The highest value decision in the journey, and the one most people spend the least time on. Signing the renewal letter your lender sends is a choice, and it is rarely the best one available to you.
Pekoe Mortgages is licensed in Ontario (FSRA #13321) and Alberta (RECA). This stage page routes you to the answer. It does not replace it.
What you pay for the next term, and whether you had anywhere else to go when you agreed it. Your existing lender knows the date as well as you do. The difference is whether you started early enough to have somewhere else to go.
Renewal is also the one point where switching lenders needs no new purchase and no new property. Only your file has to still qualify.
| Step | Who does it | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| Diarise maturity roughly a year out | You | Time, which is the only thing that gives you a choice here |
| Receive the lender’s renewal offer | Lender | An opening position, not a final one |
| Check whether your file still qualifies elsewhere | Your broker | Knowing whether you can credibly move |
| Compare switching costs against the saving | You and your broker | A number, including any discharge and registration cost |
| Negotiate, switch, or sign | You | The next term |
Doing nothing is also a decision. The mortgage usually renews automatically on the lender’s posted terms, which is the most expensive outcome on the table.
Starting early enough that the deadline is not doing the negotiating for you.
Sending an offer that reflects what it thinks you will accept rather than what it could do.
Comparing across banks, credit unions and other lenders, and pricing what switching would actually cost. Not every mortgage qualifies, but where one does, insured or insurable pricing can be very competitive at renewal.
A switch to a new lender involves discharging and registering, which is where some of the cost sits.
| Document | Why it is needed | What delays it |
|---|---|---|
| The renewal offer from your current lender | The benchmark everything else is measured against | Arriving late, sometimes only weeks before maturity |
| Current income verification | A new lender underwrites you again from scratch | Income that has changed since the original approval |
| A current mortgage statement | Confirms balance, maturity date and payment history | Nothing, the lender provides it |
| Property details, and sometimes an appraisal | The new lender is taking security it has not assessed | Appraisal turnaround |
| Your registered charge type | A collateral charge can add cost to a switch | Discovering it only at this point |
If you do nothing. What happens if you ignore the renewal letter.
If your situation has changed. Renewing with worse credit or income and what to do when the bank will not renew at all.
Switching instead of renewing. A switch and a refinance are not the same move, and only one of them lets you borrow more.
Beyond renewal. Refinancing after renewal in Alberta.
If you would rather we ran it. Our mortgage renewal service, where we price the switch against staying and tell you which one wins.
Negotiating it properly. Pekoe runs a paid course on exactly this conversation, the Renewal Negotiation Playbook, for people who would rather handle the call themselves.
You get the next term on the terms offered. That offer reflects what the lender expects you to accept, and it is an opening position rather than its best available.
Most mortgages renew automatically, often onto the lender’s posted terms. It is the most expensive of the available outcomes.
Around a year out. Your position at renewal rests almost entirely on having time and a credible alternative.
There can be discharge and registration costs, and a collateral charge can add to them. Compare that total against the saving rather than comparing rates alone.
Your existing lender can decline to renew, which leaves you needing a new lender before maturity. It is uncommon but it is the scenario worth having time for.
A new lender underwrites you again, so yes. Staying with your existing lender generally does not require it, which is part of why its offer is rarely its best.
Lengthening the amortisation, changing the term, or restructuring entirely are all on the table. Model the payment first, then decide.
Stage 8, refinancing, if what you actually need is to access equity or restructure rather than simply renew.
Pekoe Mortgages is a licensed brokerage in Ontario (FSRA #13321) and Alberta (RECA). This page is general information, not financial advice, and does not create a broker and client relationship.