New Brunswick's licensing sequence has one hard dependency that trips people up: you need a sponsoring brokerage authorized to have you deal or trade mortgages on its behalf before FCNB will consider your application at all — and you can only work for one brokerage at a time.
This roadmap follows FCNB's requirements for a mortgage associate licence in order: confirm eligibility, complete the required course, secure brokerage sponsorship, complete the criminal record check, submit the application, and what your first year on a licence actually involves.
Confirm you're eligible before you enrol in anything
FCNB's baseline for a mortgage associate licence is being 19 years of age or older, a resident of Canada, and able to provide a criminal record check issued in the last six months. Confirm all three before spending on a course.
- →Be 19 years of age or older.
- →Be a resident of Canada.
- →Be prepared to provide a criminal record check issued within the last six months.
- →Be willing to work for only one brokerage at a time — licences aren't transferable between brokerages.
Step 1. Complete the New Brunswick Mortgage Associate Course
The education requirement is the New Brunswick Mortgage Associate Course, delivered online by Mortgage Professionals Canada. It includes an electronic copy of the industry's sixth-edition textbook, Introduction to the Canadian Mortgage Industry, and costs $375 for the e-text or $425 for the printed text.
This course is also the prerequisite for the New Brunswick Mortgage Broker Education Program you'd need later to upgrade — see the associate-to-broker upgrade guide for that path.
Step 2. Secure a brokerage willing to authorize you
FCNB requires you to be authorized by a brokerage to deal or trade mortgages on its behalf before considering your application, and you can only work for one brokerage at a time. Line this up alongside the course, since changing brokerages later means terminating your existing licence and reapplying under the new one.
Step 3. Complete the criminal record check and suitability review
You'll need a completed criminal record check issued within the last six months. FCNB's suitability review also 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 prior licence refusals, disciplinary history, or bankruptcy and consumer proposal history — disclose fully rather than letting a gap surface later.
Step 4. Submit the application and pay the fee
The Mortgage Associate Licence carries a $300 application fee, and a $300 annual fee due every March 31 going forward. Submit the application once your course, sponsorship, and background check are all in place.
Your first year as a licensed mortgage associate
Licensed associates and brokers must complete an approved continuing education course from time to time — FCNB notifies licence holders when a CE program is required, and failing to complete it is one of the automatic licence-suspension triggers, alongside an unpaid fee or losing your sponsoring brokerage's authorization. Track your renewal fee due date (March 31) alongside any CE notice you receive.
Plan toward the eventual broker upgrade
Once you've logged 24 months of the preceding 36 as a licensed associate, you become eligible to work toward a mortgage broker licence, which requires the $495 Broker Education Program. See the full upgrade guide for the experience rule and the equivalency exemptions available to people already licensed elsewhere.
Getting licensed is the first milestone — the next one most growing associates hit is processing capacity. Treadstone's work with Canadian mortgage professionals is built for exactly that stretch, and our Canadian Mortgage Underwriting Course is worth a look as you build toward the upgrade.