Should you break your mortgage for a lower rate?

Yes and no. When you break your mortgage contract to renew your mortgage at a new rate and a new term, you're faced with a prepayment charge to reimburse your financial institution for the lost interest income. As a basic rule of thumb, the prepayment charge is based on three months interest or the interest rate differential (that's the difference between you present mortgage rate for the balance of your term and the current rate you want to take out), whichever is greater.

If your mortgage is insured by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, you pay a maximum penalty of three months interest after the third anniversary date of the interest adjustment period, or after the third anniversary date from your most recent renewal.

The amount of the prepayment charge will tell you whether or not you should renegotiate your interest rate. Generally speaking, the shorter your remaining term - ideally less than a year - the smaller the penalty, and the more attractive early renewal becomes. On the other hand, the longer the term left on your mortgage, the greater the prepayment penalties, which makes early renewal less desirable. We may be able to find you a lender that will actually pay some or all of your penalty to get your mortgage business… let us show you how!

We can calculate it for you! - Since we have information on most lenders, we can easily make the calculations to determine if you should break your mortgage to take advantage of current lower rates. We'll make your decision making easy for you.

There are NO fees to you, only a savings in mortgage interest