benefits from several different lenders.” He further stated,“ The VIP HUB provides this for them and it benefits the lenders we work with as well by delivering quality business efficiently. We’ve been able to do well not just because of our overall network size but because we work together to achieve a specific goal that benefits us all. Most brokers work with a just few lenders but there’s great value in having easy access to more.”

“We just knew that whatever we did had to work for our Agents, the Network and our Lender Partners” he reiterated.

If you would like to learn more or have any questions regarding the Mortgage Alliance VIP Lender Hub, please contact Jennifer Joynt, VIP HUB Manager at jjoynt@mortgagealliance.com

Long known as the industry leader, Mortgage Alliance has redesigned its MAC University for all new and articling mortgage professionals -as well as providing continuing education for experienced MAC professionals. MAC U now includes Management and Leadership Training for Franchisees and Team Leaders.

As a result, there are now SIX levels for mortgage professionals during this exclusive educational program.

The 6 Mac-U levels are:

i)     Provincial Licensing Course (where applicable)

ii)    Orientation

iii)   Career Development Program “CDP”

iv)   Success Series

v)    MAC Academy

vi)   Special Sessions & Subjects

vii)  Management & Leadership

Mac-U training sessions is offered to the Mortgage Alliance network via in-Class sessions and Live Online sessions. There are over 150 MAC U sessions each year with more than 50 CE Credits that can be obtained by attending MAC U.

MAC U is the only training & education program that is co-partnered with

CMHC (Canadian Mortgage & Housing Corporation).

For more information about the new MAC University, please contact John Gabriel –(Head of Education & Compliance) at jgabriel@mortgagealliance.com

or

Louie Bettio at lbettio@mortgagealliance.com

Supported with over 50 radio stations across the country in key markets, the campaign will reach the all-important target groups comprised of first time home buyers, mortgage renewers, home renovators and debt consolidators.

The campaign is using multiple radio executions to deliver a variety of key consumer-driven messages (to showcase the company’s depth of products and services) ranging from “One-Stop Shopping”, to “Pre-empting Interest Rate Forecasts” , “Reducing Household debt” to “the Right & Smart Mortgage Solutions.”

“Our media strategy allows us to deliver multiple ‘consumer relevant’ messages throughout the media flight,” said Louie Bettio, MAC’s Brand Champion. He went on to say, “We’ve used radio over the 8 years because it can quickly generate the “reach” and the all-important “frequency” of our messages that drive consumer traffic to the Mortgage Alliance web site.  That’s where consumers can learn more about the company and most importantly, locate their local Top-Producing Mortgage Alliance Professional.”

Building brand recall and subsequent consumer interaction has been paramount to the company’s success. The MAC radio jingle (heard twice during each 30 second ad) is paying significant dividends  – winning both share of mind and share of heart with consumers.  Bettio also stated, “we’ve been very strategic that each spot features MAC’s President and C.E.O, Michael Beckette as the spokes person. Michael’s appeal comes in form by way of his sincerity and humility – delivering solutions with  a calming simplicity to the listening audience.” He also noted, consumers respond very well to the credibility and accountability that Michael projects for the brand.

Phase 1 of the new campaign started on February 21^st and launches in 20 additional markets on Monday March 7^th

For more information regarding the new MAC Radio Campaign, please contact Louie Bettio at lbettio@mortgagealliance.com or at 416-727-0790.

The new app system provides Mortgage Alliance Professionals the ability to multi‐task and to get up‐to‐the minute real time information regarding rate updates, breaking news and much more!

In addition, the Mobile MAC App includes easy access to calculators for the company’s popular Right and Smart Mortgage Products.

Michael Beckette, President & CEO stated, that the new MAC‐App is all part of MAC’s technology strategy to arm its network with the resources and advantages to help grow their business and add value to the customer transaction process.

Proof of MAC’s commitment can be seen over the past 6 months via the company’s launch of its new BOSSV2 software platform, Off‐Line Application and now the MAC App.

For more information, please contact Karl Sutton at ksuttn@mortgagealliance.com or Louie Bettio at lbettio@mortgagealliance.com.

The new system called “File Tracker” enables the broker an exclusive on-line software platform in which they can log on at any time and review their deal status from submission to final approval. A MAC Professional can monitor their file at each and every interval during the lender and loan application process – empowering them to take advantage of special Lender “promotions” exclusively offered via the VIP Lending HUB and relaying the file status back to the applicant(s).

