Watch Mortgage Payments During Transfers
236/365 doing the sums: courtesy obo-bobolina @ flickr
North Carolina Mortgage Loan Transfers
Mortgage lenders typically sell the servicing of mortgage loans shortly after closing a loan. The mortgage loan can still be sold at any time to another lender to allow the mortgage loan company to free up capital. In North Carolina, the mortgage lender is required to provide you with at least 15 days notice of the sale of your mortgage loan to another lender. This is supposed to provide adequate opportunity to ensure your mortgage payment is mailed to the right lender.
Charlotte Mortgage Double Paid
Here in the Charlotte, NC area, this procedure did not work as intended. According to Channel 9 News (Charlotte, NC), a local Charlotte man was paying two mortgage companies for the same home loan! It seems that the mortgage was sold by GMAC Mortgage to another lender, but GMAC was still collecting payments that were being drafted from his bank account. Even after complaining to GMAC, they claimed they could not find any records of taking more than $2300 in mortgage payments. Finally, Channel 9’s “Action 9″ team got involved and got his money back.
NC Law and You
This highlights a couple things. Although North Carolina requires notice of the sale of a mortgage loan to another lender, this does not guarantee that the original lender will have their ducks in a row and follow through as they should. So one should keep an eye on the transition between lenders. NC mortgage law could not stop the problem from happening, so it is up to you to make sure they don’t run away with your money. Additionally, the Charlotte man paid his mortgage by bank draft, which allowed this to happen. If you are paying your mortgage (or any other bills) using a direct debit bank draft from your checking account, you are giving total control over to the party that you agree to pay. Errors happen, and even the best of money trails can get lost. With the age of online banking, one should consider paying their mortgage using online banking rather than bank draft. Then you are in total control over who gets that mortgage payment!
Article ID: cmc963