When you receive a notice that your mortgage has been sold to another company, it’s natural to feel concerned. This process, called a secondary market mortgage sale, is a common and essential part of the home lending system.
Here’s how it works: After your mortgage loan closes, the original lender (known as the originator) often packages your loan with many others into bundles called mortgage-backed securities (MBS). These bundles are sold to investors, including large institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, on what’s called the secondary mortgage market. This allows lenders to replenish their funds quickly and continue offering mortgages to more homebuyers.
When your loan is sold, servicing rights often transfer to a new mortgage servicer—a company responsible for collecting your payments, managing escrow accounts, and assisting with account questions. While the company collecting your payments may change, the terms you agreed to in your mortgage contract, such as the interest rate, loan amount, and payment schedule, remain unchanged.
Legally, under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), you must be notified of the sale, and there is a 60-day period during which you can make payments to your old servicer without penalty. This protects borrowers from confusion during the transfer.
This system benefits everyone: lenders gain liquidity to fund new loans, borrowers enjoy competitive loan availability and interest rates, and the overall housing market maintains stability by distributing risk among multiple investors.
Common misconceptions include the belief that the loan sale reflects negatively on a borrower’s creditworthiness or that loan terms can be altered without consent. Neither is true; selling your mortgage is a routine financial transaction unrelated to your payment history, and your contract terms are legally protected.
If you receive a notice about your mortgage being sold, carefully review it, update your payment information as instructed, and continue making your monthly payments on time. For more information, refer to CFPB’s guide on mortgage servicer transfers.
Understanding secondary market mortgage sales helps demystify why your mortgage servicer might change and reinforces that your loan’s stability remains intact throughout the process.