Mortgage
Renew or refinance
Four things you can do with a mortgage you already have, and a plain explanation of which is which. They are easier to tell apart than the names suggest.
Which one do you need?
These four overlap enough that people regularly ask for one and mean another. The short version:
Renewal
Your term is ending and you need a new rate for the next one. The balance and the amortization carry on as they are. Nothing about the mortgage changes except the rate and the term.
Refinance
You want to change the mortgage itself: borrow more against the equity, restructure it, or move to a better rate mid-term. It replaces your existing mortgage, so any penalty counts against the benefit.
HELOC
You want access to your equity without taking it all at once. It sits alongside your existing mortgage, which keeps its rate, and you pay interest only on what you actually draw.
Debt consolidation
You have higher-interest debt elsewhere and want it in one lower-rate payment. Usually done through a refinance or a second mortgage, depending on which costs less overall.
The question that decides it
Almost every one of these comes down to total cost over the time you plan to keep the property, not the headline rate. A refinance that pays for itself over seven years is a poor idea if you are moving in two, and the cheapest rate is not the cheapest mortgage if breaking the old one triggers a large penalty.
Sukhpreet will work the arithmetic for your actual numbers, including the penalty and the legal and appraisal costs, and tell you if the answer is to do nothing.
Not sure which applies to you?
Describe your situation and Sukhpreet will tell you which of the four fits, and what it would cost.
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