Launched in 2009, the Mortgage Alliance VIP Lender Hub has become the largest single internal “hub” in the Canadian Mortgage Brokering industry. When asked for comment, Jennifer Joynt, Manager of the Lender Hub stated, “In today’s new environment, the mortgage professional requires “real-time” information to better manage client relationships.” “The added value that File Tracker can now bring to the agent and client process furthers our objectives for creating
client-relationships-for-life” versus single transactions.”

File Tracker was specially created for Mortgage Alliance and is exclusively offered through the company’s VIP Lending Hub.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Joynt directly at jjoynt@mortgagealliance.com or at 1-866-705-4447.

“As Canada’s most respected network of independent mortgage professionals, we’re committed to providing our team with a quality brand, unique resources and technology that helps them grow their business and their income”, said Michael Beckette, President & C.E.O. of Mortgage Alliance.

“The challenge for us was integrating front middle and back. Whether it’s the personal organizer that syncs with your PDA to the integrated email client in the front or the Online and Offline Mortgage Application with Lender Logic conjoined with full CRM, reporting, expense management and payroll we maintained the highest design standards. We listened and built around the broker’s workflow and we employed Mortgage Alliance Professionals from across the country who were directly involved in the design and beta testing of the new MortgageBOSS™ V2 system”, he went on to say.

Today’s MortgageBOSS™ users only need to go to one place to find whatever they need, whether that’s rates and lender information, applications, calculators, real time deal statuses, documentation from past files of planning for future commissions it’s really the one stop shop.

The company invested millions to develop the new system because we believe flexible and scalable work flow technology for brokers like a recognized consumer brand will support the continued development of the broker originator as a respected professional intermediary.

For more information please contact Louie Bettio lbettio@mortgagealliance.com or by phone at 416-499-5454.

Mortgage Alliance was the first “super broker” to launch their own mortgage product with a unique and proprietary consumer benefit. The Right Mortgage(R) has given Canadian mortgage consumers the freedom to choose their own terms, features and rate. And chosen they have!

“From the minute we launched the Right Mortgage(R) it seemed to resonate with consumers. The entire premise for the product was to “demystify the mortgage process” said Michael Beckette, President & CEO of Mortgage Alliance.

He went on to say “it’s been our network of mortgage professionals that has really helped to make this a success.” “We create new mortgage products by listening to consumers and our brokers and it was their early adoption and support (referring to MAC professionals) of the Right Mortgage(R) that’s created this remarkable industry achievement.”

Another key ingredient to the success of the Right Mortgage(R) is that it provides MAC professionals the choice of aggressive compensation models from “up-front”, “trailer” or a combination of both. 

For more information about the Right Mortgage(R), please contact Tony Bartolomeo at tbartolomeo@mortgagealliance.com or call Tony at 416-499-5454 ext#251.

From its inception, the MortgageBOSS(TM) offline application was designed to do one thing better than anyone else, – allow the Mortgage Alliance network of mortgage professionals the freedom and ability to create client applications regardless of network connections and add value to the client relationship. 

In less than one year, the software has become the highest used offline application in the mortgage brokerage industry. 

New design augmentations include the abilities to: 

• Fill mortgage applications and send anytime
• A Real Time – Rate Grid Systems that shows BEST Rates available
• A Rate Matrix – A comprehensive screen showing rates offered by Lenders
• The Mortgage Professor – a unique software wizard with Lender Logic that includes current products offered by the lenders, their guidelines and policies that guide the mortgage professional, in real time, as they complete the application.
• Faster and smarter calculators for MAC’s hugely successful RightMortgage(R) & SmartMortgage(TM) products.

As Michael Beckette, C.E.O. of Mortgage Alliance stated, “this new technology will continue to change the way we do business. It will improve efficiencies and empower our network of mortgage professionals with resources and lender relationships they need to grow their business and add value to the client relationship.” 

For more information regarding this revolutionary Technology, please contact: 

Michael Beckette at mbeckette@mortgagealliance.com or 416-499-5454 – extension 235 

or Karl Sutton at ksutton@mortgagealliance.com or 416-499-5454, extension 233  

When you meet Michael Beckette for the first time, you can’t help but instantly like him. It’s a Monday afternoon, and at the Mortgage Alliance head office in a bustling suburb of Toronto, Beckette is sporting a baseball cap and casual wear rather than the typical business suit you’d expect from a mortgage broker, let alone the president of one of Canada’s largest brokerages. His presence is warm and congenial and, at the same time, he possesses authority and confidence. You are eager to please and he is eager to encourage. “You want me to tell you the thing that I like most?” he asks, as we settle around the coffee table in his office, and he talks to me about creating and building the Mortgage Alliance business for over 10 years. “The thing I like the most is seeing someone who has never been a mortgage broker before come into this industry, learn how to be a broker, become one of our franchise owners and build their company into hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The gratification I get now is the success of other people.”

