If your mortgage comes up for renewal this year, there's a good chance you set your current rate in 2021. Rates started with a 1 back then. Your renewal letter won't.

I'm watching this play out across Halton Hills right now. Georgetown homeowners who signed at 1.99% in the spring 2021 rush. Acton families who stretched to buy and have never known a payment above what they locked that day. The renewal letters landing in mailboxes this summer are the first honest conversation many of them have had with their mortgage in five years, and the letter is not written to help you.

Here's what the math actually looks like, what's changed in your favour since your last term, and how to handle the next 120 days.

The Payment Math, Honestly

Take a $600,000 mortgage set up in mid-2021 at 1.99% on a 25-year amortization. The payment was about $2,540 a month. After five years of payments, the balance at renewal sits near $502,000.

Renew that balance today at a competitive rate in the low 4s over the remaining 20 years and the payment lands around $3,100. Call it $570 more a month, roughly $6,900 a year, for the same house. At a bank's posted renewal rate instead of a shopped one, the jump is worse. Sometimes hundreds a month worse.

That difference between the posted rate on your letter and the best shopped rate is the entire reason this post exists.

Roughly 70% of Canadians sign the renewal letter their bank mails them. The letter is the bank's easiest sale of the year.

Why You Should Never Just Sign the Letter

Your bank's renewal letter is rarely their best rate. It's their most profitable one. They're counting on the fact that switching feels like work, that you're busy, and that a signature takes thirty seconds. Most people prove them right.

What the letter won't mention: lenders compete hard for renewal business, because a renewing borrower with five years of clean payments is the lowest-risk customer in the market. That's you. You have more negotiating power at renewal than at any other point in your mortgage, and the letter is priced hoping you don't know it.

I'll compare your renewal offer against the whole market for free. Sometimes the answer is genuinely "your bank's offer is fine, sign it." I've said that plenty. But you should hear it from someone who checked, not assume it from someone who profits when you don't.

The Switch Is Easier Than It Used to Be

Two things changed recently that most renewing homeowners haven't heard about.

First, since late 2024, a straight switch to a new lender at renewal no longer requires you to pass the stress test. Same mortgage amount, same amortization, new lender, better rate: you qualify on the strength of your payment history. This removed the single biggest excuse banks leaned on to keep renewal clients captive.

Second, on a straight switch the new lender typically covers the transfer costs, and in most cases you don't need a lawyer the way you do on a refinance. One caveat: if your current mortgage is registered as a collateral charge, which many big-bank mortgages quietly are, the switch works more like a refinance and carries some legal cost. Worth finding out which type you have well before renewal. It takes me one look at your documents.

Worth Knowing

Rate holds last up to 120 days. Starting the conversation four months before your renewal date costs nothing and locks a ceiling: if rates rise you keep the held rate, if they fall you take the lower one. There is no version of this where starting early hurts you.

Renew or Refinance? The Halton Hills Question

Renewal is also the one moment you can restructure your mortgage without paying a penalty, and around here that question matters more than most places. Plenty of Georgetown and Acton homeowners are sitting on enormous equity gains. If you bought a decade ago, your house may have roughly doubled while your mortgage shrank.

If you need funds for a renovation, to consolidate higher-interest debt, or to help a kid with a down payment, doing it at renewal means no break penalty, just the new, larger mortgage at market rates. I've written a full guide to refinancing in Georgetown covering when it makes sense and what it costs.

If you don't need funds, don't let anyone talk you into taking them. A clean renewal at the best available rate is a perfectly good outcome.

If Qualifying Is the Worry

Some renewals aren't about rate shopping. They're about getting renewed at all. Self-employed income that dipped. Credit that got bruised since the last term. A term with a B lender that's maturing, where the plan was always to move to a bank and the numbers aren't quite there yet.

If any of that is you, the worst move is waiting until 30 days out and hoping. Lenders can decline to renew, and B-lender maturities in particular need an exit plan months in advance. The earlier I see a file like this, the more options exist. Every one of these situations has a path; the path just narrows with time.

Renewal letter sitting on the counter?

Send me the letter and your current statement. I'll compare it against the whole market and tell you honestly whether to sign it or switch. Free either way.

Book a Discovery Call

Your Renewal Timeline

And if you're in Georgetown or Acton and want to talk it through in person rather than by email, that's what I'm here for. Details on how I work with local homeowners are on my Georgetown mortgage page.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I start working on my mortgage renewal?

Four to six months before your renewal date. Rate holds last up to 120 days, so at four months out you can lock today's rate as a ceiling while staying free to take anything better that shows up. If your situation has complications, self-employment, bruised credit, or a B-lender term maturing, start at six months or earlier.

Can my lender refuse to renew my mortgage?

Yes, though it's uncommon if your payments have been clean. Declined renewals usually involve missed payments, a materially changed financial picture, or an alternative lender whose product was always meant to be short-term. If you have any reason to think renewal isn't automatic, get ahead of it months early. There are almost always options, but they take time to arrange.

Do I pay a penalty if I switch lenders at renewal?

No. At maturity you can move to any lender penalty-free. That's exactly what makes renewal the cheapest moment in your entire mortgage to make a change, whether that's a better rate at a new lender or a restructure of the whole mortgage. Penalties only apply when you break a term early.

Do I have to pass the stress test to switch lenders at renewal?

Not anymore for a straight switch. Since late 2024, moving your existing mortgage to a new lender at renewal, same amount, same amortization, doesn't require requalifying under the stress test. If you're increasing the mortgage amount, that's a refinance and normal qualification applies.

Can I roll credit card or line of credit debt into my mortgage at renewal?

Often, yes. Renewal is the penalty-free moment to consolidate higher-interest debt into your mortgage, provided you have the equity and can qualify for the larger amount. Whether it's smart depends on the numbers and on not running the cards back up afterward. I'll run both versions, clean renewal versus consolidation, so you can compare real payments instead of guessing.

My mortgage is with a B lender and the term is ending. What now?

Start early, ideally six months out. The goal at a B-lender maturity is graduation: moving to an A lender at a better rate now that your credit or income history has matured. If the file isn't quite ready, the options are another short alternative term or, in some cases, a private bridge. What you don't want is to reach maturity with no plan, because that's when people end up accepting whatever renewal terms are offered.