Most Canadian borrowers sign their renewal with the incumbent lender without shopping it. For brokers, renewal is the single largest recurring revenue opportunity in the book — if you see it coming.
Canadian mortgages renew. Terms are typically shorter than the amortisation, so a borrower with a 25-year amortisation on a five-year term will renew four or five times before the loan is discharged. Each renewal is a decision point — and the default outcome favours the incumbent lender.
How mortgage renewal works
The lender sends a renewal statement ahead of the maturity date with an offered rate and terms. Signing and returning it renews the mortgage with no requalification, no legal work and no cost. Doing nothing often rolls the mortgage onto a higher open or short-term rate. Switching to a different lender requires a new application, and depending on the case, may involve a switch or transfer process the new lender frequently covers.
Why most renewals go unshopped
- The renewal offer arrives as a signature, not a decision — it is the path of least resistance
- Borrowers assume switching means a full refinance with legal fees
- The rate offered is often above the lender's best available rate for a new client
- Nobody contacted the borrower before the letter arrived
The fourth reason is the one brokers control. The renewal conversation is won 90 to 120 days before maturity, not after the statement lands.
"The lender knows the exact date every one of your clients is up for renewal. If you don't, you are competing on their timetable."
What a broker should be tracking
- Maturity date on every funded file, with a reminder set well before the lender's letter
- Current rate versus today's comparable market pricing for that borrower profile
- Whether the file is still inside a clawback window that would penalise an early switch
- Changes in equity, income or property value that widen the borrower's options
- Whether the lender pays renewal or trailer compensation on that product
Building the renewal conversation
The strongest approach is not a rate pitch. It is a short, specific message that states the maturity date, the current rate, what comparable pricing looks like now, and one clear next step. It works because it is factual and timely, and it positions the broker as the person managing the mortgage rather than the person who arranged it once.
Frequently asked questions
- When does a mortgage renewal offer arrive? Typically a few months before maturity, though lenders vary.
- Can a borrower switch lenders at renewal? Yes, subject to qualifying with the new lender; switch costs are often covered.
- Does renewing require requalification? Not with the same lender on the same terms; switching lenders generally does.
- Is the first offered rate negotiable? Usually — it is frequently above the rate available to a new client.
- Does the broker get paid on a renewal? Where the lender offers renewal or trailer compensation, yes; a switch to a new lender pays a full finder's fee.
Making it systematic
Renewal capture fails for operational reasons, not strategic ones. Maturity dates sit in files nobody re-reads, and calendar reminders do not know what current pricing looks like. Kayotte monitors the settled book continuously, flags files approaching maturity where the client's rate is materially above market, and returns a ranked contact list so the renewal window is worked rather than remembered.
Renewal terms and compensation vary by lender and province. Confirm specifics against your lender agreements.