Share your renewal details
Tell Igor when the mortgage matures and what your existing lender has offered, if you already have an offer.
Mortgage renewal in Ontario
Your renewal notice is an offer. You still get to make the decision.
When your mortgage term ends, staying with your existing lender may be the right choice.
But convenience is not the same thing as comparison.
The mortgage that made sense several years ago may not be the mortgage you would choose today.
Igor can help you review the renewal offer, understand available alternatives, and compare the costs and trade-offs before you commit to another term.
Initial consultation at no cost · No lender switch without your approval · Serving homeowners across Ontario
Since your last mortgage
- Your income may have changed
- Your business may have grown
- You may have more equity
- Your plans may be different
Since 2010
Mortgage professional
Former Scotiabank, CIBC & RBC Mortgage Specialist
FSRA Mortgage Agent Level 1
Licence #M26000762
Serving Ontario
In person, office, phone or Zoom
Don’t treat renewal like administration
A new mortgage term is a new financial decision.
A renewal letter can make the process feel automatic:
Here is the rate.
Here is the term.
Sign here.
But before committing to another term, it is worth asking whether anything important has changed.
For example:
- Has your income increased or decreased?
- Has your business changed?
- Have you accumulated significant home equity?
- Are you carrying debts you did not have before?
- Do you expect to move?
- Could you sell the property during the next term?
- Do you want to make larger mortgage payments?
- Are you considering renovations or another property?
- Has your tolerance for interest-rate changes changed?
The best renewal is not necessarily the mortgage with the lowest advertised rate.
It is the mortgage structure that makes sense for what you expect to do next.
Self-employed since your last mortgage?
Your financial picture today may look completely different from the one used for your original mortgage.
- Maybe you were salaried when you bought the property. Now you own a corporation.
- Maybe the business has grown but you pay yourself a smaller salary.
- Maybe your income now comes through salary and dividends.
- Or perhaps your reported income has changed because of legitimate business and tax decisions.
If you are simply renewing with your existing lender, the process may be very different from applying elsewhere.
If you want to switch lenders, increase the mortgage, extend the amortization, access equity or otherwise change the financing, more review may be required.
That makes renewal a good time to understand your income position before deciding what you want to do.
Before you sign
Compare more than the rate.
01
Interest rate
What rate is your lender offering?
Is it competitive with the options currently available to you?
02
Fixed or variable
How much payment certainty do you want?
How comfortable are you with changes in interest rates?
03
Term
A shorter or longer term can affect flexibility and the point at which you next renegotiate the mortgage.
04
Prepayment privileges
How much extra can you pay toward the mortgage without a penalty?
This can matter considerably if your business produces irregular bonuses, dividends or distributions.
05
Penalty structure
What could it cost if you sell, refinance or otherwise break the mortgage before the end of the next term?
06
Portability
If you expect to move, can the mortgage potentially move with you, and under what conditions?
07
Refinancing flexibility
Could your plans require access to equity during the next term?
If so, understand what the mortgage allows — and what changing it later could cost.
08
Fees and switching costs
Moving a mortgage can involve legal, appraisal, discharge, registration, transfer or administrative costs depending on the transaction.
Those costs need to be compared against the potential benefit of switching.
09
The lender itself
The lowest rate does not automatically mean the best overall arrangement.
Restrictions and features matter too.
Your existing lender vs. another lender
Staying can be easy. Switching can be worthwhile. Neither is automatically better.
Staying with your current lender may make sense when:
- The renewal offer is competitive
- The mortgage still fits your plans
- Changing lenders offers little meaningful benefit
- Or switching costs outweigh the potential savings
Considering another lender may make sense when:
- Another option offers meaningfully better terms
- You want different mortgage features
- Your current lender’s offer is not competitive
- Your circumstances have changed
- Or you want to restructure the financing
The purpose of reviewing the renewal is not to switch lenders for the sake of switching.
It is to make staying an informed choice.
The details matter
Moving the same mortgage is different from changing the mortgage.
A straightforward lender switch at renewal can be treated differently from a refinance or other material change. For example, there can be important differences between:
A straight switch
You move the existing mortgage balance to another lender while generally maintaining the remaining amortization and not taking additional equity out.
and
A refinance or restructuring
You increase the mortgage amount, access equity, change the remaining amortization, consolidate other debts or make other material changes.
Those are not necessarily subject to the same qualification process or costs.
Igor can help identify which type of transaction you are actually considering before you compare options.
Don’t wait for the last week
Give yourself enough time to compare without pressure.
Your existing lender may send a formal renewal offer close to maturity.
You do not have to wait for that letter before reviewing your plans.
If the current lender ultimately has the best fit, you can renew knowing you actually compared the decision.
Starting earlier gives you time to:
- Review your existing mortgage
- Understand your priorities
- Compare available options
- Gather documentation if required
- Account for any switching costs
- And make a decision without a closing deadline forcing your hand
A mortgage should fit the way you actually live
Business-owner cash flow is rarely perfectly flat.
