Quick answer
A mortgage servicer is the company that sends your statements, collects your payments, manages any escrow account for taxes and insurance, and handles requests for help if you fall behind. It is often not the lender that made the loan, or the investor that owns it.
Key facts
15days
Transfer notices: before (old servicer) and after (new servicer), within
CFPB, Regulation X 1024.33 · Oct 29, 2026
60days
Payments sent to the old servicer protected from late fees for
CFPB, Regulation X 1024.33 · Oct 29, 2026
120days
No foreclosure filing until more than this delinquent
12 CFR 1024.41(f)(1) (Regulation X) · Oct 28, 2026
When servicing changes hands
Servicing rights are bought and sold, but a transfer can’t change the terms of your loan. The old servicer generally must notify you at least 15 days before the transfer and the new one within 15 days after (the two notices can be combined). For 60 days after the transfer, a payment sent on time to the old servicer can’t be treated as late or charged a late fee. Keep the notices and check that your escrow balance moved over.
Rules servicers follow
Regulation X sets the main ones. An escrow account’s cushion can’t exceed 2 months of payments. A servicer generally can’t make the first foreclosure notice or filing until your loan is more than 120 days delinquent, and it must evaluate a complete, timely application for help such as forbearance or a loan modification. You can send a written notice of error or request for information, and the servicer must respond within set deadlines. It’s also the servicer you ask to cancel PMI — see the PMI guide — and to whom you send extra principal, as in biweekly payments.
Sources
- CFPB, Regulation X 1024.33 — Servicing transfer notice: old servicer at least this long before the transfer, new servicer within this long after; After a servicing transfer, an on-time payment sent to the old servicer cannot be treated as late for (Oct 29, 2026)
- CFPB, Regulation X 1024.17 — Most an escrow account may hold as a cushion (one-sixth of annual escrow payments) (Oct 28, 2026)
- 12 CFR 1024.41(f)(1) (Regulation X) — Servicer cannot make the first foreclosure notice or filing until a closed-end mortgage is more than this delinquent (Oct 28, 2026)
- CFPB: What’s the difference between a mortgage lender and a mortgage servicer?
- CFPB: What happens if the company that I send my mortgage payments to changes?
Last reviewed Figures are checked against the sources above. Read our editorial policy. This page is general information, not financial advice — see the disclaimer.