Mortgage Payments: Due Dates, Posting and Late Fees

Find the company that handles your payment

Your mortgage servicer receives payments and maintains the account. Use the company and contact information on your current statement. ECHL is a mortgage broker; it does not set a servicer's grace period, remove its late fees or control its credit reporting.

If a payment is difficult to make, contact the servicer promptly about available assistance. A payment calculator or a new-loan inquiry does not create a forbearance agreement. Obtain the terms of any approved arrangement in writing.

Keep four dates separate

• Due date: When the contract calls for payment.
• Late-charge date: When a fee may apply under the loan terms and applicable law.
• Receipt date: When the servicer receives the payment.
• Reporting period: How the account's status is furnished to credit-reporting companies.

A late-fee grace period does not move the contractual due date. Check your actual note and statement instead of relying on a universal grace period or fee percentage. Do not assume that a transfer scheduled on the last day reaches the servicer that day.

Receipt and screen display are not identical

For covered principal-dwelling loans, federal rules generally require a servicer to credit a sufficient periodic payment as of receipt, subject to the rule's exceptions. A portal can display the posting later without changing the effective credit date. Third-party bill pay reaches the servicer when the transfer or check arrives, not when you first instruct your bank. CFPB: Payment-crediting rules.

A partial payment may be returned, applied or held in an unapplied-funds account as permitted. A bank withdrawal or app confirmation alone does not prove the full scheduled payment was satisfied. Verify the amount, account and application on the mortgage statement.

Investigate a payment marked late

1. Save the statement and the payment confirmation.
2. Check the amount, delivery method, bank status and servicer receipt information.
3. Ask the servicer to explain the effective credit date and any unapplied funds.
4. If there is an error, follow its designated written notice-of-error process with the relevant account details and evidence.
5. Track the response and check the next statement for the correction.

Federal servicing rules provide a process for covered errors, including certain failures to credit payments properly. Use the address the servicer designates when applicable. A general customer-service message may not be the same as a formal notice. CFPB: Error-resolution procedures.

Protect the next payment too

Review automatic-payment settings after a servicing transfer or escrow adjustment. Make sure the funding account has enough money and that a fixed bank bill-pay amount still covers the bill. Keep a calendar reminder to confirm completion.

Credit-reporting consequences depend on accurate account history; do not rely on a promise that every late payment is harmless until a particular day. Dispute inaccurate reporting through the appropriate process. If the underlying issue is financial hardship, ask the servicer about assistance before the problem grows.