Mortgage renewal guide: renew, switch or refinance

What are your options when your mortgage term ends?

• Renew with your bank. Easiest; no legal or appraisal work. Ask for its best rate, not the one in the letter.
• Switch to another lender. Same balance and amortization, new lender. Since 2024 no new stress test is required for a straight switch. The new lender may cover legal and appraisal costs; your old bank may charge a discharge or transfer fee.
• Refinance. Change the amount or amortization. This is a new mortgage application with the stress test, and possibly a new insurance premium if the loan or amortization increases (FCAC).

What must your bank tell you before your mortgage renews?

FCAC: a federally regulated lender must give you a renewal statement at least 21 days before the end of your term, and must tell you at least 21 days before if it will not renew. The Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations (ss.45–46) set this out for banks. The Canadian Mortgage Charter (2023) adds an expectation that lenders contact homeowners four to six months before renewal.

How early can you renew at each big bank?

Most big banks let you lock in a renewal rate some months before maturity. What each bank says:

How much does your renewal rate change your payment?

A quarter point looks small until it runs for five years. On a $400,000 balance with 20 years left, here is the same renewal at the lowest and highest 5-year specials the big banks published on November 2, 2026, and at the Bank of Canada’s typical 5-year posted rate, a list price few borrowers pay:

Should you make a lump-sum payment at renewal?

At maturity you can pay down a closed mortgage without a penalty, so renewal is the natural time for a lump sum; CIBC says all its mortgages become open at the end of the term. Paying $20,000 at renewal on the example above, at 5.14%, lowers the payment by about $132.94 a month and saves about $4,693 of interest over the next five years. Ask your bank how to time the payment with the renewal date.

How do you get a better renewal rate from your bank?

Ask, with a competing offer in hand. Every 0.10 point off a 5.14% renewal on $400,000 with 20 years left saves about $1,884 of interest over a five-year term.

• Start four to six months before maturity. The Canadian Mortgage Charter expects lenders to contact you then, and most big banks’ early-renewal windows open around that time (table above).
• Get written quotes for the same term and rate type from another bank and a broker, with rate holds, and put them side by side in the bank vs broker calculator.
• Ask your bank to match the best quote, then check that its offer keeps the prepayment privileges and penalty method you want.
• Score the final rate against market data on IsThisAGoodRate.ca before you sign.

What should you compare besides the rate at renewal?

• Prepayment privileges, the penalty method and portability of the new term, since you may need them before it ends.
• Fees to leave. CIBC lists a discharge and/or assignment fee when you transfer to another lender; ask the new lender whether it covers legal and appraisal costs.
• Cash-back repayments. CIBC says cash back may have to be repaid if you renew early; National Bank says it is repaid pro rata if the mortgage is renegotiated before the term ends.
• How long a renewal rate is held. RBC guarantees a renewal rate for 30 days before the renewal date.
• A readvanceable plan. Switching one usually means moving a collateral charge and linked accounts; get the cost in writing first (see HELOCs).

What changes at renewal for insured and uninsured mortgages?

Renewing with your own bank doesn’t requalify you. A straight switch to another lender (same amount and amortization) no longer needs the stress test: the federal government confirmed this for insured mortgages, and OSFI removed it for uninsured straight switches on November 21, 2024, allowing up to $3,000 to be added for transfer costs. A refinance is different: it is a new application with the stress test, and an insured mortgage may need a new premium if the amount or amortization increases. Details in the stress test guide.

Worked example: a June 30, 2027 maturity

Start comparing around 2027-01-01; collect quotes with rate holds by 2027-03-02; the renewal statement must arrive by 2027-06-09. On a $400,000 balance, renewing at 5.14% instead of 5.39% saves about $4,761 in interest over a 5-year term.

Computed by this site’s engine from each bank’s published rates (November 2, 2026) and the rules cited below. An example, not a quote.

What this means for you

• Don’t sign the first renewal letter; ask for the bank’s best rate with a competing quote in hand.
• Use your annual prepayment before renewing to shrink the balance.
• Use the renewal checklist, and RateChange.ca to see how your payment changes.

Frequently asked questions