Renewing Your Alberta Mortgage? Compare the Full Offer Before You Sign

Give the next term a proper review

A mortgage renewal deserves a place on your home-planning calendar. Whether you expect to stay in Calgary, move within Grande Prairie or consider a different community, the next contract should fit the plans you can reasonably see ahead.

Start by gathering your current mortgage agreement, latest statement and a short list of possible changes. A move, a different household budget or an intended lump-sum payment gives you specific questions to take into each lender conversation. This guide offers general educational questions, rather than a recommendation for a particular mortgage.

Start before the renewal notice arrives

FCAC recommends shopping a few months before the term ends. Federally regulated financial institutions, such as banks, must provide a renewal statement at least 21 days before expiry. That deadline applies to those institutions; it is not a reason to postpone comparing offers.

Ask your current lender to review competing written offers. Check whether the statement provides for automatic renewal, and record the date by which you need to respond.

Sources: FCAC: Renewing your mortgage

Make the payment comparison meaningful

Ask each lender for figures using the same balance, remaining amortization and payment frequency. Then identify every change proposed. A longer amortization can reduce payments while increasing total interest. Have the lender show that trade-off in dollars.

Use a short comparison sheet:

• Term length, interest rate and whether the rate is fixed or variable
• Payment amount, frequency and how a variable-rate change affects the payment
• Remaining amortization and estimated balance at the end of the term
• Property-tax collections or optional insurance included in the quoted payment

For an Alberta household weighing a future move, ask how the proposed term aligns with that timeline. A payment you can manage today still needs to make sense alongside the rest of your housing plans.

Sources: FCAC: Choosing a mortgage that is right for you

Read the rules for paying extra

Prepayment privileges describe extra amounts you can pay without a penalty. They vary by lender. Ask separately about increasing regular payments and making lump sums, including limits, permitted dates and any minimum amounts.

Unused annual room generally does not carry forward. If you hope to put a bonus or sale proceeds toward the mortgage, have the lender explain how the proposed contract would handle that payment.

Also request an explanation of the early-payout calculation. Penalties depend on the contract and circumstances, so a generic online example cannot establish your future charge. Keep the written explanation with the offer.

Sources: FCAC: Mortgage fees: Prepayment penalties

Price the switch and check the registration

A new lender must approve your application. Ask for an itemized switching estimate covering applicable discharge, registration or transfer charges, appraisal and administration costs, with any lender-paid amounts identified.

Find out whether your mortgage has a collateral charge. If switching requires the collateral charge to be removed, all loan agreements it secures must be repaid in full or transferred to the new lender. Ask your lender or lawyer which accounts are involved before comparing the cost of staying with the cost of moving your mortgage.

Sources: FCAC: Renewing your mortgage

Check what signing early would change

Before accepting an early offer, confirm when the new terms begin and what happens to the existing contract. Breaking a closed mortgage normally brings a prepayment penalty and may involve other fees or repayment of cash back. Ask for a written cost comparison against waiting until maturity.

If a home sale may come during the next term, ask whether the mortgage can be ported and what restrictions apply. Have a mortgage professional explain the options for your circumstances before choosing an offer.

Sources: FCAC: Breaking your mortgage contract; FCAC: Choosing a mortgage that is right for you