What Happens If My Mortgage Was Sold to Another Company?

If your mortgage is sold to another company, the terms of your loan do not change. Your interest rate, monthly payment, remaining balance, and payoff date are all fixed by the promissory note you signed at closing, and a sale cannot alter them. What changes is the address you send your payment to and the phone number you call with questions. Federal law requires written notice before the switch and gives you a 60-day cushion if you accidentally pay the old company after the handoff.

What Actually Got Sold

Two different roles exist on every mortgage, and the distinction explains most of the confusion. The note holder (also called the investor or owner) legally owns your debt and receives your principal and interest. The servicer is the company that sends your monthly statement, processes payments, manages your escrow, and answers the phone.

These are often different companies, and servicing rights get bought and sold on their own. When people say their mortgage was “sold,” they usually mean the servicing rights transferred. That is the change you actually feel, because it determines where the check goes.

You cannot block the sale. Your loan documents give the lender the right to transfer the loan without your permission, and consent from the borrower is not part of the process. What you do have is a set of federal protections that control how the transfer works.

Your Loan Terms Stay the Same

The transfer notice itself is required to say this plainly: the transfer does not affect any term or condition of your mortgage other than the servicing.¹ Interest rate, payment amount, balance, and maturity date all come from your original note, and the new servicer inherits those obligations exactly as written.

The same applies to any loan modification, repayment plan, or forbearance you had in place with the old servicer. Federal rules require the old servicer to transfer all loan documents and information to the new servicer in a form that lets the new company comply with its obligations.² Keep your copy of any modification agreement. Paperwork occasionally goes missing in transit, and your records are your proof.

The Notices You Should Get

Federal law requires two written notices when servicing changes hands, one from each servicer.³

The old servicer must send a transfer notice at least 15 days before the effective date.¹
The new servicer must send its notice no more than 15 days after the effective date.¹

Each notice must include the effective transfer date, the name, address, and toll-free phone number for both companies, the exact date the old servicer stops accepting payments and the new one starts, and a statement that the transfer does not change other loan terms.¹ If you never got the letters, treat that as a warning sign. It could mean a notice violation, or it could mean the “new servicer” letter you received is a scam.

What You Need to Do

Once you have the transfer notice, mark the date the old servicer stops accepting payments and the date the new one starts. Those dates should be consecutive with no gap.¹ After the transfer date, send payments to the new servicer at the address and account number on the notice.

Autopay Does Not Follow the Loan

This is the single most common trip-up. If you set up automatic payments with the old servicer, or online bill pay through your bank, those instructions stay pointed at the old company. They do not move to the new one on their own.⁴ Cancel the old arrangement and set up a new one with the new servicer as soon as you know the transfer is coming. If your bank runs the bill pay, update the payee there. Give yourself a buffer, and watch your account the month of the switch to confirm the payment cleared.

Check the Escrow

Your escrow account continues through the transfer, and federal law requires the servicer to make timely payments from it for taxes, insurance, and related charges as they come due.⁵ The old servicer is expected to remit the escrow balance to the new one so upcoming bills get paid on schedule.

This is where real financial harm can occur if something is off. When the first statement from the new servicer arrives, confirm the escrow balance matches what the old one reported. If it does not, put the discrepancy in writing before the next tax or insurance due date.

Keep Records

During the transition month, save everything. Certified mail with return receipt for mailed checks, confirmation numbers for online payments, your last statement from the old servicer, your first statement from the new one. If a payment goes missing in the handoff, this is what resolves it.

The 60-Day Grace Period

Federal law builds in a 60-day safety net starting on the effective date of the transfer. If you send a payment to the old servicer during that window instead of the new one, it cannot be treated as late for any purpose. No late fee, no negative credit reporting, as long as you sent it on time.¹ The old servicer who receives a misdirected payment must either forward it to the new servicer or return it to you with instructions.⁴

Two things this protection does not do. It does not cover payments you failed to make at all — your monthly obligation is still due on the normal date. And it ends at day 61. A payment sent to the wrong company after that can bring a late fee and a delinquency on your credit report.

Confirming the New Servicer Is Real

Mortgage transfer scams exist. A fake letter with a new address and account number can look convincing. Before redirecting any payment, verify.

Call your current servicer using the phone number on your most recent statement, not any number from the new letter, and ask them to confirm the transfer. Your servicer is required to identify the owner of your loan on request.⁶ You can also check ownership independently:

Fannie Mae Loan Lookup at yourhome.fanniemae.com
Freddie Mac Loan Lookup at myhome.freddiemac.com
MERS ServicerID at mers-servicerid.org or (888) 679-6377⁷

If anything looks off, keep paying the servicer you know is legitimate while you sort it out. The 60-day window gives you room to investigate without penalty.

If Something Goes Wrong

Misapplied payments, wrong escrow balances, and lost paperwork happen. Federal law gives you a formal process that forces the servicer to investigate and respond on a set clock, but only if you use it in writing. Phone calls do not trigger the deadlines.

Send a written Notice of Error with your name, loan account number, and a description of the problem.⁸ Use certified mail with return receipt, and send it to the servicer’s designated error resolution address (found on your statement or the servicer’s website), not the payment address. The servicer must acknowledge receipt within five business days, then has 30 business days to investigate and either fix the error or explain in writing why it believes there was none. It can extend that by 15 business days if it notifies you before the original 30 days run out.⁹

If the servicer misses the deadlines or responds without solving the problem, you can escalate to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or (855) 411-2372.¹⁰ Include your loan number, the relevant dates, and copies of your correspondence. The certified mail receipts and written record from your Notice of Error are what make the complaint hard to dismiss.

1
eCFR. 12 CFR 1024.33 – Mortgage Servicing Transfers
2
eCFR. 12 CFR 1024.38 – General Servicing Policies, Procedures, and Requirements
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1024.33 – Mortgage Servicing Transfers
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Happens If the Company That I Send My Mortgage Payments to Changes
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 2605 – Servicing of Mortgage Loans and Administration of Escrow Accounts
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Can I Tell Who Owns My Mortgage
7
MERSINC. Homeowners ServicerID
8
eCFR. 12 CFR 1024.35 – Error Resolution Procedures
9
eCFR. 12 CFR 1024.35 – Error Resolution Procedures
10
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint