Why twelve months, not four
Your lender's renewal letter arrives a few months before maturity, the day your current term ends, with a signature line and a date. By then there is time to sign and not much else. A year out there is time to do the things that change what you qualify for: clear something on the credit report, get a year of clean tax returns in, decide whether you want to borrow more, pay some down, or move.
So the conversation starts at twelve months with a heads-up and a question: what has changed since we last spoke? At six months we look at the mortgage you have beside the one you need for the next few years. At four months, when lenders will hold a rate for you, we put their offers beside your bank's. At maturity you switch or stay, with no penalty either way.
That is what every residential client of Lendrite gets without asking. If your mortgage is somewhere else, the reminder tool below puts you on the same clock.
Your bank's offer beside the market
The number in the letter is a starting point. It is often not the only offer your own bank can make, and it is never the only offer in the market. We ask for your bank's offer in writing and put it in a table beside what our lenders would do for the same balance and term, with the rate on one line and everything else on the others.
Everything else: the length of the term, fixed or variable, and how much you can prepay each year. How the penalty is worked out if you have to break the term, and whether the mortgage can move to a new home. And whether a different shape would serve you better: a shorter term, a line of credit alongside, a longer amortization to ease the payment.
If your bank's offer is the right one, we say so, and you sign it knowing that. If it is not, we arrange the switch.
What a switch costs, and who pays
A straight switch moves the same balance and amortization to a new lender at maturity.
| Item | What it is | Who usually pays |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty | None at maturity. Leaving before maturity is a refinance, and has one. | Nobody, at maturity |
| Appraisal | Confirms the value for the new lender; not every switch needs one. | You, in most cases |
| Legal or title transfer | Registering the new lender on title, usually through a title company rather than a law office. | You, in most cases |
| Discharge fee | Charged by the lender you are leaving to release its mortgage. | You, in most cases |
| Broker fee | On a residential switch the new lender pays the brokerage when the mortgage funds. | Not you, in most cases |
| Borrowing more | Adding to the balance or changing the amortization turns a switch into a refinance, with its own costs. | See the refinance page |
You usually pay the appraisal and legal costs on a switch; some lenders offer a cash-back option that offsets them. You see the list for your switch, in writing, before you decide.
Six steps, finished before maturity
Most of it happens in the last four months; the first step can happen today.
- 1
Send the letter and a statement
Your bank's renewal offer and your latest mortgage statement, which show the balance, the maturity date and the terms you have now.
- 2
One credit report
Pulled with your written consent, once, and shared with the lenders we approach.
- 3
Options in writing
Your bank's offer beside two or three alternatives, with the costs of each.
- 4
You choose
Stay, and we tell your bank. Switch, and we send the application to the new lender.
- 5
Conditions and signing
The new lender's approval, an appraisal if it asks for one, and signing with the title company or your lawyer.
- 6
Maturity day
The new lender pays out the old one. Your payments carry on, to a new address.
Put your maturity date on our calendar
If your mortgage is with a bank or another lender, tell us the maturity date and we flag it twelve months out, the way we do for our own clients. No credit check, no obligation; you hear from us a year before the letter does.
Closer than twelve months? The steps above still work; we tell you the realistic timing upfront. Book a 20-minute call →
Will I have to qualify all over again?
If your current mortgage was insured, a straight switch may not need to pass the stress test again; we confirm this for every renewal.
My income has dropped since I bought. Can I still switch?
Possibly, depending on the lender and whether the balance and amortization stay the same. If a switch is not open to you, renewing with your current lender does not usually require requalifying, and we help you with that offer instead.
Can I pay some of it down at renewal?
Yes, maturity is the one day you can pay down any amount without a penalty. Tell us what you have in mind and we build it into the options.
What if I want to borrow more at renewal?
Then it is a refinance rather than a switch, with an appraisal and legal costs, and timing it to maturity avoids the penalty. Refinance and equity take-out explains the rest.
Is the letter my bank's final offer?
Rarely. Ask for it in writing, send it to us, and we show you where it sits beside the market.