Last reviewed: 7 October 2026
Home › Mortgage help › Notice when your mortgage is sold
The notice you get when your mortgage loan is sold, explained
A mortgage loan can be sold to a new owner without your servicer changing. This page sets out the separate notice Regulation Z requires when ownership of the loan changes hands.
What this term means: A covered person is a person that becomes the owner of an existing mortgage loan by acquiring legal title to the debt, “whether through a purchase, assignment or other transfer,” and that acquires more than one mortgage loan in any twelve-month period. A servicer is not treated as the owner if it holds title solely for administrative convenience.[2]
Ownership and servicing are different
The CFPB says it is common for loan holders to sell loans to another financial institution, and that “just because your loan is sold does not mean that your servicer will change.” If the servicing rights are sold, you receive a separate notice about that.[1] Our guide to servicing transfers covers that notice; this page covers the notice about a change of owner.
What Regulation Z requires
| Element | What § 1026.39 says |
|---|---|
| Who must give it | Each covered person, except as the section provides. A mortgage loan includes an open-end credit transaction secured by the consumer’s principal dwelling and a closed-end transaction secured by a dwelling or real property.[2] |
| When | On or before the 30th calendar day following the date of transfer. The date of transfer may, at the covered person’s option, be the date of acquisition in the acquiring party’s books and records or the date of transfer in the transferring party’s books and records.[2] |
| Form | Clearly and conspicuously in writing, in a form the consumer may keep. Electronic delivery is allowed subject to the E-Sign Act’s consumer-consent provisions.[2] |
| What it must say | It must identify the loan and state the covered person’s name, address and telephone number; the date of transfer; the name, address and telephone number of an agent or party authorized to receive a notice of the right to rescind and resolve issues about payments (unless the consumer can use the covered person’s own contact information for that); and whether the transfer is or may be recorded in public records or has not been recorded at the time of the notice.[2] |
| Partial payment policy | For a closed-end loan other than a reverse mortgage, the notice must state, under the subheading “Partial Payment,” whether the covered person accepts partial payments and applies them, holds them until the remainder is paid, or does not accept them, and that a new owner “may have a different policy.”[2] |
| Multiple consumers | If more than one consumer is liable, the notice may go to any consumer who is primarily liable.[2] |
| Exceptions | A covered person is not subject to the section for a loan it sells or transfers legal title to on or before the 30th calendar day after acquiring it, for a loan transferred under a repurchase agreement that obligates the transferor to repurchase it (if the transferor does not repurchase, the notice is due within 30 days after the transaction is recognized as an acquisition), or where it acquires only a partial interest and the party authorized to receive rescission notices and resolve payment issues does not change.[2] |
Paragraph (f) of the section has a special rule for a confirmed successor in interest who is not liable on the loan; read it in the regulation if that applies to you.[2]
What the CFPB says in plain language
- If your loan is sold, the new owner “is required to notify you within 30 days of the effective date of transfer.”[1]
- The notice includes the date of transfer and the name, address and telephone number of the new owner and, if different, the person who can resolve issues about your payments.[1]
- Discussing a sale of servicing rights, the CFPB says it is important to follow the new loan payment instructions in that notice so that you do not miss payments or send them to the wrong address.[1]
To find out who owns your loan, see who owns and services my mortgage.
How to verify this yourself
Read § 1026.39 in the eCFR (reference 2) and the CFPB page (reference 1). Keep any notice you receive; its date is your record of when the 30 days began. To check the person you are working with, use our guide to verifying a loan officer’s NMLS license. Our published standard covers how we check loan originators, and the Register shows that method; neither reviews a lender’s or servicer’s handling of your loan.
What this page does not cover
This page does not cover the separate servicing-transfer notices under Regulation X, how ownership is recorded in a particular county’s records, or what rights you have against a new owner. The CFPB page was last reviewed in January 2025. This page is general information, not legal advice, and it does not compare lenders, loan products or rates. It was last reviewed 7 October 2026.
Your next step
A written request to the servicer for the owner’s name would produce a record that can be compared with the notice. Then return to the Mortgage help library for related guides.