Renewal Countdown: When Does Your Window Open?
Enter your renewal date. See your three dates - the 12-month early hold, the six-month checkpoint, the four-month window - and what your balance makes the shopping worth.
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Why the Countdown Matters
Banks count on one thing at renewal: that you are too busy to shop what may be the most expensive loan of your life. The renewal letter lands a few weeks before your term ends, the deadline feels close, and signing it takes thirty seconds. That is the whole strategy - and this calculator dismantles it by giving you the three dates that flip the leverage.
The twelve-month mark is where your renewal season actually starts. Select lenders will lock a rate a full year out. The long hold is priced higher on a fixed rate and close to the same on a variable - so it is not for everyone, but in a rising-rate climate it is a fantastic tool: a floor under you for a year, and you still take the lower rate if rates fall. Everybody says four months. I say now - the day you are inside twelve months, we get organized.
The six-month mark is the checkpoint. By here your documents are lined up and your file is ready to move - and if we have not talked yet, fifteen minutes on the phone gets it done. Nothing is locked yet - you are still early, which is the strongest position in this game.
The four-month mark - 120 days - is when the whole board of 30+ lenders opens up, and that is where the most competitive rates live. From that day forward you can lock the strongest offer on the board and you cannot lose the hold: if rates drop before closing you get the lower one, and if they rise your lock protects you.
At renewal you can move your mortgage to any lender in Canada with no penalty - and a straight switch does not need a lawyer, because the new lender handles the transfer paperwork. My service costs you nothing; the lender pays me when your mortgage funds.
Renewal Countdown Questions
When should I start working on my renewal?
Now, if your renewal is inside the next twelve months. Everybody says four months. I say now, because select lenders can lock a rate a full year out - worth a conversation if rates are rising. Get organized early: documents lined up, file ready to move, with six months out as the latest comfortable checkpoint. At the four-month (120-day) mark the whole board of 30+ lenders opens, and that is where the most competitive rates are - the strongest offer gets locked the day it opens.
Does a rate hold cost anything or lock me in?
No and no. A rate hold is free and protects you in both directions: if rates rise before your renewal, your held rate stands; if rates drop, you take the lower one. There is no scenario where holding a rate makes you worse off.
My renewal is only weeks away. Is it too late?
Tight, but usually workable - switches can close on surprisingly short timelines. If the clock truly runs out, there is an escape hatch: renew into an open mortgage with your current lender, no lock-in, and once your file is ready we move you into the right product with no penalty. Call today rather than tomorrow.
Will shopping my renewal hurt my credit score?
No. I pull your credit once, and that one report goes to every lender I work with. What hurts a score is applying separately at bank after bank. One pull, the whole market.