Mortgage renewal 2026: a guide for Ontario homeowners

Renewal is the one time you can change lenders without a penalty. Here's how to use it, in three short guides and three calculators.

The short version

  1. Start early. A bank or other federally regulated lender has to send your renewal statement at least 21 days before the term ends. Don't wait for it. Start comparing a few months before.
  2. Get a competing offer in writing. Then ask your current lender to match it.
  3. Know whether you'd face the stress test. Most straight switches don't since late 2024.
  4. Add up the switching costs and compare the total over the term, not just the rate.
  5. Don't let it renew automatically unless you've decided that's the best deal.

Guides

Renewal timeline: what to do and when

A step-by-step plan from four months out to the day your new term starts.

Switching lenders and the stress test

The OSFI and federal rules from late 2024, who qualifies, and what still gets checked.

Breaking your mortgage early

Penalties, blend-and-extend, porting, and the five-year rule in the Interest Act.

Calculators for renewal

Renew or switch

Compare your renewal offer with another lender, after switching costs. Includes a straight-switch check.

Prepayment penalty

Three months' interest vs the IRD, with both ways lenders work out the comparison rate.

Mortgage payment

Canadian semi-annual compounding, accelerated payments and a full amortization table.

Comparing a renewal offer with a new lender

Line the offers up the same way you would for a purchase: same term, the APR, the penalty method, prepayment privileges and portability. Our guide on how to compare mortgage rates walks through it with a worked example.

A note on rates

We don't publish "today's rates". Rates change daily and depend on your situation, and a table we didn't get from lenders would just be a guess. For background on where rates are heading, the Bank of Canada publishes its policy rate decisions at bankofcanada.ca.

Sources

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