Key takeaways
- →New Brunswick licenses four categories under the Mortgage Brokers Act — mortgage brokerage, mortgage broker, mortgage associate, and mortgage administrator — and a mortgage associate is the individual who actually brokers mortgages on a brokerage's behalf.
- →To be considered for a licence, an applicant must be authorized by a brokerage to deal or trade mortgages on its behalf, and can work for only one brokerage at a time.
- →The New Brunswick Mortgage Associate Course, delivered by Mortgage Professionals Canada, runs online and includes an electronic copy of the industry's standard textbook — $375 for the e-text or $425 for the printed text.
- →FCNB's suitability review looks at whether your past conduct gives reasonable grounds to believe you'll deal in mortgages honestly and in accordance with the law, including any bankruptcy or consumer proposal history.
New Brunswick regulates mortgage brokering under the Mortgage Brokers Act, through the Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB), and licenses four categories: mortgage brokerage, mortgage broker, mortgage associate, and mortgage administrator. For someone entering the industry, the mortgage associate licence is the individual-level entry point — the person who actually brokers mortgages on behalf of a brokerage.
Here's the full path: who's eligible, the course FCNB requires, how brokerage sponsorship and the “one brokerage at a time” rule work, and what the application costs and requires.
01 · What does FCNB actually license in New Brunswick?
FCNB's Rules — MB-001 Mortgage Brokers Licensing and Ongoing Obligations and MB-002 Mortgage Brokers Fees, under the Mortgage Brokers Act — set out four categories: a mortgage brokerage (the licensed business), a mortgage broker and a mortgage associate (the two individual-level licences), and a mortgage administrator (a corporation that collects and remits mortgage payments on an investor's behalf and monitors a borrower's obligations). A mortgage associate is defined simply as an individual who brokers mortgages on behalf of a mortgage brokerage.
That makes the associate licence the direct entry point for anyone new to brokering in New Brunswick — the broker licence, covered in our associate-to-broker upgrade guide, comes later and requires supervisory experience first.
02 · Who's eligible to apply for a New Brunswick mortgage associate licence?
- →Be 19 years of age or older.
- →Be a resident of Canada.
- →Provide a completed criminal record check issued in the last six months.
- →Be authorized by a brokerage to deal or trade mortgages on its behalf.
- →Work for only one brokerage at a time — licences aren't transferable between brokerages.
FCNB's suitability review also considers whether your past conduct gives reasonable grounds to believe you'll deal or trade in mortgages in accordance with the law and with integrity and honesty, alongside any prior licence refusals, disciplinary history, or bankruptcy and consumer proposal history.
03 · What course does FCNB require before you can apply?
Applicants need to complete the New Brunswick Mortgage Associate Course, delivered online by Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC). It includes an electronic copy of the industry's standard sixth-edition textbook, Introduction to the Canadian Mortgage Industry, and costs $375 for the e-text version or $425 for the printed text.
That same course is the prerequisite for the New Brunswick Mortgage Broker Education Program later on — completing it as an associate is also the first step toward eventually upgrading.
04 · How does brokerage sponsorship actually work?
You need a brokerage willing to authorize you to deal or trade mortgages on its behalf before FCNB will consider your application, and you can only work for one brokerage at a time. If you change companies, your existing licence doesn't transfer — you have to terminate it and reapply for a licence tied to the new brokerage.
Line this up early: Course completion and finding a sponsoring brokerage can happen in either order, but confirm your brokerage relationship is solid before you invest in the course — changing brokerages later means going through licensing again.
05 · What does the mortgage associate application actually cost?
The Mortgage Associate Licence carries a $300 application fee and a $300 annual fee, due March 31 each year going forward. Beyond the licence fee itself, budget separately for the course.
| Category | Application | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage brokerage | $600 | $600 |
| Mortgage broker | $300 | $300 |
| Mortgage associate | $300 | $300 |
| Mortgage administrator | $600 | $600 |
Once you're licensed and working files, the next challenge most new associates hit is volume, not compliance — that's the gap Treadstone's work with Canadian mortgage professionals is built to close, and our Canadian Mortgage Underwriting Course is worth exploring early if you want to understand files at a deeper level than the course alone covers.
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Frequently asked questions
This article is general information to help you scale — not a substitute for tailored advice on your specific business, licensing, or compliance obligations. All figures are illustrative examples for planning purposes; actual costs vary by province, market, and brokerage.