Some business owners receive predictable monthly salary. Others receive:
- Periodic dividends
- Commissions
- Bonuses
- Distributions
- Or income that varies with business performance
That can make mortgage flexibility valuable.
For example, prepayment privileges may matter if you want the option to make larger lump-sum payments during stronger business years. Payment certainty may matter more if business income already fluctuates.
There is no universal answer.
The mortgage should complement your financial reality rather than create unnecessary friction with it.
Know which question you’re asking
“I’m renewing” and “I want to change my financing” are not always the same thing.
You may begin thinking you simply need a renewal and then realize you also want to:
- Access home equity
- Consolidate debts
- Fund a renovation
- Increase the mortgage
- Extend the amortization
- Or materially change the financing structure
At that point, you may no longer be talking about a straightforward renewal.
You may be considering a refinance.
That distinction can affect qualification, costs and the lender options available.
The renewal review
Five things before another term begins.
1
Your current mortgage
- Rate
- Remaining balance
- Remaining amortization
- Current lender
- Mortgage features
- Any relevant restrictions
2
Your renewal offer
What exactly is your lender proposing?
- Rate
- Term
- Payment
- Features
3
Your plans
- Are you staying in the property?
- Moving?
- Investing?
- Paying the mortgage down faster?
- Accessing equity later?
4
Your current financial picture
- Has your income changed?
- Are you now self-employed?
- Has your business grown?
- Have your debts or assets changed?
5
Available alternatives
If appropriate, Igor can help compare other mortgage routes and explain the potential benefit, costs and trade-offs.
Then you decide.
Nothing is switched or submitted without your approval.
How it works
Review first. Decide second.
Discuss what has changed
Review your plans, income and anything else that could affect what you want from the next mortgage term.
Compare the relevant routes
Stay. Switch. Or potentially restructure the financing.
Each should be evaluated on the actual numbers and conditions.
Understand the costs and trade-offs
A lower rate is only useful if the overall transaction makes sense after applicable costs, restrictions and features are considered.
Make the decision
You decide whether to renew with the current lender or pursue another option.
Igor Perett
Mortgage Agent Level 1 · Licence #M26000762
Why work with Igor
Mortgage experience inside major banks — and across the broker channel.
Igor Perett began his mortgage career in 2010 and previously worked as a Mortgage Specialist with Scotiabank, CIBC and RBC.
That experience provides useful perspective at renewal. He understands the convenience of staying with an existing institution — and why comparing the broader market can sometimes be worthwhile.
Today, Igor is a Mortgage Agent Level 1 with Affinity Mortgage Solutions Inc., Dominion Lending Centres, serving clients across Ontario.
His focus includes business owners and self-employed borrowers whose financial position may have changed significantly since their original mortgage was arranged.
Mortgage Agent Level 1, Licence #M26000762
Affinity Mortgage Solutions Inc., Dominion Lending Centres, Brokerage #13093
Independently owned and operated
Serving clients across Ontario in person wherever suits you, at the office, by phone or on Zoom, in English and Russian.
Mortgage renewal questions
Frequently asked questions
No.
You can consider staying with your current lender or applying to move the mortgage to another lender.
A new lender still needs to accept the mortgage under its applicable criteria.
Not automatically.
The renewal offer is worth reviewing in the context of current alternatives, mortgage features, costs and your own plans.
Sometimes the existing lender’s offer is the right choice. Sometimes it is worth negotiating or considering another lender.
You do not need to wait until the final days before maturity.
Starting earlier provides more time to understand the current mortgage, compare options and gather any documentation that may be required.
For mortgages with federally regulated financial institutions, the formal renewal statement must generally be provided at least 21 days before the end of the term — but you can start reviewing your options well before then.
Not every renewal switch is treated the same way.
Under current federal rules, certain qualifying “straight switches” at renewal can move between lenders without application of the prescribed minimum qualifying rate.
The details matter. Increasing the mortgage amount, extending the remaining amortization or otherwise restructuring the financing can change the qualification requirements.
The new lender still has to approve the mortgage under its applicable underwriting criteria.
It can.
Depending on the mortgage and transaction, there may be legal, appraisal, discharge, registration, transfer, assignment or administrative costs.
Sometimes a new lender may cover certain switching expenses.
The costs should be identified and included when comparing the potential benefit.
That may turn the transaction into a refinance rather than a straightforward renewal or switch.
Qualification requirements and costs can therefore differ.
Discuss the objective before assuming the process will be the same as an ordinary renewal.
That is worth discussing early if you are considering changing lenders or restructuring the mortgage.
The income documentation required today may differ from what was used when you originally obtained the mortgage.
The process can be much simpler when renewing with your existing lender than when moving or materially changing the mortgage.
The exact process depends on the lender and what you are asking to change.
No.
The purpose is to compare the available routes. Sometimes the existing lender may have the best overall option.
The value of the review is knowing that before you commit.
Before you commit to another term
Make the renewal a decision — not a default.
Review the offer. Review what has changed. Compare the costs and options.
Then choose the mortgage you want to live with for the next term.
Initial consultation at no cost · Nothing submitted or switched without your approval