You cannot port a mortgage in the US. Standard residential loans have to be paid off when you sell your home, and your next house requires a brand-new mortgage at whatever rate the market is offering that day. A few narrow workarounds exist, but none of them let an ordinary homeowner pack up a low interest rate and carry it to a new property the way borrowers can in Canada or the United Kingdom.
Why US Mortgages Don’t Move With You
Two things make porting a non-starter in the US market. The first is structural: American mortgages are built around a 30-year fixed rate, while portable-mortgage countries typically use fixed terms of five years or less. If you locked in 3% five years ago and rates now sit much higher, your lender has no financial reason to let you take that rate to a different house. Conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac require the full balance to be paid off at sale.1Bipartisan Policy Center. Can Assumable or Portable Mortgages Unlock the Housing Market
The second is legal. Under the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982, codified at 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3, lenders can enforce a due-on-sale clause that makes the entire loan balance due when the property is transferred without written consent. Nearly every residential mortgage contains one. Because the sale itself triggers repayment, there’s no live loan left to move. The federal statute also preempts state laws that might have allowed transfers, so there is no state-level route around it.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
The One Legal Mechanism That Comes Close: Substitution of Collateral
The closest thing to true porting in the US is called substitution of collateral. Your original promissory note stays in force, and the lender’s security interest shifts from the old property to a new one. Same loan, same rate, different house.
The catch is who can get it. Substitution of collateral shows up almost exclusively in commercial lending and in private banking relationships with high-net-worth clients. Loans sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac do not allow it. Federal banking rules also require lenders to confirm that collateral margins stay within supervisory limits when a substitution happens, so the replacement property has to appraise at a value that keeps the loan-to-value ratio inside the original agreement.3eCFR. Title 12 Chapter I Part 34 – Real Estate Lending and Appraisals Expect administrative fees, legal costs, and a full appraisal on the new property. For most homeowners, this option isn’t realistically on the table.
Letting a Buyer Assume Your Loan Instead
If you have a government-backed mortgage, there’s a different way to keep your low rate alive: let the buyer of your current home take it over. This doesn’t help you personally on your next purchase, but an assumable low-rate loan can make your home more attractive to buyers and support a stronger sale price.
FHA Loans
All FHA-insured single-family forward mortgages are assumable.4U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Are FHA-Insured Mortgages Assumable The buyer has to meet FHA creditworthiness standards and provide a valid Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. Your servicer handles the paperwork and charges a processing fee; the FHA cap on that fee was raised to $1,800 in 2024.
VA Loans
VA-backed loans are assumable by any qualified buyer, veteran or not. The servicer runs an income and credit review, and most lenders look for a credit score around 620, though the VA sets no formal minimum.5Veterans Benefits Administration. VA Home Loan Guaranty Buyers Guide The funding fee on a VA assumption is 0.5%, well below the 1.25% to 3.3% charged on a new VA purchase loan.6U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Funding Fee and Loan Closing Costs
Veteran sellers need to pay close attention to one detail. If a non-veteran assumes your VA loan, your entitlement stays tied to that loan until it’s paid off, which can block you from using your VA benefit on your next home. Entitlement can be restored if another eligible veteran assumes the loan and substitutes their own entitlement, or once the loan is paid in full.7MyArmyBenefits. VA Home Loans
USDA Loans
USDA direct loans can also be assumed by an eligible borrower who meets the agency’s income and location requirements, and the property has to continue meeting USDA eligibility rules.8USDA Rural Development. HB-1-3550 Chapter 5 – Property Requirements The new borrower goes through a qualification process much like a new loan.
You May Still Be On the Hook After an Assumption
Letting someone assume your loan doesn’t automatically end your responsibility for it. On a VA loan, you remain legally liable to the government unless the loan is paid in full, the VA issues you a written release of liability, or an eligible veteran assumes the loan and substitutes their entitlement for yours. A default by the buyer counts against your entitlement. Before signing a sales contract, contact the VA office that guaranteed the loan and request the forms for release of liability or substitution of entitlement.9Veterans Benefits Administration. Release of Liability For VA loans closed on or after March 1, 1988, the VA or the lender must approve the sale before the home can transfer through an assumption.
FHA works similarly. The original borrower stays liable until the FHA issues a formal release, and the FHA will only grant it when the assumption was processed properly and the loan is current. A delinquent loan will not be released.10Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Handbook 4155.1 Chapter 7
Why “Subject To” Deals Are Not a Substitute
Some real estate investors pitch buying “subject to” the existing mortgage: the buyer takes title, makes the monthly payments, and the loan stays in your name with no formal assumption. This is not a mortgage assumption, and it is risky. The due-on-sale clause lets your lender call the full balance due once it learns of the transfer.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions You remain fully liable for the debt even though you no longer own the property, and if the buyer stops paying, your credit takes the hit and you could face collection or foreclosure on a house that isn’t yours.
What to Do Instead When You’re Moving
Since your rate can’t come with you, the practical question becomes how to manage the jump to a new loan at today’s rates.
Temporary Rate Buydowns
A temporary buydown reduces your interest rate for the first one to three years of the new mortgage. In a 2-1 buydown, the rate is cut by two percentage points in year one and one point in year two, then returns to the note rate for the remainder of the loan. The cost is funded through an escrow account at closing, often as a seller or builder concession, and the deposit roughly equals the total payment savings during the reduced-rate period. It’s useful if you expect income growth or plan to refinance before the full rate takes effect.
Bridge Loans
If you need to buy before your current home sells, a bridge loan can cover the gap. Terms typically run six months to a year, with interest-only payments and a balloon at the end. Rates are higher than conventional mortgages, and closing costs generally run 1.5% to 3% of the loan amount. A bridge loan solves the timing problem but doesn’t preserve your old rate.
Could Portable Mortgages Come to the US?
Portability has drawn recent attention from federal policymakers, with administration officials discussing broader access to assumable mortgages and the possible creation of new portable products to address the rate lock-in effect keeping homeowners in place.1Bipartisan Policy Center. Can Assumable or Portable Mortgages Unlock the Housing Market Whether that turns into policy is unclear. US mortgages are typically packaged into mortgage-backed securities, and changing terms or collateral after securitization would require significant changes to how the secondary market works. For now, plan around the rules as they stand: the loan on your current home ends when you sell it, and your next home starts a new one.