Source
r/personalfinance•
rab236

Can I request my mortgage be serviced by a specific bank?

Housing

Hi All. I bought my house last year with a rate of 4% and am in the process of refinancing now for a rate of ~2.6% and knocking my 30 year down to a 20 year. My company offers a program where for five years they will give 1% of the remaining principal back to the employee, but only with a mortgage serviced by Citizens bank.

It just so happens that my mortgage was sold to Citizens in 2019 and I was eligible for the benefit. I'm refinancing through a different lender than the first time and now that I know about the mortgage repayment program am wondering if it's possible to request that my mortgage be serviced by/sold to Citizens. I'm sure that if the answer isn't a resounding "No" then it will be "It depends on the lender," but I guess I'm wondering if it's even something I can ask.

Posted Dec 2, 2020, 3:27 AM UTC

18
np20412​•

Definitely not anything a lender will guarantee. You can ask but at the end of the day the bank will do with your mortgage what is best for the bank.

Thats a hell of a perk tho. At today's rates 1 percent back on principal for a relatively fresh mortgage is like 2+ mortgage payments being made for you each year.

5
rab236OP​•

That's exactly why I'm hoping I can get the perk again once I refinance - if I can get that 1% back on top of the rate cut and shortened term I'm in a great position to build equity much more quickly

1
Default87​•

you would have to refinance directly with that bank, and ensure that they would hold your loan in portfolio (otherwise they will just turn around and sell it to another loan servicer). not sure if that is something that particular bank does, so you would have to verify that with them.

this is also a really odd benefit, moreso that it requires the mortgage to be held by a specific bank (unless you work for that specific bank).

4
rab236OP​•

I know to be guaranteed eligibility for the program I would have to go through that bank; I guess I was hoping that if my mortgage was serviced by the correct bank by happenstance the first time around I may be able to finagle myself into that position again.

It seems the mortgage repayment program used to allow different banks, but for my tenure at the company it requires a mortgage through that bank as well as a checking account with that bank for my company to deposit the monthly repayment into. I agree that it's odd (my company isn't even tangentially related to the finance industry), but maybe there is a partnership where the bank assists with the repayment as well

1
FatFiredProgrammer​•

When you close, the lender will give you a sheet disclosing what percentage of mortgages they service vs the percentage they sell. I've found that most banks either a) service almost all the loans themselves or b) sell every single loan. Usually B.

If they sell, your loan probably gets put into a traunch with other conforming loans and sold to whomever wants it. An important observation here is that loans are seldom sold individually.

I would be surprised if ANY bank that sold would allow you to choose. I have had many banks tell me who my loan would be sold to with a high degree of certainty. However, in many of those cases, my loan was quickly sold to a 3rd processor (or even a 4th).

3
rab236OP​•

I was told that this lender lands in category B. From personal experience the second servicer was the final but I guess that's not necessarily going to be the case. It seems the takeaway from most of these responses is that I can always ask but I shouldn't expect a positive answer

1
lam91897​•

I was told at one point I could ask it not be sold to a specific servicer. I was thinking about refinancing through the same lender and I knew they sold a lot of their loans and Wells Fargo was their biggest servicer. I ask could I ask that Wells Fargo not be the servicer and they said yes. I never followed through with the loan so I do not know if they would have honored my request.

2
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