Federal rules say that your mortgage servicing company (your “servicer”) must correct errors related to the servicing of your mortgage. If you think your servicer has made a mistake, you can:
- Call your servicer. They may be able to help you over the phone. See your monthly mortgage statement or coupon book for the phone number.
- Write a letter. If your servicer was unable to fix your issue over the phone, you may have additional protections if you write your servicer a Notice of Error letter.
Notice of Error letter tips
- See our form letter below.
- Include your name, home address, and mortgage account number. Use the name that is on your mortgage. Also include your spouse or other co-borrower if they are on the mortgage.
- Explain the mistake. Tell your servicer exactly what error you believe occurred.
- Give important details, such as: “I made my January payment on time. I paid $1,500 on January 1 but was still charged a late fee.”
- Be specific. Rather than writing “you did not apply my payment correctly,” explain how you believe the payment was incorrectly applied.
- Do not write your letter on your payment coupon or other payment form.
- Send the letter to the right address. A servicer may use a special address for borrowers sending requests to correct errors. Find the address on your monthly mortgage statement or coupon book, or on the servicer’s website. You can also call your servicer and ask them for the right address. Note that the right address for error corrections may be different than the address to which you send your monthly payments.
- Print and mail your letter by USPS Certified Mail. Keep a copy of the letter, the USPS Certified Mail Receipt, and the receipt of purchase of the certified mail postage from the post office. If the mortgage servicer does not respond to your letter, you may need proof that you mailed it and proof of the cost of mailing to support a claim for actual damages.
What to expect
- The servicer must acknowledge your request and either:
- correct the error and confirm that the error was corrected, or
- investigate and determine that no error occurred and send you a notice explaining why.
- Generally, servicers cannot charge you a fee for responding to error requests.
- Your servicer might ask for more information about the error. However, your servicer cannot refuse to investigate or determine that no error occurred because you didn’t provide the information.
- A servicer does not have to investigate your request for error resolution if:
- your request is too broad
- you are sending in the same request over and over, or
- you are asking for help with a loan that was transferred to another servicer or paid off more than a year ago.
Timelines
The servicer must acknowledge your letter within five business days of getting it.
If you are writing to say your servicer improperly started or scheduled a foreclosure:
- The servicer must respond to your letter before the foreclosure sale or within 30 business days of getting your letter, whichever is earlier, if your servicer receives your letter more than seven days before the sale.
- The servicer should make a good-faith effort to respond to your letter, if your servicer receives your letter seven days or less before the sale.
- If you are writing to say the servicer gave you the wrong payoff balance, the servicer must respond within seven business days of getting your letter.
- For all other errors, the service must respond within 30 business days of getting your letter.
- In some cases, the servicer may come back to you in writing and ask for more information or ask for an additional 15 business days to investigate and respond to your request.
Form letter you can use
Use the following Notice of Error sample letter if you want to contact your mortgage servicer to tell them about an error. Add your information to the template letter. Edit it as needed to fit your situation. Don’t forget to delete the instructions in [brackets]!
Date: [Enter today’s date]
To:
[Enter your mortgage service company’s name]
[Enter your mortgage servicer’s address]
From:
[Enter your full name]
[Enter your street address]
[Enter your city, state and ZIP code]
Re: Error Resolution Notice under 12 C.F.R. §1024.35
Mortgage Loan Number: [Enter your loan number]
I am writing to request correction of the error described below in regard to the mortgage on my property at [Enter your home address].
[Enter a full description of the error. You may adapt the sample text below for some common servicing errors, or write your own description. Don’t forget to delete these instructions and the sample text for errors that don’t apply to you! Please note that this is not a complete list of all possible errors, such as errors regarding your servicer’s failure to provide accurate information about loss mitigation options, foreclosure, or transfers of the servicing of your loans; your servicer’s foreclosure activity against you that may violate the rules; or any other error relating to the servicing of your loan. Your servicer may be required to respond to your letter even if it is not as detailed as the model below. However, including these details will increase the chances that your servicer will be able to investigate your issue and respond quickly.]
Payment Errors:
- Your company rejected the full payment I made on [Enter the date] in the amount of [Enter the amount $X dollars – If this was not equal to your regularly scheduled payment, explain why.]
- Your company did not properly credit the payment that I made on [Enter the date] in the amount of [Enter the amount $X dollars]. This payment should have been credited to:
- [Tell the servicer how the payment should have been credited to principal, interest, escrow or other charges.]
- Your company did not credit the payment I made on [Enter the date] as of the date of receipt.
Escrow Errors:
- I have been notified by [Enter the source of information such as your taxing authority or homeowner’s insurance company] that your company did not pay the following expenses from my escrow account:
- Property taxes: [Enter the amount and date due. Include evidence, if available.]
- Insurance premiums: [Enter the type of insurance, name of insurance company, account number, amount, and date due. Include evidence, if available.]
- Other charges: [Enter specific information.]
- I believe that I am entitled to a refund of excess funds in my escrow account and I have not received them. [Enter some evidence or describe why you believe you are entitled to excess escrow funds.]
Fee Errors:
- Your company incorrectly imposed a [Enter the type of fee, such as a late fee] on [Enter the date] in the amount of [Enter the amount $X dollars – Describe or include evidence that you have been charged this fee.]
Payoff Errors:
- Your company did not give me an accurate mortgage payoff balance that I requested on [Enter the date].
If you need to contact me, I can be reached at [Enter your best contact information, which may be your home address, work or mobile phone, or email address.]
Sincerely,
[Sign your name]
[Enter your name]
[Enter your co-borrower’s name, if there is one]
Make a complaint to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau
If you believe your servicer did not follow the rules in responding to your Notice of Error letter, you can contact the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The CFPB enforces federal consumer financial laws and protects consumers in the financial marketplace. The CFPB will work with the company to get a response. Contact the CFBP at 1-855-411-2372 or www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint.
