Your rights if your loan is sold
It happens all the time. Your lender may send you a letter stating that your mortgage loan has been sold to another company.
This should not affect your terms or rates at all but it is nice to know and understand your rights just in case there are any complications.
Shirley J. Hagler’s article, “Know Your Rights If Your Loan Is Sold,” posted on move.com describes your rights when your loan is sold and what you can do to make sure everything transfers smoothly.
The first thing to know is that you should not panic when you receive the letter. All that is happening is that the rights to your loan are being sold. Basically, you will just be making payments to another company. It may or may not ever happen.
“When you first applied for the mortgage, the lender gave you information about the likelihood of your loan being sold to another investor. This figure was expressed as a percentage, i.e. ‘greater than 50%.’ These guidelines are federally mandated including the fact that once your loan is sold, you must hear from both the lender saying ‘goodbye’ and the one saying ‘hello’ to your mortgage.”
Your old lender must send you a “goodbye” letter and your new lender must send a “hello” letter.
The old lender’s letter must provide certain information. “At least fifteen days before the date your next payment is due, the lender selling your loan must notify you in writing, provide you (on their letterhead stationery) the name of the new company, its full address, a phone number (800# preferred), and the name of a contact person who can answer your questions.”
The company purchasing your loan must send you the same information as your old lender, within the same time frame, complete with the name of a person that you can speak to if you have questions.
“The federal government mandated these guidelines several years ago when bogus mortgage scams had unwitting consumers re-routing their monthly payments to blind post office boxes when, in fact, their loans had never been sold. Some of the buyers found out too late---when they received loan delinquency notices from the true, original providers of their loans!”
If you do not receive both the "goodbye" and "hello" letters, contact your current mortgage provider for clarification.
“Federal guidelines prohibit your loan from being termed ‘delinquent’ for a period of sixty days during the transfer of servicing. You have time to check out the facts before making any change, and don't let anyone convince you of the contrary!”
Keep both letters just in case there are any future complications.