Who owns my loan?
Minneapolis, MN: Until recently, no one really needed to know, and no one really cared who ultimately owns their mortgage loan. Home owners receive their monthly statements, and make their monthly payments, to their mortgage company (or mortgage servicer).
With numerous program available to assist homeowners, including HARP 2, the Home Affordable Refinance Program, which require the loan be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, it is very important to know who, and if they own your mortgage loan.
There are usually a few people involved in your loan process:
- The Originator: The company who did the original loan. This could be a bank, broker, or direct mortgage company
- The Servicer: The company now providing the statements and accepting the payments is only providing the service of billing, statements, customer service, etc. This company could also have been your originator.
- The Investor: This is usually not the company that provided the funds originally to make the loan, but a company that may hold your loan permanently, or sell it off to someone else, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Many times this company also becomes your loan servicer.
- Actual Owner / End Owner: This could be a bank, mortgage company, or some kind of investor group. For a large number of homeowners, this is Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.