We recommend that you let your lender know that you are already working with a mortgage broker. Telling them this upfront will save you time and will get the lowest possible rate, because they know that we’ll be coming in to negotiate on your behalf anyway. 

There are some important questions we suggest you ask yourself once you have been provided with the lowest possible rate from your current lender. 

Do you have any lines of credit already? Or do you find your cash flows a little tight? Are you interested in buying a new home in the future? Do you want to do any renovations? Do you want to buy a rental property? Do you want to leverage equity for investing?

If the answer to any of the questions is yes, then it’s important to take a step back and strategize with your mortgage broker. 

When working with us, we’ll help you map out a strategy that best suits your unique situation. By comparing the market and negotiating on your behalf, we are likely to find another product that is not only the same rate, or lower, but is a more optimal solution overall. Whether this means solving some problems, helping you take advantage of opportunities to leverage your equity, we’ll make sure you’re putting your best foot forward at renewal. 

 While each lender has its own renewal process, you can typically expect to hear from your current mortgage lender anywhere from 4-6 months before your current mortgage term is up. By law, your lender must send you a written renewal notice a minimum of 21 days in advance of your renewal date. If you prefer not to go back and speak with them yourselves, we may be able to provide a consent form for you to authorize us to communicate directly with your lender.

When it comes to renewing your mortgage, starting early makes good financial sense. You don't have to wait to hear from your current lender before searching for a new mortgage.

At Loewen Group, we can lock in the lowest available interest rates up to 120 days, or 4 months, before your maturity date. However, we recommend our clients begin thirty days before that to ensure there is plenty of time for both information and supporting documents collection. This allows us to start executing on our prepared strategy 120 days from your maturity and for a smooth, stress-free experience for you. 

Ultimately, the sooner you begin to plan, the better.

For the most part, working with Loewen Group to prepare a custom strategy and renew your mortgage means zero cost for you. We will have appraisals either waived or reimbursed and any legal or discharge fees covered. In some rare cases, depending on very specific mortgage types, this may vary. With other solutions at our disposal, however, we will always be able to help you put your best foot forward at renewal with the lowest associated cost. 

Yes, but letting your mortgage renew on its own can be costly. Unfortunately, many lenders pray on lack of action, i.e. laziness. 

Some will auto-renew your mortgage with an open term, which can result in a monthly payment with interest as high as 9.99% until you notice and take action. This can result in thousands of dollars wasted with no recourse.

Others will simply auto-renew mortgages into either a 6 or 12-month closed term mortgage, and that means you'll have to pay hefty penalties to break the mortgage. 

Ignoring your renewal also means you forfeit your chance to renew at a better interest rate, and over time that can dramatically increase the cost of your home.

How likely would you be to visit a bar serving only one drink, when given the choice to visit a different bar that is serving a huge variety of options, just around the corner? Very unlikely, right?

This is a fun way of comparing what it’s like to work with a mortgage broker. Unlike lenders, mortgage brokers have access to a wide range of lending products, instead of just a few. 

Oftentimes these banks work to sell you the financial products that are most profitable for their shareholders. And to do this, your agent is incentivized to charge you a slightly higher rate, so they can earn more commission.

Instead, here at Loewen Group, we work hard to connect you with the best solution for your particular situation. In fact, we have access to over 350 products with over 35 different mortgage lenders. We provide you with the convenience of analyzing all these options for you while negotiating on your behalf to get you the most optimal mortgage. 

If you're switching to a different mortgage lender, you'll need to complete a new mortgage application. As long as you've kept up with your current mortgage payments, you should have no problem renewing your mortgage.

The new lender will require that you re-qualify since they cannot trust that your existing lender did the underwriting properly. For risk purposes, they want to ensure you can make the loan repayments. 

If you are in a position where you have lost your job, have gone bankrupt or there have been significant changes since you qualified for your existing mortgage, it may be in your best interest that you renew with your existing lender. 

If you are gone through hardships however we still want to review. We can explore how we can help you to improve your credit. There may still be opportunities to refinance and look at that.

While these two terms sound similar, they're not the same thing.

Renewing your mortgage means that you'll continue to pay off your current mortgage balance under new terms that you negotiate at the end of your current term. These new terms can include a lower interest rate, higher payments or a different payment schedule. No changes to your mortgage amount or amortization are permitted.

Refinancing your mortgage means that you start a new mortgage altogether. This can allow you to access equity in your home for use towards consumer debts, to pay for a renovation project, or for use towards an investment property.

For example, if you bought five years ago, we can take advantage of the fact that your home value has likely increased to refinance. We could extend the amortization from say 25 years that you started with, to 30 years, reducing your monthly mortgage payment and increasing your available cash flow. This strategy can also be used to pay down expensive debts like credit cards and lines of credit, resulting in increased savings for you over time. 

If you're cutting it close to your renewal date, don't panic. We'll help you renew into a temporary open term mortgage with your current lender, while we work hard to secure your most optimal mortgage. 

This means you won't be locked in, your mortgage remains in good standing, and you'll make interest-only payments at a slightly higher rate until your new mortgage is in place.

This approach will likely provide significant savings and increased flexibility to you over the term of your mortgage. 

Think about what your ideal mortgage looks like. You might want to lower your mortgage payments to increase your cash flow, use your mortgage to consolidate consumer debt from credit cards, or access some of the equity you've built up in your home by raising your mortgage.

Further to this, you should consider how else the equity in our home can be put to work. Here at Loewen Group, we don’t stop at finding the best rate. We are driven to help each of our customers map out their financial goals and take pride in helping them think outside the box to start executing on a strategy to help them achieve these.

Make a list of your mortgage 'wants' and give us a call here at Loewen Group. We'll work with you to secure the mortgage renewal terms that fit your financial goals.