Your renewal is the one moment you can move your mortgage anywhere you like without paying a penalty. Most Canadians sign the letter their lender mails them instead. Team Zanet shops your renewal across our full lender network, secures a rate hold, and gets you to maturity day in the strongest position available — at no cost to you.
Renewals are the most common mortgage transaction in Canada, and lenders price them knowing most clients won’t leave. The renewal rate in your letter is rarely the lender’s best rate, and almost never the best rate in the market.
At maturity your term has ended, so there is no prepayment penalty standing between you and a better offer. The penalty-free window is open and the competition is entirely in your favour. Whether your maturity date is four months out or coming into view, a review costs nothing.
You sign on for an amortization period — usually 25 years — but your rate and terms are locked only for the term, most commonly five years. When the term ends, the mortgage comes up for renewal and you either agree to new terms with your current lender or move to a different one. Your balance, remaining amortization, and ownership all carry over. What changes is the rate, the term length, and the features you negotiate.
Renewal is not refinancing. Renewal happens at maturity with no penalty. Refinancing means breaking the mortgage mid-term, which usually triggers a prepayment penalty. If you want to access equity or restructure, renewal is the moment to do it without a penalty eating the benefit.
Fixed buys payment certainty. Variable tracks prime and can cost less over a term, if you can absorb the movement. We show you the current spread and model both against your budget.
Five-year fixed is the default, not automatically the right answer. Shorter terms let you reset sooner; longer terms buy certainty. It depends on your plans for the home and your tolerance for another renewal.
Maturity is the natural moment to put savings against principal. Reducing the balance at renewal lowers interest across the entire remaining amortization. Bring the number to the conversation.
Built up equity? You can increase the balance at renewal and take the difference in cash — penalty-free, because you are at maturity. Useful for renovations, debt consolidation, or investment. A second mortgage may suit better in some cases.
Your profile goes to our full lender network — banks, credit unions, monolines, and trust companies — to gather the best available rates and terms.
We look at your current mortgage, your maturity date, and anything that has changed since you last renewed. In person, by phone, or virtually.
Holds can often be locked the same day, up to 120 days before maturity. Rates rise, you are protected. Rates fall, you take the lower one.
We lay out the options, explain the trade-offs between lenders, terms and rate types, and tell you which we would take. You decide.
If you are moving lenders, we manage the application, documents, and coordination on both sides so nothing stalls before your maturity date.
Your new mortgage is in place on your maturity date. And if your current lender's offer is genuinely competitive, we will tell you to take it.
Ready to Apply?
At least 120 days — four months — before your maturity date. Most lenders will lock a rate hold 90 to 120 days out, which protects you if rates rise while still letting you take a lower rate if they fall. Starting early also leaves time to compare lenders properly and complete a transfer if you switch, instead of accepting whatever lands in front of you with two weeks to go.
Yes. A prepayment penalty applies only when you break a mortgage before the term ends. At maturity the term has concluded and you are free to move the mortgage wherever the terms are better. There can be minor legal and administrative costs on a transfer, and in most cases the new lender covers them. We confirm the full cost picture before you commit to anything.
Not for a straight switch. Since November 21, 2024, uninsured mortgages moving to a new federally regulated lender at renewal no longer need to requalify at the minimum qualifying rate, as long as the balance and remaining amortization are unchanged. Insured mortgages were already exempt. The MQR does still apply if you increase the balance or extend the amortization, in which case you qualify at the higher of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. Renewing with your existing lender requires no requalification. Credit unions set their own criteria, as they are provincially regulated.
It depends on where you think rates are going, how long you plan to stay in the home, and how much uncertainty you can live with. A five-year fixed term gives maximum payment certainty and is the right answer for many borrowers. Shorter terms let you reset sooner at the cost of facing renewal again. We model your actual numbers against both rather than defaulting to the familiar option.
Yes, if you have the equity and can qualify for the larger balance. Because you are acting at maturity, no prepayment penalty applies, and the increased amount becomes part of your renewed mortgage. It is a common way to fund renovations or consolidate higher-interest debt. Note that increasing the balance means the transaction is no longer a straight switch, so stress test qualification comes back into play.
Nothing. Our compensation comes from the lender that funds your mortgage. If we review your renewal and conclude your current lender’s offer is already competitive, we will say so.