So the time has come to renew your mortgage. Did you know you don’t have to stay with your current lender? Just like you shopped for the perfect mortgage when you bought your house, shopping for the perfect mortgage when your term is up is just as important!

Approximately 120 days before your mortgage is due for renewal you should start looking at your options. Most lenders will hold rates for that long, so you can get everything in line with plenty of time to secure your new rate. Some banks will call you around the 4 month mark to offer you an early renewal rate, and some will wait until just four weeks before your term is up with an offer, this leaves hardly enough time to explore your options. They know this and hope you’ll just sign back one of their offers.

Here is where it gets interesting. More often then not the rates offered on a renewal are not even remotely competitive, I’ve seen offers of 4.79% on a five year fixed on a renewal when everyone else is is offering 2.79%.  That’s a full 2% higher, they’re hoping you don’t notice. If you have a $500,000 mortgage, that’s a difference of $47,600 over five years!

Please do not automatically sign the friendly mortgage renewal form. At a minimum call a mortgage broker to get the best deal for you. Most mortgage brokers will do a free review of your offer to see if you’re getting the best deal and rest assured, if we do one for you and its best for you to stay with our current lender, we will tell you that 100% of the time. It will cost you nothing  and it could save you thousands!  Call a mortgage  broker your future net worth will be glad that you did.