Is there a way that you can track this yourself? I've had three different mortgages [1] in my lifetime and as far as I know it was all completely opaque who/what was ultimately holding the underlying debt.

[1]: First was a decade ago with RMG (a Canadian monoline lender) and the other two with Scotia, the first of which was a fixed mortgage at purchase, and the second was a refinancing.

▲

ethbr1 18 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Use a mortgage originator that keeps the servicing themselves. One of the reasons I usually use PenFed in the US, after a nightmare of fly by night servicers.

▲

AnimalMuppet a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When your mortgage is sold, you should get a "goodbye letter" from whoever sold it, and a "hello letter" from whoever bought it. This is so you don't keep sending checks to the old place, and have the new people decide that you aren't paying your mortgage.

▲

moritzwarhier a day ago | parent | next [-]

Composition vs inheritance maybe makes a difference here? :thinking_grimace:

What I mean is parent companies and contracts that might obfuscate who's owed the debt.

However, I don't know anything about debt markets let alone homeownership.

▲

cyclopeanutopia a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Checks? ;)

▲

dnautics a day ago | parent | prev [-]

in principle you should be able to reject the mortgage sale, too. purely hypothetical but: suppose some bank was responsible for killing a family member, you shouldn't be forced to owe that bank money.

This means that any mortgage transfer would come with a 'sweetener deal'. If you don't object to the transfer you get a small reduction in your monthlies, e.g.

▲

jongjong a day ago | parent | next [-]

I assume the right to sell the mortgage to anyone they want is part of the original mortgage contract.

▲

dnautics a day ago | parent [-]

Yeah I don't know why I wrote "in principle". I meant "ideally"

▲

jongjong a day ago | parent [-]

Understood, but they've got all the leverage, unfortunately. In countries like Australia, it's essentially impossible to get a fixed rate mortgage (for the life of the mortgage), when it would probably has been a great deal a few years ago; banks have all the leverage to dictate the terms.

With variable-rate mortgages, banks can insulate themselves from inflation risks, which they themselves create.

	▲	compsciphd 13 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		the ability for capital markets to buy mortgages is one of the reasons the USA has 30 year fixed and australia does not (not the only reason).
	▲	dnautics 21 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Popular discontent and laws really would be the only way

▲

bradleybuda 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How are you harmed by your loan being sold?

	▲	dnautics 19 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Bad customer service, autopay details changing, etc. Have you ever managed a loan sale? Have you ever managed a loan sale of an elderly person with dementia? It's a royal pain in the ass. If you get it wrong, you risk losing credit score.

▲

pc86 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't mean this flippantly, but it's usually whoever you're writing the check to. My first home had the mortgage sold within a week, and someone else started taking the money out of my account.

▲

gruez a day ago | parent | next [-]

The servicing company could be different than whoever actually owns the debt.

	▲	whaleofatw2022 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Yep. Some originators will hold on to servicing of your debt wherever it goes (within certain boundaries, e.x. if you go into a delinquency or reconciled delinquency state). Those originators use it as a selling point, because many people have gotten bit by servicer flips one way or another.

▲

mikepurvis a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Oh okay, in that case mine were never sold. As in the sibling reply, my assumption is that the "retail" side of the mortgage (who you make your payments to) is fully detached from who ends up owning the mortgage backed securities that your debt is being financed by.