At a time when rates are low, but look like heading upwards, you may simply want to extend your mortgage at a lower rate for a longer term. In this situation your current lender will usually allow you to break the mortgage with a penalty, give you a new long term mortgage and blend the penalty into the new rate. This is called a "blend and extend". Both the rate for the new term and the penalty may be negotiable, but a strong banking relationship may have to be in place to achieve this. After all, the lender might say, you both made a commitment and any changes must make sense from a business point of view.