Home Capital is starting to see mortgage referrals come through the door again after being shunned by some brokers.

Samantha Brookes, the CEO of Mortgages of Canada, told BNN in an interview she’s begun to resume submitting business to Home Capital after having to send referrals elsewhere in the wake of OSC disclosure allegations that caused a run on deposits.

“Last week, we started to send in a few deals and they’ve actually picked them up pretty quickly,” she said.

Brookes is not the only broker to resume sending clients to Home Capital.

“We are testing the waters with them the last couple of weeks with a few deals,” Dan Eisner, CEO of True North Mortgage told BNN in an email. “They have been a back-up lender on a couple of deals.”

Many mortgage brokers were forced to find alternatives after nervous depositors yanked funds from Home Capital accounts, leaving its Home Trust subsidiary with a massive liquidity crunch which raised questions about their ability to fund mortgages. 

“We were sending our deals elsewhere,” Brookes said. “We didn’t really have an option because they were taking quite a long time to process our files and obviously if you have a client who’s closing on a purchase, you don’t have that time to play with because it’s a contractual agreement and there are penalties that go on the client.”

Home Capital has been trying to right the ship by shaking up its boardroom ranks and securing credit facilities. 

Brookes says she even got a surprise in-person visit from a Home Capital Business Development Manager who she hasn’t seen in two years.

“He just decided he was going to pop by,” she said. “They’re starting to bring back that nurturing to the broker channel.”

Now that the beleaguered lender has the support of Berkshire Hathaway behind it, it’s going a long way to soothe brokers’ concerns about Home Capital’s viability.

“I do believe a year from now, things will change and they’ll be back funding mortgages as usual,” Brookes said.

While Eisner is concerned about the terms of Berkshire’s credit terms, he agrees that it gives him confidence Home Trust will be around for the long term.

Ron Butler, the president of Butler Mortgage, said a backer like Warren Buffett is likely the most critical piece in restoring not only Home Trust, but bringing back confidence to the alternative lending space in general.

“I have always said the key to recovery was the introduction of a massive financial player engaging with Home Trust on some level,” he said.

“[One of the] richest men on the planet certainly fits that bill.”