FREE INTERACTIVE TOOL
Don’t just sign the renewal letter. Have a mortgage renewal strategy.
Most mortgages written at pandemic-era rates come up for renewal in 2025 and 2026, and the Bank of Canada expects the majority of those households to face a higher payment. Three steps: see your timing, forecast your new payment, and learn the rule that just changed in your favour.
Step 1 · Your timing
When does your mortgage renew?
Lenders can hold a rate for you up to 120 days before renewal. Knowing your window is half the battle.
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Days until renewal
Pick a date above
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Your shopping window is
Enter a date to check
Step 2 · The payment change
Brace for (or beat) the jump
If your mortgage started in the low-rate years, your payment is likely going up. See by how much, then play with the levers that bring it back down.
Payment today
$0
Payment at renewal
$0
Your payment goes up by
+$0/mo
That's about $0 more per year. The levers below can shrink it.
Soften the jump
Two of the most common moves. Drag and type to see them work in real time.
$0/mo
Adjusted payment at renewal
Estimates use standard Canadian semi-annual compounding and assume a fixed rate. They are for education only and don't reflect a specific lender's offer, fees, or your qualification. Stretching amortization lowers the payment but increases total interest over time.
Step 3 · The rule that changed
Your mortgage renewal strategy: you have more bargaining power than you think
Most homeowners sign with their current bank because they assume switching is a hassle. As of late 2024, that math changed. Tap each card.
Myth
Switching lenders means requalifying for my mortgage.
Tap to see the reality →Reality
Not anymore, for a straight switch. Since November 2024, uninsured homeowners can move to a new lender at renewal without passing the stress test, as long as the balance and amortization stay the same. Insured mortgages already had this.
Myth
The rate gap is too small to bother switching.
Tap to see the reality →Reality
On a typical balance, even a quarter or half percent compounds into real money over a full term. The bank's mailed renewal rate is rarely its best, because it's banking on your inertia.
Myth
Moving my mortgage is a giant paperwork headache.
Tap to see the reality →Reality
A broker handles the switch end to end and compares dozens of lenders at once. The new rules were designed to make this easier, precisely so lenders have to compete for you.
Educational estimate only. This is not an approval, a commitment or a personalised recommendation. Your actual payment, qualification, fees and penalties depend on the lender’s terms and on verified information. Talk to us before you act on these numbers.
Get your renewal game plan
Your timing, your payment forecast, and the strategy worth considering, in writing. Plus a friendly reminder the moment your 120-day shopping window opens, so you never auto-renew by accident.
No spam, ever. We'll only reach out about your renewal window. Unsubscribe anytime.
How this tool works
The method behind the renewal comparison
This tool compares staying with your current lender against moving to a new one at maturity. The useful output is not a rate, it is the total cost of each path once the switching costs are counted.
The three things people confuse
- Renewing means signing a new term with your existing lender. No new approval, and usually the least work and the least bargaining power.
- Switching, or a straight switch, means moving the same balance to a new lender at maturity. The loan amount and remaining amortization stay as they are.
- Refinancing means changing the amount borrowed, usually to take equity out. It is a different transaction with different rules and costs.
How the comparison is calculated
Cost of switching = payment at the new rate × months in term + transfer costs
Difference = cost of staying − cost of switching
Payments use the effective monthly rate derived from semi-annual compounding, the standard basis for Canadian fixed-rate mortgages, rather than dividing the annual rate by twelve.
The costs people forget
Switching at maturity generally avoids a prepayment charge, because the term has ended. It does not avoid everything else. Legal or title fees, an appraisal, discharge and registration costs can all apply, and they are what turn a small rate advantage into no advantage at all. Some lenders cover eligible transfer costs, which is worth asking about explicitly rather than assuming.
What this tool cannot tell you
- Whether a new lender will approve you. A switch is still an application. The new lender assesses income, credit and the property, and can decline.
- Whether the stress test applies. Some eligible uninsured straight switches between federally regulated lenders are exempt from the prescribed minimum qualifying rate. That exemption is narrow: it does not cover every renewal, it does not permit taking equity out, and it is not the same as no requalification.
- Your actual offer. Rates you enter are assumptions. A renewal letter is a starting position, not a final one.
- Whether the lowest rate is the right product. Prepayment terms, portability and how a penalty would be calculated matter more than a few basis points for most people.
Start the conversation about 120 days before maturity, which is when most lenders will hold a rate. That is a service approach, not a legal requirement or a rate guarantee. Educational estimate only. Reviewed 30 August 2026 by Fusion Mortgage Group, a team of licensed mortgage brokers with BRX Mortgage Inc., Mortgage Brokerage #13463.
Next step
Before you sign the renewal letter.
Your current lender is one option, and it may well be the right one. We will look across our lender network with you so you are choosing it rather than defaulting to it.
Want the full picture? Read our guide to renewals