Published 9 September 2026
Many people sign their renewal letter without shopping it because they assume that leaving their current lender means qualifying all over again. For a straight switch, that has not been the case since the end of 2024. If you move an existing mortgage from one federally regulated lender to another, keeping the same loan amount and the same remaining amortization, the stress test does not apply to the move. That holds whether your mortgage is insured or uninsured.
The belief costs more than people realise
That assumption quietly narrows your options. Plenty of people renew perfectly happily where they already are. The trouble starts when the decision gets made by default, because the alternative looks like a full re-qualification you might fail. Signing becomes the path of least resistance, and the offer in front of you never has to compete with anything. Knowing where the line falls gives you the choice back. What you decide to do with it is a separate question.
What changed at the end of 2024
Before then, a homeowner moving an uninsured mortgage to a new lender at renewal had to clear the stress test even though nothing about the loan was changing. Someone comfortably carrying their existing payment could still be turned down for a mortgage they were already paying. In November 2024 that expectation was withdrawn for this one transaction. In December 2024 the same change was made on the insured side, for low-ratio mortgages at 80% loan-to-value or less that had already been assessed against the stress test when they were first written. On both sides the effect is the same. The qualifying rate is no longer set for the lender.
Everywhere else the stress test is untouched. Where it still applies, the qualifying rate is the higher of two numbers: 5.25%, or your contract rate with two percentage points added on top.
What has to be true for it to be a straight switch
The exemption is narrow, and it is defined by what does not change:
- The mortgage moves from one federally regulated lender to another.
- The loan amount does not increase, apart from the one allowance below.
- The remaining amortization is not extended.
- The mortgage stands on its own: an ordinary amortizing mortgage, outside any combined or readvanceable plan that lets you re-borrow as you pay it down.
One increase is permitted. Up to $3,000 can be added to the balance to cover related transaction costs such as penalties or fees. Taking equity out is not permitted. So the line sits here: the moment the new mortgage is for more money than the old one, or is repaid over a longer period, it becomes a new mortgage and is assessed the ordinary way.
The new lender still decides
This is where the change gets over-read. Removing a prescribed qualifying rate left underwriting fully intact. The new lender assesses the loan the way it would any new mortgage, looking at income, credit, existing debts, and debt-service ratios calculated conservatively and stressed against a rate of its own choosing that reflects its own risk appetite. It can decline. It can apply different criteria than your current lender applied. Nothing here says anyone will be approved, and no one can tell you what a particular lender will do with your file without seeing it. The same distinction separates a pre-approval from a formal approval on a purchase.
Some things change the picture before you get that far. If either end of the move is a credit union or a private lender rather than a federally regulated one, the exemption may not be in play. If your mortgage is registered as a collateral charge, which is common and often not obvious to the borrower, moving it means a discharge and a re-registration, and anything else secured by that charge, such as a car loan or a line of credit, has to be repaid or moved with it. If default insurance is already on your mortgage, the existing certificate number goes to the new lender so the premium is not paid a second time.
What moving costs, and what is worth asking
Switching carries costs. There can be discharge, registration, transfer and assignment fees from your current lender, plus setup fees and an appraisal at the new one. The new lender may be willing to cover some or all of them. That is a question to put to them directly and early.
Three questions cover most of it. What would the total cost of moving be, and who absorbs it. Is the mortgage a standard charge or a collateral charge. And would anything you are contemplating, such as consolidating a debt, pulling equity out or stretching the amortization, take you outside a straight switch. Those are separate conversations with separate answers, and they are easier to have before you have committed to anything.
Your current lender has to send you a renewal statement at least 21 days before the term ends, setting out the balance, the interest rate, the payment frequency, the term and any charges or fees. The rate it offers you cannot rise before the renewal date. Twenty-one days is not much runway if you decide to move, so treat that statement as a deadline.
If your renewal is coming up and you are not sure which side of the line your mortgage sits on, that is a short conversation worth having before you sign anything. I work with homeowners across Burlington, Hamilton, Waterdown and Oakville, and throughout the Niagara region, on mortgage renewals.
Sources
- Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, “OSFI exempts uninsured mortgage straight switches from the prescribed MQR and implements portfolio LTI limits,” osfi-bsif.gc.ca (retrieved 2026-09-09; letter dated 2024-11-21, page last modified 2024-12-19)
- Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, “Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages,” osfi-bsif.gc.ca (retrieved 2026-09-09; page last modified 2026-01-29)
- Department of Finance Canada, “‘Straight Switches’ and portfolio insurance,” canada.ca (retrieved 2026-09-09; issued 2024-12-16)
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, “Renewing your mortgage,” canada.ca (retrieved 2026-09-09; page last modified 2025-10-15)
Information reviewed as of 2026-09-09.
About the author
Rob Cagnin is a Mortgage Broker with indi Mortgage, working with buyers and homeowners in Burlington, Hamilton, Waterdown and Oakville, and throughout the Niagara region. Accredited Mortgage Professional (AMP) · Certified Financial Planner (CFP). More at robcagnin.ca · About
Related questions
Does this mean the stress test has been scrapped?
No. It has been set aside for one narrowly defined transaction: moving an existing mortgage between federally regulated lenders at renewal, without increasing the loan amount or extending the amortization. Every other application, including a purchase, a refinance, an increase or a longer amortization, is still assessed against the qualifying rate in the ordinary way.
What if I want to borrow more money at the same time as I move?
Then it is no longer a straight switch. Increasing the balance beyond the permitted $3,000 for related transaction costs, or taking equity out, makes it a new mortgage, assessed the ordinary way. Moving lenders and borrowing more are two separate transactions with different requirements, even when you want them to happen on the same day.
Does any of this apply if I renew with my current lender?
Renewing where you are is a different situation. There is no new application and no new approval, because the lender already holds the mortgage. Your lender has to send you a renewal statement at least 21 days before the term ends, and the rate it offers in that statement cannot rise before your renewal date.
Is it cheaper to stay, given the fees involved in moving?
That depends entirely on the numbers in front of you, and it cannot be answered in general. Moving can involve discharge, registration, transfer and assignment fees, and sometimes an appraisal, and the new lender may or may not absorb them. The useful step is getting the full cost of moving in writing before comparing anything.
Rob Cagnin · Mortgage Broker · Licence #M08003068 · indi Mortgage · FSRA licence 12403
Rob Cagnin, Mortgage Broker, Licence #M08003068, indi Mortgage, FSRA licence 12403. This article is general information for Ontario readers, not advice for a specific situation. Lender and insurer requirements vary. Information reviewed as of 2026-09-09.