Renewal comparison
Your lender's renewal letter offer vs the best market rate. Quantify what's at stake — most borrowers leave thousands on the table.
Your scenario
Result
A straight switch (same balance, same remaining amortization) is no longer re-stress-tested. Adding money or extending the amortization is underwritten as a new loan.
Rules checked: September 2026. Sources: OSFI: straight switches · Finance Canada: insured switches
What this calculator answers
One question: over the term you are about to sign, how much does the rate in your renewal letter cost compared with the best rate you could get elsewhere, after the cost of moving? It holds your balance and remaining amortization constant, so the saving it shows comes only from the rate — not from quietly stretching the loan.
How to use it
- Take the rate from your renewal letter — the first offer is rarely the lender's best
- Get two or three quotes for the same balance, amortization and term
- Enter the best one as the “best market rate”
- Enter what moving will cost you: the outgoing lender's discharge or assignment fee, plus any legal or appraisal cost the new lender does not cover
- Read the net figure. If it is positive, the switch pays for itself within the term
With the figures entered above — $480,000 over 22 years, 5.34% offered against 4.49% available — the monthly payment changes by about $224, and the 5-year result after $800 of costs is $12,658.
Does switching lenders mean re-qualifying?
Not any more, for a straight switch. Since November 21, 2024, OSFI no longer requires federally regulated lenders to apply its minimum qualifying rate when an uninsured borrower moves an existing mortgage to a new lender at renewal without increasing the balance or the remaining amortization, and the federal government lets insured borrowers switch at renewal without a new stress test. The new lender still checks your income and credit like any other application — so a file whose income has dropped can still be declined — but the rate hurdle that used to trap borrowers with their existing lender is gone. Add money or extend the amortization and it becomes a refinance, stress test included.
What this calculator leaves out
- Differences in prepayment privileges, portability and how each lender calculates its break penalty — which matter if you might sell or refinance mid-term
- Relationship discounts your current bank bundles with chequing or investments
- Whether a shorter or longer term suits you better — compare those separately in the fixed vs variable calculator
Negotiating without switching
A written competing quote is the strongest thing you can bring to your current lender. Ask for the retention team rather than replying to the renewal letter; lenders frequently improve an offer to keep a performing mortgage, and a matched rate saves you the switching costs. Start about four months out — most lenders will hold a rate for 90 to 120 days.
Related
For brokers, renewals are the book you already own. Mortgage360 keeps every client's maturity date in the CRM and opens the conversation at 120, 90, 60 and 30 days, so the lender's renewal letter is not the first offer they see.
Questions about this calculator
- Should I accept my lender's renewal offer?
- Usually not as sent. The first offer a lender mails is rarely their best, and it is priced on the assumption you will not shop. Getting one competing quote is normally enough to move it, and the difference over a five-year term is commonly several thousand dollars.
- When should I start shopping my renewal?
- Around 120 days out. Most lenders will hold a rate for you for 90 to 120 days, so starting early means you capture today's rate and still benefit if rates fall before your renewal date. Waiting until the renewal letter arrives removes all of your leverage.
- Does switching lenders at renewal cost anything?
- A straight switch of the existing balance usually carries no penalty, since your term has ended. There may be a discharge or assignment fee, and many lenders cover the legal cost of a switch to win the business. Increasing the balance makes it a refinance, which is different.
- What happens if I do nothing at renewal?
- The mortgage does not disappear — most lenders roll it into their posted rate or a short open term, which is materially more expensive than any negotiated rate. Doing nothing is the single most expensive option available at renewal.