Financial services in Ottawa

You will find traditional financial services, and information and links about some of the newer, short term, financial options available to Ottawa citizens.


Ottawa Banks

Canada’s banking system, and the banks, are well regulated and sound financial institutions.

Services provided include currency exchange, savings accounts, chequing accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, among many others.

Banks are usually only open weekdays from around 09:30 until 4:00 p.m., though some locations will have varying hours. It would be best to check with the actual branch to determine their business hours.

Click this link for a list of some of the banks in Ottawa.

You can link to the listed bank websites for branch and other information.

Way back in the last century - whew, it still shocks me when I say that ‘cause I was around then - when a person needed a mortgage for their home, they would visit their bank.

Not the case anymore, no sir! The mortgage broker industry seems to have made a pretty good case for folks to use their services. It makes some sense, too. A mortgage broker can obtain a mortgage for you from a bank, trust companies, and other cash rich sources that the average citizen wouldn’t even begin to understand how to access.

Furthermore, it seems that as this industry has grown, so too has their clout with the traditional sources of mortgages; the banks! Seems that nowadays, given that the brokerage companies have quite a bit of business, banks and other sources of capital will actually bid on mortgages through the brokers, all of this, driving the cost of mortgages down.

Before doing busy with a mortgage broker, it wouldn’t hurt to check them out. One way to do that is to see if they are a member of The Better Business Bureau, an organization driven “to promote and foster the highest relationship between businesses and the public through voluntary self-regulation, consumer and business education, and service excellence” according to their site.

It would provide some assurance for me too if they were members of Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario .

Mortgage brokers may or may not charge you a fee. It depends on your circumstances and the type of financial institution from which the funds are obtained.

Click this link for a list of some of the mortgage brokers in Ottawa.