Process and paperwork
Rate hold
A lender's commitment to honour today's rate for a set period, usually up to 120 days, at no cost and with no obligation.
A rate hold reserves a rate while you shop for a home or wait for your renewal date. It costs nothing, it doesn't commit you to that lender, and it doesn't show up as a debt anywhere.
It only works in your favour. If rates fall before you close, you take the lower rate. If they rise, you keep the one you held. Holding a rate never leaves you worse off than not holding one.
A rate hold isn't an approval. It reserves a rate but doesn't confirm your income, your down payment or the property, and it's usually attached to a pre-approval.
Rate holds open roughly 120 days before your mortgage matures. That maturity date is the most useful thing to know about your own mortgage.
Related terms
Pre-approval
A lender's underwritten opinion of how much it will lend you, with a rate held for 90 to 120 days but no commitment to lend.
Renewal
The end of a mortgage term, when you sign a new one with your current lender, switch to a new lender, or pay the mortgage off.
Straight switch
Moving your mortgage to a new lender at renewal without changing the balance or the amortization, and since November 2024, without a stress test if it's uninsured.
This definition describes how the term is used in Canadian residential mortgage lending. It’s general information, not advice on your file. Rules, thresholds and rates change. Where a figure is quoted, it’s current as of the date shown on the related guide.
Sharp rates. The full picture.
Ask Daniel about this term
Daniel De Sousa, Mortgage Associate, can walk you through it before you sign anything. Or get a rate quote: 6 questions, about two minutes, and no credit check to start.
No credit check, and no commitment.