Your mortgage renewal timeline, from 120 days out to signing

About 120 days out: take stock

This is also a good moment to look at the benchmarks page, so you know which published figures the checker uses for renewals and how recent they are. Our renewal checklist covers the same ground as a single list.

1. Note the exact maturity date from your agreement or annual statement.
2. Write down the balance, the current rate and the remaining amortization.
3. Find the prepayment and penalty section of your agreement.
4. Check whether the mortgage is registered as a standard or collateral charge.
5. List anything that could change your needs over the next term.

90 to 120 days: ask for quotes and rate holds

Ask your current lender what it will offer, and ask at least one other lender for a written quote for the same term. Each lender sets its own rate-hold period and conditions, so the only hold length that counts is the one written on your quote.

• The rate and term, in writing.
• How long the rate is held, and what happens if the switch isn't finished by then.
• Whether the lender will cover discharge, registration, appraisal or legal costs.
• Which documents it needs and whether it requires an appraisal.
• The prepayment privileges and how the penalty is calculated.

60 to 90 days: compare offers in dollars

Grade each written offer in the renewal checker. An illustrative five-year offer of 4.89% on $300,000 gets a mark of 62 out of 100 ("grade D") against a best published rate of 4.34%, a gap worth about $7,730 over the 5-year term.

Then weigh any competing offer against the cost of moving. If another lender offers 4.64% against your lender's 4.89%, and switching costs $1,200, the interest saved over the term is $3,519 and the net result is $2,319. The costs are earned back in about 21 months, and the monthly payment would be $1,913.49 instead of $1,953.60.

30 to 60 days: negotiate and decide

Take your strongest written offer back to your current lender and ask whether it will match or improve it. The mortgage renewal script has wording for that call, and the renewal switch calculator shows whether a lower rate elsewhere still wins once costs are counted.

If you decide to switch, this is when the new lender will need your documents, any appraisal it requires and time for the legal work to move the mortgage. Leaving it later squeezes every one of those steps.

21 days out: the renewal statement deadline

A federally regulated lender, such as a bank, must give you a renewal statement at least 21 days before the end of your term, or tell you at least 21 days before the term ends if it won't renew. The statement shows the balance at renewal, the rate, the payment frequency, the term and any charges, and it must say that the offered rate won't increase before the renewal date.

If you have already negotiated, check that the statement matches what you agreed. If it says the mortgage will renew automatically and you plan to leave, make sure the new lender's timeline fits. Our guide to reading the renewal letter goes line by line.

Thinking of acting early? Check the penalty first

If your lender offers early renewal, ask whether it involves a penalty or a blended rate; our blend-and-extend guide explains blending. Leaving for another lender before the term ends means breaking the mortgage. On a closed mortgage the penalty is usually the higher of three months' interest or the interest rate differential (IRD), and you may also have to repay any cash back.

Take an illustrative $300,000 balance at 2.99% with 4 months left, where the lender's comparison rate is 4.50%. Three months' interest is $2,243 and the simplified IRD is $0, so the larger charge is three months' interest: $2,243. Lenders use their own methods, so ask yours for an exact figure and try the prepayment penalty estimator.