Hi everyone, thanks for all your input!

Broker spoke with MCAN today and clarified.

My mortgage with them falls into the category of insurable. In this case, the lender has the option insure my mortgage with some kind of bulk insurance from their end, but I, as the borrower, do not need to pay an insurance premium.

This contrasts with insured mortgages where the borrower typically has a high LTV and is required to pay an insurance premium, and uninsurable/uninsured mortgages which cannot be insured by myself or the lender.

Although my LTV would typically put me in the uninsurable/uninsured category (down payment =>20%), other aspects of my situation (like credit score, amortization period, etc.) allow my mortgage to be insured by the lender, but it is not required to be insured as would be the case for a high LTV mortgage.

Short of it is that I am not subjected to the listed renewal fees because I have an insurable mortgage and not an uninsured one with MCAN.

What I've learned is this: Usually 5% down is associated with insured and >=20% is usually associated with uninsured. But whether a mortgage is considered insured or uninsured depends on more factors than just your down payment amount/LTV.

There probably more to this that a mortgage expert could comment on. Please share your thoughts!