Director, Mortgage Collections & Default Recovery

Who we are:

Fairstone Bank and its family of brands are united in delivering innovative, accessible and reliable financial solutions that enable Canadians to reach their goals. Over the years, our brand family has grown. In 2024, Home Trust Company, Home Bank and Oaken Financial became part of the Fairstone Bank family of brands, alongside Fairstone, EdenPark and Fig. Together, we are the leading alternative lending bank in Canada. With a diverse suite of products-residential and commercial mortgages, consumer deposits and GICs, credit cards, retail and automobile financing, personal loans and digital lending-we offer financial solutions tailored to all Canadians, including newcomers, small-business owners, smart investors and savvy consumers.

Home Trust:

Home Trust Company has developed a track record of success as Canada's leading alternative lender, employing nearly 800 people in our Toronto headquarters and branches across the country. Building on the demonstrated strength of its core residential mortgage lending business, the Company also offers complementary lending services, as well as highly competitive deposit investment products, through Oaken Financial. Our culture has been shaped by the passion and integrity of our people.

Join Home Trust as a Director, Mortgage Collections & Default Recovery, reporting to VP, Collections, and be part of our talented and growing team!

About the role:

The Director provides strategic and operational leadership across the mortgage default lifecycle-from early delinquency and loss mitigation through legal enforcement, property disposition, deficiency recovery, and insured claims. The role is accountable for reducing credit losses, improving cure and recovery outcomes, protecting the organization's security interests, and ensuring fair customer treatment. The Director leads collections, legal recovery, and real estate recovery teams and works closely with Credit Risk, Legal, Compliance, Finance, Mortgage Servicing, Technology, insurers, external counsel, and other service providers.

What you'll do:

• Strategic Leadership & Portfolio Performance Develop and execute differentiated collections and recovery strategies based on delinquency stage, borrower circumstances, collateral risk, insurance status, geography, and expected loss. Ensure timely movement through the recovery lifecycle while controlling legal, property, and carrying costs. Approve or recommend payment arrangements, settlements, enforcement actions, property sales, and exceptions within delegated authority. Maintain oversight of high-value, high-risk, fraud-related, title-defect, and complex files. Own portfolio results, forecasts, operating targets, budget, and key metrics such as delinquency, cure rates, legal referrals, time to resolution, recoveries, losses, costs, claims, complaints, and control results. Provide senior management and governance committees with concise updates on performance, emerging risks, and recommended actions.
• Collections and Loss Mitigation Lead customer treatment strategies from the first missed payment through referral to legal recovery. Set segmentation, contact, prioritization, escalation, and borrower-assistance practices. Introduce and maintain sustainable repayment solutions that balance recovery objectives, regulatory requirements, reputation, and fair customer treatment. Develop, implement, and monitor delinquency-management and loss-avoidance initiatives, including forbearance, repayment arrangements, loan modifications, and other workout solutions. Introduce and follow SLAs to ensure customers receive clear and timely information about their accounts, quality of services and interactions and compliance with rules and regulations.
• Legal Enforcement and Real Estate Recovery Oversee mortgage enforcement across Canadian jurisdictions, including demand, litigation, foreclosure, power of sale, possession, insolvency, settlements, and recovery against guarantors or personal covenants. Ensure the effective management of external counsel by establishing and overseeing referral criteria, service standards, cost controls, reporting requirements, and escalation protocols. Ensure appropriate governance, controls, and oversight are in place to maintain compliance with provincial legislation, contractual obligations, internal policies, insurer requirements, and delegated authorities. Ensure process to Oversee valuation, preservation, repair, marketing, pricing, and sale strategies for lender-controlled properties are adequate, timely and efficient. Monitor time to possession and sale, carrying costs, property condition, marketability, net recovery, and residual shortfalls. Ensure appropriate oversight, controls, and processes are in place to support the accurate, fully documented, and timely submission of mortgage default insurance claims.
• Risk, Governance, Vendors & Continuous Improvement Maintain a strong control environment and ensure compliance with legislation, regulat