More Calgarians struggling to pay their mortgages, lender reports

A financial institution in southern Alberta is seeing an increase in the number of people who are unable to make their mortgage payments and are looking for help.

Keith Richard, chief risk officer for Connect First Credit Union, says since staff started tracking the number of applications for mortgage relief last November, they have noticed an upward trend.

"It's actually encouraging that they're coming forward to us, because that allows us the opportunity to work with them rather than them being in default and other circumstances that would probably be a little harder on the family,"he said.

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"So the sooner they can get to us, the more options that we do have for them."

Richard says those options include refinancing, extending the amortization, deferring payments or just making interest payments.

Mortgage broker Dave Fitzpatrick says there is an another option for people who have been turned down by traditional banks a secured loan through a private lender to pay off mounting debt.

"Recently we're getting a lot of people, unfortunately, going through a divorce. One partner needs to buy out the other, one of the partners wants to keep the house, or they just simply can't sell the house,"he said.

"Often we can find a solution for them."

Fitzpatrick says the worst thing people facing mortgage trouble can do is not ask for help before missing payments.

"People, they sort of get this paralysis of, 'I'm not working, I can't do anything and I'm embarrassed about it.' So a lot of people, they just sort of turtle up and they don't do anything about it,"he said.

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