Renewing Your Mortgage in Edmonton This Year?
You Have More Options Than Your Bank Is Showing You
August 2026 | The rule change your bank didn’t mention
If your mortgage is coming up for renewal, there’s a good chance a letter has already landed in your mailbox or your online banking portal. It looks official. It has a rate on it. And it has a signature line that makes the whole thing feel like a done deal.
It isn’t. And the option most Edmonton homeowners don’t know about could be worth thousands.
The rule change your bank didn’t mention
Since November 21, 2024, Canada’s banking regulator no longer requires lenders to apply the mortgage stress test when you move an existing mortgage to a new lender at renewal. Insured mortgages (the ones with less than 20% down) already had that exemption. The 2024 change extended it to uninsured mortgages too.
This matters more than it sounds. For years, homeowners were effectively locked in. To shop around at renewal, you had to requalify at your contract rate plus 2%, or 5.25%, whichever was higher. Plenty of people couldn’t clear that bar even though they’d been making payments faithfully for five years. Their bank knew it, which is exactly why the renewal offer wasn’t their best rate.
That leverage is largely gone.
What counts as a “straight switch”
The exemption applies when nothing material changes:
➤ Same mortgage balance (a small increase of roughly $3,000 to cover switching costs is generally allowed)
➤ Same remaining amortization; 19 years left means 19 years, not a fresh 25
➤ No new money, no equity take-out, no added HELOC
Change any of those and it becomes a refinance, which is still stress-tested. You’ll also still go through normal underwriting: income verification, a credit check, and a property review.
Why this year matters in particular
Canada is working through the largest wave of mortgage renewals in its history, and most of those terms were signed at pandemic-era rates that haven’t returned. If you’re renewing in that group, the difference between accepting your bank’s first offer and shopping the whole market properly is real money over a five-year term.
Start 120 days before your maturity date. That’s the window most lenders will hold a rate for, and it gives us room to compare instead of scramble.
Let’s look at your options
I work with lenders across the market, not one bank’s product shelf. Send me your renewal letter before you sign it and I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s competitive.
Call me at (780) 905-6359 or start your application at sandraforscutt.ca/mortgage-application/
