Harold Gerstel Faces Court Battle Over Mortgage Fines

0:00It's April 29th. From your city to your ears, this is Canada News Today, powered by AI, I'm Cory with the story. Harold Gerstle, the guy behind Harold the mortgage closer, just got slammed with $2,000 dollars in fines and a permanent ban from. Lending mortgages by Ontario's financial regulator. That's on top of calling his testimony evasive and lacking credibility. But Gerstle laying back and down, he's vowing to appeal all of it in court. This all kicked off four years back from a Toronto star probe into his dealings with vulnerable borrowers. Regulators dug in and found his effective interest rates hitting 76% in some cases, blowing past Canada's 60% criminal code, Limit. Plus, he sometimes skipped his own license brokerage, leaving folks without protections. Take Judy Allen, the retired nurse, whose story sparked it all. Gerstle's company slapped over $1,120,000 in mortgages on her North York home in just six months.

1:00But she only saw about 574,000. Shotty unfinished renovations left her financially ruined and she passed away in 2023 after her bungalow got sold off. Gerstle pushes back hard, saying he fills a gap for high-risk borrowers, big banks ignore. Folks kept coming back, he claims, and sending deals to other lenders is standard industry practice. Now, he's planning to challenge the ruling in fines at Ontario's divisional court. Meanwhile, Gerstle told reporters this week he's not lending any more without his license, but is fights far from over as this heads to the courts. Stay tuned for how it shakes out.