Servicing residential mortgage loans is governed by detailed rules with specific response deadlines.
Notices of error and information requests. Acknowledgement within five business days, and a response within thirty business days for most categories, with a limited extension. The scope of covered errors is broad and includes failures to apply payments and improper fee assessment.
Force-placed insurance. Advance notices at defined intervals before charging a borrower, with a requirement to cancel and refund where evidence of coverage is received.
Early intervention. Live contact with delinquent borrowers by a stated day of delinquency, and written notice with loss mitigation information.
Continuity of contact. Assigned personnel accessible to the borrower with access to the file.
Loss mitigation. On receipt of a complete application, evaluation within thirty days for all available options, a written decision with appeal rights for denials of loan modification options, and restrictions on referring to foreclosure or proceeding to sale while an application is pending — the dual tracking prohibition.
Foreclosure timing. No first notice or filing until the borrower is more than one hundred twenty days delinquent.
Transfers. Notices from both transferor and transferee, and a period during which payments to the prior servicer must be credited.