Last reviewed: 1 October 2026
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Notice of error and request for information: what your mortgage servicer has to do
The short answer: if you send your mortgage servicer a written notice describing an error on your account, or a written request for information about your loan, it must acknowledge it within 5 days and generally answer within 30 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays or legal public holidays, with one possible 15-day extension.[1, 2, 4] What this term means: a “servicer” is the company that collects your monthly payments, which may not be your lender.[5] A “notice of error” is a written notice that gives your name, information that lets the servicer identify your loan account, and the error you believe happened.[1]
This is the written route federal servicing rules give you for fixing a mistake or getting an answer. It sits behind several of our other guides, including force-placed insurance, escrow shortages and servicing transfers.
What counts as an error
Regulation X lists eleven categories. They include failing to accept a conforming payment or to apply an accepted payment correctly; failing to pay taxes or insurance premiums from an escrow account on time; imposing a fee the servicer lacks a reasonable basis to impose; failing to give an accurate payoff balance; giving inaccurate information about loss mitigation options and foreclosure; failing to transfer servicing information accurately to a new servicer; making a first foreclosure notice or filing, or moving for judgment or conducting a sale, in violation of the loss mitigation rules; and any other error relating to servicing.[1]
How to send one
- Put it in writing and include your name, information that identifies your loan account, and the error you believe happened. A servicer need not treat a note written on a payment coupon or other payment form it supplied as a notice of error.[1] The CFPB advises using the name on your mortgage and giving specific details.[4]
- If the servicer has told you in writing to use a particular address for these notices, you must use it. If it designates one, it must use the same address for both notices of error and information requests and post it on its website if the site lists any contact address.[1, 2] The CFPB says you can find it on a servicer notice, your statement or coupon book, or the servicer’s website, or by calling.[4]
- A qualified written request under RESPA that asserts an error is treated as a notice of error, and one that asks for information is treated as an information request.[1, 2, 3]
- The CFPB advises continuing to make payments as scheduled while you wait.[4]
The response deadlines
All day counts below exclude Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays.
| What you sent | Servicer’s deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of error or information request: written acknowledgment | 5 days after receipt[1, 2] | § 1024.35(d); § 1024.36(c) |
| Notice of error: most errors | 30 days after receipt, plus 15 more if the servicer tells you in writing, with reasons, before the 30 days end[1] | § 1024.35(e)(3) |
| Notice of error: payoff balance | 7 days after receipt; no extension[1] | § 1024.35(e)(3) |
| Notice of error: improper first foreclosure notice or filing, or motion for judgment, order of sale, or sale | Before the foreclosure sale or within 30 days, whichever is earlier; no extension[1] | § 1024.35(e)(3) |
| Information request: who owns or holds your loan | 10 days after receipt; no extension[2] | § 1024.36(d)(2) |
| Information request: anything else | 30 days after receipt, plus 15 more with a timely written extension notice[2] | § 1024.36(d)(2) |
| Copies of documents relied on after a “no error” finding | Within 15 days of your request, at no charge[1] | § 1024.35(e)(4) |
What the response can be
For an error notice, the servicer must either correct the error and tell you in writing, with the effective date and a telephone number, or investigate and tell you in writing that it found no error, with its reasons, your right to request the documents it relied on, and a telephone number.[1] It may ask you for supporting documents but cannot require them as a condition of investigating or conclude there was no error just because you did not send them.[1] For an information request, it must provide the information or conduct a reasonable search and tell you in writing that the information is not available and why.[2] A servicer generally cannot charge a fee or require a payment as a condition of responding; the information-request rule has one narrow exception, for a fee for a beneficiary notice under state law that is not otherwise prohibited.[1, 2]
When a servicer does not have to follow the full process
A servicer may decline the full process for an error notice that is substantially the same as one it already answered (unless you give new and material information), is too overbroad to identify the error, or arrives more than a year after servicing was transferred or the loan was discharged; it must tell you in writing within 5 days of deciding, with the reason.[1] Information requests have similar exceptions, plus requests for confidential, proprietary or privileged information, requests not directly related to your loan account, and requests that are unduly burdensome.[2]
What a notice does and does not stop
After the servicer receives a notice of error, it may not report adverse information about any payment that is the subject of the notice to a credit reporting agency for 60 days.[1] Beyond that, the rule does not stop the servicer from using its other remedies, except for the specific foreclosure-related errors described above.[1] An information request does not pause credit reporting or the servicer’s remedies.[2] Section 6 of RESPA makes a servicer that fails to comply with it liable to the borrower for actual damages, plus any additional damages a court allows, up to $2,000, in an individual action where there is a pattern or practice of noncompliance.[3]
What you can do next
- Write your notice or request using the CFPB’s guidance, and keep a copy and proof of the date you sent it.[4] The CFPB provides sample letters on its page.[4]
- For a force-placed hazard insurance charge, the notice is one way to dispute a fee you think has no reasonable basis; see our hazard insurance guide.[1] Charges authorized by the Flood Disaster Protection Act are outside Regulation X’s reasonableness standard for force-placed charges,[8] but a notice of error can still cover a servicing error such as a missed refund; see our flood insurance guide.
- If the deadline passes or the answer does not resolve it, the CFPB says you can submit a complaint online or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).[4] See also what the CFPB complaint database shows.
- The CFPB’s tool lists housing counseling agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which can offer independent advice, often at little or no cost.[6]
Limits and unknowns
This page explains the rules in general. It does not say whether an error occurred on any account, and a servicer’s answer may depend on facts, your loan documents and state law. Regulation X’s servicing rules apply to a “mortgage loan,” defined as a federally related mortgage loan subject to certain exemptions and not including open-end lines of credit (home equity plans).[7] The small-servicer and other exemptions in § 1024.30(b) cover the loss mitigation sections, not these two; see our loss mitigation guide.[7]
When we update this page
We revise this page, and log the change, when any of the following happens:
- 12 CFR § 1024.35 or § 1024.36 is amended, or 12 U.S.C. § 2605 changes.
- The CFPB updates its consumer guidance or sample letters.
- A reader reports an error we confirm.
If something here looks wrong, report an error; we review reports within 5 business days. This page explains rules and names no lender, servicer or loan officer; it does not grade anyone. See how we check and the Register for how we assess individual originators.