Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Arm's Length Mortgage? (ALM)?
An Arm's Length Mortgage ("ALM") is a mortgage advanced from a registered account, whereby the planholder of the registered account lends money to a borrower that is at "arm's length" as defined in section 251 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act"). For the purpose of the Tax Act, related persons are deemed not to be at arm's length. In any other case, whether unrelated persons are at arm's length is dependent on the factual circumstances.
Where can we find the checklist?
Does CWBTS accept electronic signatures?
Does CWBTS send a copy of the ALM Agreement back to the lawyer once executed by CWBTS?
If all required documents at funding are sent in together and they are accurate, is there a discount offered to the plan holder?
Who prepares the Discharge Document for CWBTS to execute?
When a Renewal causes the payment to change, is a new PAD required?
If the payor making the payment is the borrower, a new PAD is not required as the borrower would have signed the Renewal form with the lender.
If the payor is not the borrower, a new PAD would be required, as the payee is not signing the Renewal form.
When the mortgage is in 3rd position, there could be difficulty in getting fire insurance. What can be done?
Can a Pre-Authorized Debit Form (PAD) be used for a paydown?
Yes. Under Action in Section 3: you would select “Other” and you would write “One time Paydown” and do not select a payment frequency. This would need to be signed by the Person making the payment and sent in by the plan holder(s) or agent/rep on the account.
How can I fund from Multiple Self-Directed Registered Accounts (SDRAs)?
A mortgage may be funded from multiple Self-Directed Registered Accounts ("SDRA") whether held by you or other plan holders. In such a case, each loan tranche in each SDRA is administered as a separate mortgage. CWB Trust Services incurs costs and expenses in respect of each mortgage in each SDRA that it sets up.
Accordingly, applicable fees will apply separately for each SDRA that funds a particular mortgage.
What are the responsibilities of CWB Trust Services?
As the trustee of an Self-Directed Registered Accounts ("SDRA") , CWB Trust Services is only responsible for:
- processing valid funding requests;
- crediting payments received by CWB Trust Services to an SDRA; and
- tax reporting on an SDRA
How long does it take to process payout?
There is a 2-day (48 SLA) from last piece of missing information to process the payout cheque if all is in order.
What are the accepted methods of payments for payouts?
Wire and Law Office Trust cheques only. For wire, the lawyer has to send an email to the Mortgage department who in turn will email the instructions. We will not accept personal cheques; the minimum information required would be the CWB Trust Services account number and name on mortgage.
When are the fees charged when a renewal is done?
Renewals are charged as they come in OR when we do the mass mailout and auto renew. The renewal fee is $50 per account.
What is an Authorization and Acknowledgement form?
This is the Trust Agreement in BC that forms part of the Declaration of Trust (DOT). When a lawyer registers a mortgage in BC the first time, they will get a number. This number can be used when doing future mortgages out of this lender's account. This number is specific to the CWB Trust Services account (it relates to the Trust agreement so that for any further mortgages the lawyer would use that number to show that a trust agreement is already registered under that account number. If the account number were to change any new funding's would require a new trust agreement). If the lender has changed lawyer, he/she can contact the previous lawyer to get that number as CWB Trust Services would not have that information.
What are the fees for a transfer out in-kind?
Since we need to sign the transfer of charge, we would charge the discharge fee. And since we held the mortgage in our account, we would charge the Security Holding fee as usual. The Transfers department would charge their regular transfer fee.
What are the differences between transferring an existing mortgage in-kind vs. funding a new mortgage?
We ask for the same set of information as for a new funding. Once we review and accept the mortgage, we send an acceptance letter to the other financial institution. We advise the lender or their agent to get the lawyer to prepare the Transfer of Charge and forward to the other financial institution for signing. We then wait for the registered Transfer of Charge before officially moving the mortgage into the registered plan.