To find out who the mortgage lender is on a property, search the county recorder’s office where the property sits for the recorded mortgage or deed of trust, then check for any later assignments that may have transferred the loan. Free tools from MERS, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac can confirm the current servicer or owner in minutes. Because mortgages are bought and sold routinely, the lender named on the original recorded document is often not the entity that holds the debt today, so a thorough answer usually means checking more than one source.
What to Gather Before You Search
Every method below works better when you start with clean identifying information. Collect as much of this as you can:
- The full street address, including any unit number.
- The owner’s full legal name as it appears on recorded documents. Nicknames and misspellings return incomplete results.
- The parcel number, sometimes called the Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN) or tax identification number. This is unique to the property and avoids confusion between similar addresses.
- The legal description: lot, block, and subdivision, or a metes-and-bounds description.
The parcel number and legal description are usually free on the county tax assessor’s website. Enter the address and both will typically appear on the property’s record. Many counties also publish GIS maps that display parcel lines with the same identifiers.
If the property is titled to an LLC or corporation rather than a person, run the entity through your state’s Secretary of State business database first. That search can produce the names of members or a registered agent, which you can then use in the land records.
Search the County Recorder’s Records
The county recorder’s office is the official repository for mortgages, deeds of trust, and every other document affecting title to real property in that county. Depending on the state, the same office may be called the Register of Deeds or Registrar of Titles. When a lender finances a purchase, the mortgage or deed of trust is recorded there, which creates the public record of the lien.
You can search either in person at the office or through the county’s online portal, if one is available. Most systems index documents by the parties’ names in two directions. The grantor index lists the person who conveyed an interest; on a mortgage filing, that is usually the borrower. The grantee index lists the party who received an interest, which is the lender.
Search the owner’s name in the grantor index and look for documents titled “Mortgage,” “Deed of Trust,” or “Security Instrument.” Open the document and read the grantee field to identify the lender who originally funded the loan. Note the recording date and instrument number as well; both help you track later transfers.
Fees for official copies vary. Some counties charge per page, others charge a flat fee per document, and many online portals let you view images for free but charge for certified copies.
Follow the Assignments to the Current Holder
The lender named on the original mortgage is often not the one that holds the loan today. Mortgages are routinely sold on the secondary market, and each transfer is documented by an “assignment of mortgage” (or “assignment of deed of trust” in states that use that instrument). The assignor is the entity transferring its interest; the assignee is the entity receiving it. The most recent assignee is the current holder.
Assignments are supposed to be recorded in the same county office as the original mortgage, but delays are common. Some assignments are filed months or years after the fact, and some are never filed, particularly when the loan is registered on MERS. If you find the original mortgage but no assignments, that does not prove the original lender still holds the loan. It only tells you no transfer has been recorded.
When assignments have been recorded, you can trace the chain by searching each successive lender’s name in the grantor index. Each assignment links one holder to the next.
Servicer or Loan Owner: Know Which You’re Looking For
The company that sends the monthly statement is often not the company that owns the loan. The servicer handles payments, escrow, and correspondence. The note holder, sometimes called the investor, has the legal right to enforce the loan and to foreclose.
The distinction matters because most online lookup tools return the servicer first. For payoff figures, payment questions, or loss mitigation, the servicer is the correct contact. If you need to know who actually owns the debt, for example to serve legal process or to identify the lienholder, you need to identify the investor. Some tools give you both.
Use Free Online Lookup Tools
MERS ServicerID
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) operates a free tool called ServicerID that identifies the current servicer and, in many cases, the investor for loans registered on its system. MERS often appears in the land records as the nominee mortgagee, which means the recorded document names “MERS” rather than the actual lender. ServicerID lets you look behind that listing.
You can search by property address and zip code, by borrower name and Social Security number, or by the 18-digit Mortgage Identification Number (MIN) printed on the mortgage or deed of trust signed at closing. The MIN is not required; the other two methods work without it. To see investor information, you may need to verify your identity as the borrower or an authorized representative. The tool is available at mersinc.org or by phone at (888) 679-6377.1MERSINC. Find Your Servicer with MERS ServicerID
Not every mortgage is on MERS. Smaller community banks, credit unions, and private lenders often keep loans off the system. A no-result search means MERS does not track the loan, not that no mortgage exists.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loan Lookup
A large share of U.S. residential mortgages are owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac even when a different company services them. Both agencies offer free lookup tools:
- Fannie Mae Loan Lookup at yourhome.fanniemae.com asks for the property address and borrower identifying information.2Fannie Mae. Loan Lookup Tool
- Freddie Mac Loan Look-Up at myhome.freddiemac.com asks for the house number, street name, city, state, zip code, and the last four digits of the borrower’s Social Security number. You have to confirm you are the property owner or have the owner’s consent.3Freddie Mac. Loan Look-Up Tool
Both tools require personal identifying information that a third party normally would not have, which makes them most practical when you are researching your own mortgage. For someone else’s property, county records and MERS are the workable routes.
Check the Property Tax Bill
Property tax records can point to the lender indirectly. When a lender maintains an escrow account, it usually pays the property taxes on the borrower’s behalf, and the tax bill may list the lender or its escrow agent in the “bill to” or “care of” field alongside the owner’s name.
County tax assessor and tax collector portals are usually free and searchable by address or parcel number without an account. A financial institution shown in the billing section is likely the current servicer, though this method will not tell you whether that same entity owns the loan.
Tax records can be more current than the recorder’s deed index after a servicing transfer, because the new servicer has to make sure tax payments continue without interruption. If the borrower pays taxes directly and has no escrow account, no lender will appear on the tax bill at all.
If You’re the Borrower, Ask the Servicer in Writing
If you are the borrower or you are working on the borrower’s behalf, federal law lets you require the servicer to tell you who owns the loan. Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), you can send a qualified written request, also called a request for information, to your servicer. The request has to be in writing, identify your name and account, and describe the information you want, which here is the name, address, and phone number of the loan’s owner.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 2605 – Servicing of Mortgage Loans and Administration of Escrow Accounts
The servicer must acknowledge the request within five business days and respond within 30 business days with either the information or an explanation of why it cannot be provided. During the first 60 days after the servicer receives a request tied to a payment dispute, it cannot report negative information about that payment to credit bureaus.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 2605 – Servicing of Mortgage Loans and Administration of Escrow Accounts
When to Order a Professional Title Search
If the do-it-yourself methods produce conflicting results, or if you need a formal record for a legal proceeding or real estate transaction, a professional title search is worth the cost. Title companies and abstractors search the full chain of recorded documents, including assignments, subordinations, and judgment liens, and compile them into a report.
Two products cover most needs. A property profile shows current ownership, mortgages of record, deeds, taxes, and recorded liens, and is usually enough to identify the current lender. A preliminary title report adds easements, restrictive covenants, and any requirements for clearing title defects, and is typically ordered when a property enters escrow. Order through a title company or a real estate attorney; cost depends on the property’s history and your location.