Renewing your Canadian mortgage

• 1
  It is recommended that you check your credit report before renewing your mortgage.credit 3d sign image by onlinebewerbung.de from Fotolia.com
  
  Access a recent Canadian credit report before renewing your mortgage. These reports are free online in the United States. However, in Canada, you must pay for an instant online copy. You can get a free copy via regular mail, but that could take up to two weeks. See Resources for links to credit report sites. You will have to use your Social Insurance Number to obtain your credit report and rating.
  
  
• 2). Review your current mortgage paperwork. All Canadian mortgage customers are eligible to renew their mortgage---either with their existing lender or with a new lender---at any time. However, Canadian companies put prepayment penalties on some mortgages to encourage customer retention. If you still have a prepayment penalty on your mortgage, you may want to delay the renewal to avoid the fee---which can be substantial (often calculated as a percentage of the total loan).
  
  
• 3
  Your next step is to find an institution with which you can renew your mortgage.bank image by Jut from Fotolia.com
  
  Search for Canadian lenders based on your credit rating. If you have excellent credit, you should apply only at top-flight financial institutions, such as the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal or the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). These institutions often have the most competitive mortgage programs. If you have had credit problems, you may need to apply with Canadian branches of American finance companies, such as HSBC Finance or CitiFinancial. There are also Canada-specific, non-bank lenders, such as Capital Direct Lending Corporation, Canadiana Financial Corporation and AGF Trust. These are companies that cater directly to Canadian homeowners and do not provide any other standard banking programs (checking, savings, investments, etc.).
  
  
• 4). Compare all mortgage renewal offers. Pay close attention to the fees involved with the mortgage origination. These could be origination fees ("the cost of doing business"), discount points or title fees. Also, compare these offers to your existing Canadian mortgage. You do not want to renew your mortgage if it puts you in a worse financial situation.
  
  
• 5). Choose a lender, turn down the other pending applications and follow the mortgage renewal process with your chosen lender. Make sure to give your new lender all the documents found in the "Things You'll Need" section. This will speed up your approval process.