Beckette began his own success in the real estate industry. Prior to starting Mortgage Alliance in September 1998, he was the vice president of operations at Coldwell Banker Canada for seven years. “I started as a young man in the real estate business,” says Beckette, who earned his bachelor of business at the University of Michigan and returned to Toronto shortly after completing his degree. “I had a real job for four months and ever since then, I was an entrepreneur.” This intrinsic entrepreneurial spirit and keen business acumen is what led Beckette to enter the mortgage business, which he saw was underserviced at the time.

At that time, a large brokerage was made up of 100 or 200 people, says Melissa Rizzi, vice- president of operations at Mortgage Alliance, who has known Beckette for 12 years and worked with him for 10. “So back then Mike was talking to various lenders about having 1,000 brokers and they laughed at him,” she says, “but he is a brave, innovative thinker.” Mortgage Alliance now has approximately 1,900 brokers within its multiple networks across the country, and was the first super brokerage to be licensed in every province. The company’s mission has always been to provide the best environment for mortgage professionals, whether it’s someone completely new who requires daily hands-on training and support, or an experienced professional who wants to plug into resources that would otherwise be too expensive to recreate on one’s own. Beckette believes this is the greatest service he can offer to help grow others into success. “It’s very important brokers recognize they’re not in the mortgage industry,” says Beckette. “Mortgages is what you do but you’re in the industry of helping people achieve what they want. Nobody wants a mortgage. What they want is the lifestyle, the home ownership, the opportunities a mortgage creates for them.”

Beckette excels at creating opportunities for Mortgage Alliance brokers and his senior team to help them achieve their goals and live their dreams. One of the team members is Joe Pinheiro, vice-president of sales. “I am the luckiest person in the world because I get to talk to Mike every day,” says Pinheiro. “He brings the best out of everybody. He’s the kind of person you really want to work hard for and he inspires you to think in new ways.” The Mortgage Alliance senior management team, which includes Pinheiro, Rizzi and Laura MacLennan, vice-president of business development, have all been working with Beckette at the company for 10 years-a testament to Beckette who says what he loves about his job is the people he works with. ”When I first met Mike, what struck me about him was his passion, his vision, his willingness to take risks,” says MacLennan, who’s personally known Beckette for more than 25 years. “He’s very focused and results-oriented and knows how to execute.”

One of Beckette’s long-standing focuses since entering the business is to establish mortgage brokers, and particularly Mortgage Alliance, as a recognizable consumer brand. When he started, mortgage brokers had an eight per cent share in Canada’s market of financing mortgages. It has grown to nearly 30 per cent but has been stalled there for a few years now. “In Quebec, Multi-Prets has 45 per cent market share. It’s a recognized brand,” says Beckette, referring to Mortgage Alliance’s sister company based in the francophone province. People in Quebec, they say if you want a mortgage, you have to go to a bank or you have to go to Multi-Prets. It’s that level of trust we need to build in the rest of Canada. It requires a lot of money to build that level of trust, and brokerages don’t have nearly as many advertising dollars as the big banks do.” Currently, Mortgage Alliance spends $2.5 to $3 million each year across Canada, but Beckette says it needs to double that spending.

In the meantime, as Beckette and the Mortgage Alliance team work toward brand trust, they’re also planning a motorcycle ride across Canada, called the Mac Rally of Hope, to raise money for breast cancer research. In 2008, Beckette, a motorcycle rider himself, and three others from Mortgage Alliance travelled from Vancouver to Halifax on their bikes over 10 days and raised more than $77,000. This year (they couldn’t attempt it again in 2009 because they were too sore, laughs Beckette), they are riding from Vancouver to St. John’s, Nfld. In segments over 16 days and anyone can participate, as long as they raise some money. ”My favourite experience had nothing to do with riding a motorcycle,” says Beckette, echoing his sentiments about what it means to be a mortgage broker. It was the people we met across the country. Everybody we ran into had an inspirational story about breast cancer or breast cancer survivors in their family. The reason Mortgage Alliance chose to support this particular cause is because the mother of one of the senior management team was inflicted with breast cancer.”

In a rush to get to downtown Toronto, Beckette interrupts me but not without first attributing Mortgage Alliance’s success to his senior team. “It’s not about me,” he says, as I notice his baseball cap reads the Mac Rally of Hope, “it’s about them.” Even as he’s out the door in an obvious hurry, he introduces me to his management team in a flourish and offers up his office for me to talk to them. I watch him give one last hug and smile to another employee, and understand quite thoroughly what Michael Beckette enjoys most about working in mortgages is helping people achieve their dreams. CMP