Send your mortgage notice of error to the address your servicer has designated for these notices, even if your payments go elsewhere. If it has not designated a special address, it must handle a qualifying written notice received by any of its offices under the error-resolution rule. CFPB address requirements and interpretations

This guide covers U.S. mortgage-servicing disputes under Regulation X, focusing on payment application and fees. Gather your statements, payment confirmations and correspondence before writing. For related questions, see our mortgage-servicing explanations and homeownership guides.

Confirm where to send the notice

Check your latest mortgage statement, servicing-transfer notices and the servicer's official website for an address labeled for notices of error or qualified written requests. If you cannot find it, call and ask specifically for the notice-of-error address. Save the notice or a dated screenshot showing the address you used. The CFPB's consumer instructions identify these places to check.

A servicer can establish a required address by giving borrowers written notice to use it. It must also give written notice before changing that address. If no special address has been designated, send the letter to a verified servicer office and retain evidence of receipt. Regulation X, section 1024.35(c)

Keep the letter separate from your payment. An error written on a payment coupon or another servicer-supplied payment form need not receive notice-of-error treatment. A separate letter sent to the payment address may also fail to trigger the process when the servicer has designated a different address. Section 1024.35(a)–(c)

Does an online complaint trigger the same process?

A servicer may establish an email address or online form specifically for notices of error. That process is the exclusive online route for these notices, but it must supplement mailed notices; the servicer cannot make online submission the only option. Do not assume a general chat or support message qualifies. Official interpretation 35(c)-4

Likewise, do not assume a CFPB complaint automatically satisfies the servicer's notice requirements. Submit a qualifying notice through the servicer's applicable notice-of-error channel, even if you also complain to the CFPB. Notice content and address requirements

Describe an error the servicer can investigate

The notice must include your name, information identifying your mortgage account and the specific error you believe occurred. Covered errors include misapplying an accepted payment and imposing a fee without a reasonable basis. Section 1024.35(a)–(b)

Identify the payment amount, payment date, confirmation number, disputed posting and related fee. Explain what the records show and what you believe should have happened. Distinguish the date money left your bank from the date the servicer recorded receipt. If the statement shows unapplied funds, our guide to understanding a suspense-account entry can help you interpret it.

Attach relevant copies, labeled A, B and C, and explain each one's significance. Useful records include the affected statement, bank confirmation, servicer transaction history and prior correspondence. Keep originals and redact unrelated bank transactions.

Supporting records help, but the servicer cannot make its investigation conditional on receiving additional documents. It also cannot find that no error occurred solely because you did not supply requested information without conducting a reasonable investigation. Section 1024.35(e)(2)

Adaptable mortgage error resolution letter

This is an original template, not a required government form. Replace the brackets with your facts. For a fee-only dispute, replace the payment sentence with the fee's name, amount, posting date and why you believe it was improper.

Date: [date]

To: [servicer name and designated notice-of-error address]

From: [borrower name and mailing address]

Property: [property address]

Mortgage account: [account number]

Re: Notice of error under 12 CFR 1024.35

I believe the following servicing error occurred on my mortgage account.

On [date], I paid [amount] for the installment due [date] through [method], confirmation [reference]. Your [statement or transaction history] dated [date] shows [specific posting or fee]. I believe this is incorrect because [explain the discrepancy and expected application].

Please investigate and correct [identify the entry or allocation]. Please reverse [identified fee] if it resulted from this error, and confirm any correction and its effective date in writing.

I enclose copies of: A, [document and relevance]; B, [document and relevance]; and C, [document and relevance].

If you determine that no error occurred, please explain your reasons and how I can request the documents you relied upon.

Please send your written response to [mailing address].

[Name and signature]

[Optional telephone number]

Keep the packet and proof of receipt

Keep a complete copy of what you send. Consider certified mail with a return receipt or another delivery method that documents receipt. For an established online notice channel, save the submitted text, attachments and confirmation.

Use this evidence log to connect each event to its supporting record:

The response clock runs from the servicer's receipt, not your mailing date. Budget for postage or optional tracking; the servicer cannot charge a fee for responding or demand payment as a condition of responding. Sections 1024.35(d), (e) and (h)

Track the deadline that fits the error

For every period in this table, exclude Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays.

These acknowledgment and response periods are subject to exceptions:

• Early correction: Correcting the error and notifying you in writing within the same five-day period can replace separate acknowledgment and investigation responses.
• An imminent foreclosure sale: If a notice alleging one of the specified foreclosure errors arrives seven or fewer calendar days before the sale, the usual acknowledgment and response requirements give way to a good-faith attempt to respond, orally or in writing, with a correction or explanation.
• Duplicate, overbroad or untimely notices: Exceptions can apply if the servicer already properly answered the same error and you provide no new material information; the specific error cannot reasonably be identified; or the notice arrives more than a year after that servicer transferred servicing away or the loan was discharged. Identifiable valid errors within an otherwise overbroad notice still require handling. For these exceptions, the servicer must explain its determination in writing within five days after making it, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays.

These exceptions appear in sections 1024.35(f)–(g).

Keep paying and check the outcome

Continue scheduled mortgage payments during the investigation. The ban on demanding payment as a condition of investigating does not suspend your payment obligations. Subject to the rule's exceptions, a notice also bars adverse credit reporting about the disputed payment for 60 calendar days after receipt. It does not freeze all credit reporting or automatically stop foreclosure. Payment obligations and limits on remedies

A correction response must identify the correction and its effective date. Compare it with the next statement. If the servicer finds no error, its response must explain why and how to request the records it relied on. Those records generally must be supplied free within 15 days after the servicer receives your request, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays. Confidential, proprietary or privileged material may be withheld with written notice within that same period after receipt. Section 1024.35(e)

If the required response is missing, a CFPB complaint can include your notice, delivery evidence and log. If foreclosure is imminent or you have been served legal papers, the CFPB recommends consulting an attorney. Seek that help promptly rather than waiting for this process to finish.