Your mortgage term (often five years) is shorter than your amortization (often 25 years), so most mortgages are renewed several times before they are paid off. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) puts it plainly: “You have to renew your mortgage at the end of each term unless you pay the balance in full” (FCAC: Renewing your mortgage). Renewal is also the one point in the life of a closed mortgage when you can change lenders, terms and rate type without a prepayment penalty. This guide covers the renewal process from the first quote to the first payment of the new term; the mortgage renewal hub has the related pages on switching, porting and managing payments during the term.
Your mortgage renewal timeline
FCAC suggests you “Start shopping around a few months before the end of your term” and adds: “Don’t wait until you receive the renewal letter from your lender.” The lead times below are a common way to plan the months before maturity. Apart from the renewal statement, they are not legal deadlines: how early a lender lets you renew, or holds a rate, is up to that lender.
| Time before maturity | What to do |
|---|---|
| About 6 months | Confirm your maturity date, balance, remaining amortization and whether your mortgage is a standard or collateral charge. Start watching current mortgage rates. |
| About 4 months (120 days) | Ask your lender, other lenders and a broker for written offers. Ask each how long it will hold a rate. Many lenders let you renew early without a penalty around this point; see renewing early. |
| 90 to 60 days | Negotiate with your current lender using the written offers. If you are leaving, apply with the new lender so approval and any appraisal finish in time. |
| About 30 days | Decide, and sign the renewal agreement or the new lender’s documents. |
| Renewal statement deadline | For a federally regulated lender: The statement must arrive at least 21 days before the end of the term. (See below.) |
| Maturity date | The new term starts. If you signed nothing, your mortgage may renew automatically. |
What your renewal statement must show
The only federal timing rule at renewal is the renewal statement. For a mortgage with a federally regulated lender:
- It applies to a mortgage with a federally regulated financial institution, such as a bank.
- The statement must arrive at least 21 days before the end of the term.
- If the lender won't renew, it must tell you at least 21 days before the end of the term.
- It must show the balance at the renewal date, the interest rate, the payment frequency, the term and any charges or fees.
- It must say that the rate offered won't increase until the renewal date.
There is no federal rule that lets you lock a renewal rate 120 days ahead. Early renewal windows and rate holds are each lender’s practice, so their length varies; early mortgage renewal covers how they work and when renewing early pays.
Review what you need from the next term
Renewal is a chance to change more than the rate. FCAC suggests considering whether your budget allows higher payments, whether you want to change your payment frequency, whether you’re likely to make extra payments, and whether you still need optional insurance.
- Term and rate type. Renewal doesn’t have to default to another five-year fixed. 3-year vs 5-year terms and fixed vs variable mortgages compare the choices.
- Amortization. Shortening it raises the payment and cuts total interest. To extend your amortization lowers the payment, but FCAC warns: “Think twice before extending your amortization to lower your payments. The interest costs that you’ll need to pay will be higher.”
- The new payment. If your current rate is well below today’s, the mortgage payment shock calculator shows the jump and the options for absorbing it, and the mortgage renewal calculator estimates the payment at a new rate.
- Borrowing more. Adding money to the mortgage (for debt consolidation or a renovation) is a refinance, not a renewal; renewal vs refinance compares the two.
- Features. Check the prepayment privileges, the penalty method and whether the mortgage can be ported to a new home (porting a mortgage).
How to negotiate your renewal
The renewal offer is your lender’s opening offer. FCAC says you “may qualify for a discounted interest rate that is lower than the rate quoted in your renewal letter” and suggests telling your lender about the offers you received elsewhere: “You may need to provide proof of the offers you receive.”
- Get competing offers in writing. Ask a mortgage broker, one or two other lenders and, if you’re with a big bank, a monoline lender or credit union. Each quote should be for the same term, rate type and amortization.
- Call your lender’s retention team, not only the branch. Give the competing rate and ask whether it will match or beat it. If it won’t, ask for its best rate anyway.
- Compare the whole offer. A slightly higher rate with better prepayment privileges, a gentler penalty method or portability can be worth more than the lowest rate.
- Get the final offer in writing before you sign.
What a lower rate is worth: on a $400,000 balance with 25 years of amortization left, a renewal offer of 5.24% means a payment of about $2,381 a month, and a negotiated 4.74% about $2,268: a payment difference of about $114 a month. The lower rate also leaves a smaller balance at the end of the term.
General tactics for negotiating a mortgage rate, at renewal or on a purchase, are on mortgage negotiation tactics.
Stay or switch lenders
FCAC: “You don’t have to renew your mortgage with the same lender. You can move your mortgage to another lender if their conditions better suit your needs.” At maturity there is no prepayment penalty for leaving, but a switch has its own costs, such as your current lender’s discharge fee and any legal or appraisal fees, and many lenders pay some or all of them to win the business. The new lender also has to approve you. Switching mortgage lenders covers when a switch pays, its costs, the steps, the collateral charge problem and when a straight switch is exempt from the mortgage stress test.
Automatic renewal: what happens if you do nothing
FCAC: “If you don’t take action, the renewal of your mortgage term may be automatic. This means you may not get the best interest rate and conditions. If your lender plans on automatically renewing your mortgage, it will say so in the renewal statement.”
Your renewal statement and contract say which term and rate an automatic renewal would give you. Some lenders renew into a short open or convertible term at a posted rate, which is usually higher than a negotiated rate; an open term can be left without a penalty, so the cost of a short automatic renewal is the higher rate for the weeks or months until you sign a new term. Read the statement as soon as it arrives so you know what happens if you don’t respond.
Mortgage renewal checklist
About 6 months before maturity: know your mortgage
- Maturity date, interest rate, balance and remaining amortization (your annual statement or online banking)
- Whether the mortgage is insured or uninsured
- Whether it is a collateral or conventional charge: FCAC suggests asking your lender, lawyer or notary a few months before renewal
- Your prepayment privileges, and whether a lump sum before renewal would lower the new payment
- Your credit score, your debt service ratios and an estimate of your home’s value
About 4 months before: shop
- Written quotes from a broker and at least one other lender, each showing the rate, term, insured or uninsured pricing, prepayment privileges, penalty method, portability and charge type
- How long each lender will hold its rate
60 to 90 days before: negotiate
- Read the renewal offer; don’t sign it straight away
- Call the retention team with your best written offer
- Get any matched rate in writing
About 30 days before: decide
- Staying: confirm the rate, term, payment, first payment date and amortization in the renewal agreement
- Switching: accept the new lender’s commitment, sign with its lawyer or notary, confirm which fees it covers, and make sure the switch date is your maturity date (moving earlier means breaking the term). The switching guide lists the documents a new lender asks for.
On and after the renewal date
- Check that the new rate, balance and amortization match your agreement
- Update automatic payments
- Set a reminder for about four months before your next maturity date, and use the annual mortgage planning calendar for the years in between
Related reading
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 29, 2026 and October 2, 2026. How we check facts.
- Bank of Canada: Conventional 5-year mortgage rate (data series)
- Bank of Canada: Conventional 5-year mortgage rate (data series)
- Bank of Canada: Conventional 5-year mortgage rate (data series)
- Bank of Canada: Data table
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Renewing your mortgage