An offer from your bank in hand?
Can your bank do better? Let's find out.
Bring us the renewal letter, refinance quote or pre-approval your bank or credit union in Ontario gave you. We tell you in plain English what the offer says and what to ask, then a licensed broker checks it against the lenders we work with. If staying with your bank is the better deal, we say so.
Written by Stonefield Mortgage · Reviewed by David Steinfeld, principal broker · Stonefield Mortgage, FSRA mortgage brokerage licence #13722 · [review pending — before this page is indexed]
Published · Updated
A renewal letter, a refinance quote or a pre-approval from your bank is one lender's offer, not the only one. In Ontario you can negotiate with your bank, and at the end of your term you can switch without a prepayment penalty. We read your bank's offer with you, put a competing written offer in your hand, and you decide: match or move. Every mortgage is subject to lender approval.
This page is for offers your bank, credit union or a lender made to you directly. If your offer came through another mortgage broker, the offer check gives you the questions to ask that broker instead.
How we check your bank's offer, in four steps
Check your bank's offer yourself
Enter what your bank's renewal letter, quote or pre-approval says. The offer check reads every term beyond the rate and gives you three questions to ask your lender. The offer check takes a few minutes, and the numbers you type stay in your browser unless you send them to us.
Send us the six numbers
Send the amount, the rate, the term, fixed or variable, the amortization and the date. We need only a first name and a phone number to start.
We check your offer against the lenders we work with
A licensed broker prices the same mortgage with banks, credit unions and monoline lenders and calls you within one business day with what we found. When keeping your bank's offer is the better answer, the broker says "keep the offer you have".
Match or move
Take our written offer back to your bank. If your bank matches our offer, you stay and pay less. If your bank doesn't match, we can move the mortgage for you, subject to lender approval. The choice is yours either way.
A tool to help review your offer: the offer check
The offer check reads everything in your offer beyond the rate: the penalty, prepayment room, portability, the charge type and the term against your plans. The offer check also shows where your rate sits against the Bank of Canada's posted series.
The offer check gives no verdict on the rate itself, because a verdict needs this week's lender offers. The next step is a licensed broker's comparison of your rate with this week's lender offers.
Exactly as the offer states it
0 if none
Beyond the rate
Enter the offer and your read appears here. The numbers you type stay in your browser unless you send them to us. If you would rather talk to a person, leave a name and a phone or e-mail below and a licensed broker gets back to you within one business day.
No cost, no documents yet
We need six numbers to review your bank's offer
The six numbers are the amount, the rate, the term, fixed or variable, the amortization and the date from your bank's offer. A licensed broker checks your bank's offer against the lenders we work with and calls you within one business day. Take our written offer back to your bank: if your bank matches our offer, you stay and pay less; if your bank doesn't, we can move the mortgage for you, subject to lender approval.
You can also call us at (416) 371-2077.
Guides for each step, from checking the offer to shopping around
- Is my bank's offer good?
These guides explain what each term means and what "good" depends on. The rate is one of about a dozen things that decide what an offer costs.
- Should I negotiate with my bank?
These guides explain what the retention desk can and can't do, what to ask for, a script, and when walking away costs less than talking.
- Can I shop around? Is it worth leaving my bank?
These guides set out the switch math with the costs itemized, the rules for switching at renewal, and an honest "stay" when the numbers favour staying.
How the offers we check turn out, published monthly
Each month we will publish what happened to the offers we checked, including how often the bank matched and how often we said stay.
The scoreboard
What the monthly scoreboard will count, and when the first release comes
Every month we will publish how the offers we checked turned out. Until the first full month of reviews is in, there are no numbers here: we don't publish estimates.
- Offers checked
- Renewal letters, refinance quotes, pre-approvals and commitments from a bank, credit union or lender that a broker read in the month.
- Your bank matched
- You took our written offer back to your lender and it matched or came close, so you stayed and paid less.
- You moved
- Your lender didn't match and the mortgage moved to another lender, subject to that lender's approval.
- We said stay
- Your offer was already in line with what we could find, so we told you to keep it.
- Alternative lender or private bridge
- A bank said no, and the answer was an alternative lender or a short private bridge with a written plan back to a bank.
Method: each release counts the outcomes in our own inquiry records for the calendar month, with each outcome's share, the number of offers and the date. Only offers a bank, credit union or lender made directly to the borrower are counted; offers that came through another mortgage broker are not.
The release shows aggregates only, never an individual case, a lender's name or a rate. Offers still open at month end are counted the month they close.
Questions about your offer, answered
- Can I shop around instead of renewing with my bank? (Canada)
- Do mortgage brokers get better rates than banks in Canada?
- Does switching from my bank at renewal hurt my credit score? (Canada)
- How do I negotiate my mortgage renewal with my bank in Ontario?
- How much below my bank's posted rate should my mortgage rate be? (Canada)
- Is it worth switching from my bank's mortgage for 0.2%? (Canada)
- Is my bank's pre-approval rate good? (Ontario)
- Is my bank's renewal offer good? (Ontario)
- Is this a good mortgage offer from my bank? (Canada)
- Mortgage broker in Toronto for a second opinion on my bank's renewal (Ontario)
- Should I negotiate my mortgage renewal with my bank? (Ontario)
- Should I sign my bank's renewal letter as is? (Ontario)
- What does my bank's mortgage retention desk do? (Canada)
- Will my bank match a mortgage broker's offer? (Canada)
The public rules behind these answers, sourced and dated: the rules · Bank of Canada decision dates · prime rate
Questions about the offer check's cost, documents and outcomes
Is the check really free?
Yes. For most bank, credit union and monoline mortgages the lender pays the brokerage, so the service is usually free to you; any fee is disclosed in writing before you commit. See how we are paid.
What if my bank's offer is already good?
If your bank's offer is already good, we tell you to keep it. "Stay" is a real answer, and we count a stay on the scoreboard like any other outcome.
What if my bank says no — to a renewal, a refinance or a switch?
If your bank says no, we work down the ladder of lenders. Another bank, credit union or monoline lender comes first, then an alternative lender where one fits.
A short private bridge from Stonefield Capital, our private-lending brand, comes only after those lenders, with a written plan back to a bank. Every fee is disclosed in writing before you commit, and every option is subject to lender approval.
Do I have to send documents?
No. The six numbers are enough to start, and please don't e-mail documents. If we need any later, we explain how to share them securely.
Stonefield Mortgage is a trade name of Stonefield Capital Inc., FSRA mortgage brokerage licence #13722. We arrange mortgages for properties in Ontario. A read of your offer is general information, not advice; your contract governs and every mortgage is subject to lender approval.