2006 November 29 | Wheatworks Blog: Financial Matters

Archive for 29th November 2006

Preparing for a Mortgage Loan Servicing Transfer

11/29/2006, 6:19 am

Washington Mutual has sold its mortgage servicing business to WellsFargo. The accounts of 1.3 million mortgage servicing customers will be soon transferred from WAMU to WellsFargo.

Whether it’s a letter from WAMU or another mortgage servicing company, chances are pretty good that your mortgage will be sold a time or two during the 20 or 30 years you make payments. When you get the letter (AKA “Notice of Servicing Transfer“), what should you do.

First, hang onto it and file it in the folder where you keep your other mortgage-related documents.

Second, document that status of your mortgage. If you’re one whose mortgage servicing is being transferred from WAMU to WellsFargo, login to your WAMU account and print the information you see in your web browser: Account Summary, Loan Details, Escrow Summary, Transaction History, Amortization Schedule and other pages that contain information about your current loan status.

Third, using the online Document Request feature or by calling your current mortgage servicer, request paper copies of the information you have printed. Ask for copies of all your loan documents including the HUD-1, the Escrow Statement, a Payoff Quote, and other documents the servicer has available. It’s better to have these and not need them, than need them and not have them.

Fourth, if your mortgage loan payment is being automatically drafted from a checking or other account, pay close attention to your account statements to ensure the payments occur as they should after the transfer. If you use a third-party service to make your loan payments (an online bill paying service for example), remember to provide the service with the new mortgage servicer’s payment information (account number, address, etc.).

Fifth, while you may have no say in whether your mortgage loan is transferred to another servicer, you do have some very clear consumer rights and protections related to your loan servicing. These are detailed in section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (AKA RESPA) which is Federal law. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has an excellent web site with information about your RESPA-guaranteed rights.

Finally, if you have problems or experience any difficulties resulting from the transfer of your mortgage loan from one servicer to another, always communicate with your loan servicer in writing.

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