What Is the Periodic Statement Rule for Mortgage Servicers?

The periodic statement rule is the federal requirement, from the Truth in Lending Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Regulation Z, that your mortgage servicer send you a statement for each billing cycle, which for most loans means monthly. The statement must show the amount due and the due date, how your recent payments were applied, fees charged, your loan balance and interest rate, and, if you are more than 45 days behind, what you owe to catch up. It must be mailed or emailed within a reasonably prompt time, which the CFPB says generally means within 4 days after your payment due date or the end of your grace period.

The rule covers most closed-end home loans, meaning loans repaid on a fixed schedule, such as a 30-year mortgage or a home equity loan. The servicer, the company that collects your payments, is the one that sends it. What loan servicing is explains the servicer's full role.

Who sends the statement, and how many do you get?

You are entitled to one statement for each billing cycle. A billing cycle matches how often payments are due: monthly payments mean a monthly statement, and quarterly payments mean a quarterly one.

• One statement, not several. The lender that owns the loan, any later owner, and the servicer can all be responsible, but you need to receive only one statement per cycle. A lender or later owner that no longer holds the loan or its servicing rights has no duty to send one; the company servicing your loan does.
• Biweekly loans. If payments are due every two weeks, the servicer may send one monthly statement covering every payment due that month, which is two in most months and three in some.
• Joint borrowers. When two people are both liable on the loan, the servicer may send the statement to either one.
• No opting out. Outside of bankruptcy, you cannot ask a servicer to stop sending statements altogether, and it must keep sending them while you are behind on payments.

Heirs and other family members whom the servicer confirms as owners of the home can also receive statements, even if they never signed the loan.

When should your statement arrive?

The servicer must deliver or mail the statement within a "reasonably prompt" time after the payment due date, or after the courtesy period if your loan has one. A courtesy period, often called a grace period, is the time after the due date before a late fee applies.

The CFPB's official commentary says sending the statement within 4 days after the courtesy period ends generally meets that standard. If your loan has no courtesy period, the 4 days run from the due date.

Example: Your payment is due June 1, and no late fee is charged until after June 15. The servicer should mail or email your statement for the July 1 payment by about June 19.

What must the statement show?

Federal rules set both what the statement includes and where key items go. The CFPB publishes sample forms servicers can follow, but servicers may use their own layout if the required groupings are kept together.

Escrow is the account the servicer uses to pay your property taxes and homeowners insurance. An item that does not apply, such as a prepayment penalty your loan does not have, can be left off.

What extra information appears if you fall behind?

Once you are more than 45 days late, the statement must also show:

1. How long the loan has been delinquent.
2. The risks of not catching up, such as foreclosure and added fees.
3. An account history for the last 6 months, or since the loan was last current if that is shorter, showing what remains unpaid from each cycle.
4. Any loss mitigation program you have agreed to, such as a forbearance or trial modification.
5. Whether the servicer has made the first notice or filing to start foreclosure.
6. The total you must pay to bring the loan current.
7. A reference to the housing counselor information.

The rules for servicers when borrowers are delinquent cover the outreach and foreclosure timelines that run alongside these statements.

Paper or electronic: how are statements delivered?

Paper is the default. The servicer may mail the statement or hand it to you in person.

The servicer can switch you to electronic statements only with your affirmative consent. Signing up for automatic payments is not consent to electronic statements. If you already get electronic disclosures from the servicer for any account, such as a checking account at the same bank, that earlier consent can carry over.

Electronic statements must be in a form you can print or download. Instead of attaching the statement to an email, the servicer may email you a notice with a link to a secure website where the statement is posted. Once you have shown you can reach your statements online, you may turn off those "statement ready" emails, but the statements themselves keep coming.

Which loans are left out, and what if a statement is wrong?

The main exceptions are reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), timeshare loans, loans handled by a small servicer (one that, together with its affiliates, services 5,000 or fewer mortgage loans, all of which it or an affiliate owns or made), and fixed-rate loans where the servicer sends a qualifying coupon book instead. Some loans in bankruptcy or charged off also qualify. The exceptions to the periodic statement rule explain each one, and how coupon books can replace periodic statements covers what a coupon book must include.

If a statement shows a payment applied wrong, a fee you do not owe, or a balance that does not match your records, send the servicer a written notice of error at the address it designates for errors. The servicer must acknowledge it within 5 business days and fix the error or explain why there is none, generally within 30 business days. The rules on written communication with servicers explain what to include.