Our Mortgage was Sold
About a week ago we returned home to an urgent sounding phone message from our mortgage lender, Provident Funding Associates, saying that we needed to call them. Having been through this before, I knew exactly what they were going to say — they sold our mortgage.
Of course, I Googled the phone number that they left before calling them back just to be sure that it wasn’t a phishing scheme of some sort. When the number popped up on one of Provident’s contact pages, I gave them a call. Sure enough, they had sold our mortgage — or at least the servicing rights — to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. This happens all the time, and it’s not a big deal. The terms of your loan remain the same, so you basically just need to start sending the money to someone else.
Here’s a tip for you… If you ever receive notice from a new loan servicer that your mortgage has been transferred to them, call the old servicer to verify that this is true — and don’t rely on contact information provided by the new servicer when doing this. If you naively start redirecting your payments to the new servicer, or try to call the old servicer using a number provided by the new servicer to verify the transfer, you could end up in a world of hurt. It’s possible that a scammer is trying to intercept your mortgage payments, and you might not figure it out until after the original servicer comes after you for non-payment.
For more information on moving, check out my Roadmap for a Successful Relocation.
Published on July 25th, 2006 - 6 Comments
Filed under: Mortgages, Moving
email this article
- add to tip'd - stumble it - digg it - bookmark it
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» What Happens to Your Mortgage if Your Bank Fails?» Pre-Paying our Mortgage
» Escape Your Mortgage Due to a Bank Failure?
» The Best of FCN – Selections from 04/06
» From the Archives (March 31st – April 12th)
» Carnivals – Week of 07/31/06
» Debt Reduction: Share Your Story
» What is a Mortgage Escrow Account?
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
Great deals...
Readers’ choice...
Recent articles...
- Did Congress Make the Homebuyer Tax Credit Retroactive?
- Congress Extends $8000 Homebuyer Tax Credit, Adds New $6500 Credit
- Lending Club Update - October 2009 Performance
- How Much to Budget for Car Maintenance?
- Series I Savings Bonds Now Paying 3.36%
- Use Weight Loss Strategies to Get Out of Debt
- Weekly Roundup - Disney Shanghai Edition
- How to Save Money on Vacations
- Most and Least Reliable Cars - 2009 Edition
- Get 100 Free Trades from OptionsHouse Brokerage
Recent comments...
- Penny: I am about to purchase a new home.. which will be my new residence...
- APRIL DAYS: I FOR ONE HOPE THAT THE FIRST TIME HOMEOWNERS TAX CREDIT IS EXTENDED BECAUSE...
- JB: I drive a 1999 car and save $60 a month for car repairs, oil...
- Greta: My significant other and I bought a house in February 2009. My boyfriend...
- Jay: Don't forget nCleaner 2nd for turning off widows firewall and windows defender...also use the...
- Bryan: @Doug - you said it... if you simply delayed the closing, it would have...
- Sympathetic Dish TSR: @ Bonnie: Is your HD tv a Flatscreen LCD style? If so then a...
- John DeFlumeri Jr: Thanks for explaining the tax credit. Too bad for those who purchase in...
Most talked about...
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- Would the "Fair Tax" Gut the Economy?
- Tax Stimulus Rebate Payments to Start Early
- Pay Off Mortgage Early? Or Invest?
- The Best Online Savings Accounts (Updated!)
- Life's Too Short to Drink Cheap Beer
- $7500 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
My boyfriend’s father’s mortgage was sold, and he thought it was some kind of scam, because who in their right name would name a mortgage bank Fifth Third?
Comment by Kira — Jul 25th 2006 @ 11:18 amGREAT advice! Thanks for posting it.
Comment by mapgirl — Jul 25th 2006 @ 11:36 amThis is a good advice. I have never thought about this … That’s for sharing.
Comment by nick — Jul 25th 2006 @ 4:22 pmMy last mortgage was sold right away – I hadn’t realized it was a common practice.
Comment by Kim — Jul 25th 2006 @ 11:25 pmI love this website – you keep it so fresh and interesting. Thanks, Nickel!
Interesting… when I had a mortgage about 10 years ago, it was sold but nobody ever called to tell us about it. I think we just got a letter and a new little payment coupon book with the new bank name on it, and it was seamless. I suppose the little coupon books aren’t really in use anymore? That would be a fairly complicated thing for a phisher to produce!
Comment by Madame X — Jul 26th 2006 @ 9:15 amGood stuff, Nickel. Wells Fargo has just bought about $140 billion worth of loans from Washington Mutual so a lot more folks will be getting similar calls.
The business of collecting mortgage payments is called “mortgage servicing” and the profits lie in scale, as in Economies of Scale. Wells Fargo pays to service loans, but for each loan it services, the cost per loan to Wells Fargo is reduced.
Comment by Dan Green — Jul 31st 2006 @ 12:51 pm