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With damaged credit, your bank can renew without requalifying you. Switching lenders in Grand Montréal reopens the file. Weigh that before you move.
The score matters less than the story behind it. A lender wants to know how long ago the problem was settled, whether your credit has recovered since, and whether the file holds up without that line. A proposal or bankruptcy discharged two years ago, with credit rebuilt, doesn’t get treated like a late payment from last month.
Your full credit report, discharge or release papers for anything that’s settled, and proof of payment on what remains. Add your notices of assessment and proof of your down payment. The bigger the down payment, the more room there is to negotiate the rest.
Start comparing four to six months before maturity. Most lenders will hold a rate that long, and switching at maturity carries no penalty. Once you sign the renewal notice that landed in your Grand Montréal mailbox, the leverage is gone.
The renewal notice your bank mails out is a starting point, not its best rate. One competing quote gives you something to negotiate with, and lenders active in Grand Montréal do compete for a client who already pays on time.
Switching lenders in Grand Montréal means making the whole case again: current proof of income, a mortgage statement, the tax bill and, most of the time, a new appraisal. Staying put spares you all that, at the price of a rate you did not negotiate.
A sale, renovations or a lump-sum payment in the next few years should guide the term you pick, not the other way around. Maturity is also the one time you can prepay with no penalty, whatever your plans in Grand Montréal look like.
To prepare
Yes. It all runs by phone, email or video call, and documents go through online. We can meet in person, but most files get settled without anyone having to travel.
Often two years after discharge, with credit rebuilt and paid on time since. Some lenders say yes sooner if the down payment is bigger. What you have rebuilt counts, not just the time that has passed.
Pick the situation closest to yours.
Contact
Buying, renewing, refinancing, or something a bit out of the ordinary: tell us where you’re at, even if it’s still fuzzy. Mathieu gets back to you with next steps and the documents to pull together.