In a perfect world you should be able to call the phone number on your last mortgage statement or the number in your payment coupon book and connect directly with your lender. But more often than not, this merely puts you in touch with the mortgage servicer - the business that collects and processes your payments. And in most cases, the servicer is either prohibited from divulging the true identity of your lender or the person you’re dealing with has no idea who your lender is or even what you may be asking. During the height of the subprime lending, risky mortgages along with good mortgages were often sliced and diced and repackaged into mortgage backed securities (MBS’s) that were sold and traded on Wall Street, so the end investor owning a portion of your loan may be impossible to track down. And since the mortgage meltdown sank many banks and other lending institutions which were taken over by other banks or regulators, often the information regarding the original investors behind your loan may have been lost. Creating another level of anonymity to the already confusing mortgage servicing process, many of these investors and banks subscribe to an automated system called MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) that keeps track of who owns the mortgage and note as it changes hands among investors, as well as who services it for that investor. But customers who attempt to look up the investor behind their mortgage on the MERS registry will usually not find it. Rather, MERS makes the name and contact information of the servicer available, but not the name and contact of the investor. That information is for the servicer or investor to disclose, not MERS. So, what should you do if you’re trying to track down your lender? Take the following approach: Call the phone number on your most recent mortgage statement or your payment coupon book. This will put you in touch with the mortgage servicer who may also be the lender who owns your mortgage or at least be able to tell you the name of your lender. (Remember, the person may not know or may not be permitted to tell you so you may have to try several different representatives or even their managers). Chances are that if your original loan amount is below $417,000 and your loan is a fixed or a hybrid loan (short term fixed that turns adjustable) then you probably have an agency backed loan which has ended up at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the investors behind conventional agency loans (see their contact information below). However, if your original loan amount is greater than $417,000, is a monthly adjustable rate mortgage (also called a Pay Option ARM), or a subprime mortgage, then your loan is probably on of the many loans that were sliced and iced and sold as a mortgage backed security on Wall Street. You can try to contact Fannie Mae (FNMA). If they own the note, they may provide the identity of the investor: 1-800-7FANNIE (1-800-732-6643). When trying to contact your lender to work out a payment plan or some other deal, knowing who owns your mortgage can be very helpful. Unfortunately finding out is not as easy as it sounds.
You can fill out an inquiry on the website by Freddie Mac (FHMLC) by visiting them at https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/. If they own the note, they may provide the identity of the investor.
If you have an FHA loan, contact FHA’s National Servicing Center to determine who owns your mortgage: (800) CALL- FHA / (800) 225- 5342 or send an email to hsg-lossmit@hud.gov
If the mortgage is listed as MOM or has a MIN (Mortgage Identification Number) assigned to it, you can search the MERS database by mortgage identification number (MIN), your name and social security number, or the property’s address. Dial the toll-free MERS Servicer Identification System at 888-679-6377 (an automated touch-tone system) or search online at MERS Servicer ID.
If you know the name of the bank or other lending institution that owns your mortgage but have no contact information for them, check out the HOPE NOW Mortgage Lender’s Directory.
*One of the most important steps to saving your home from foreclosure is to get in touch with your lender immediately. Better yet, hire a qualified attorney with experience in foreclosures and loan modifications to contact your lender on your behalf, so you have legal representation on your side. You can almost be certain that your lender will have a slew of attorneys reviewing the paperwork. You should have one to watch your back, too.
