What to Do After You Pay Off Your Mortgage: These 10 Steps Make It Official

January 27, 2021

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Not sure what to do after you pay off your mortgage?

There are some important hoops you have to jump through to make this momentous occasion official. After all that hard work in paying your mortgage, let’s make sure you cross all your “T’s” and dot your “I’s”. The mortgage payoff procedure can be confusing!

I went through all of these steps a few years ago when our family paid off our mortgage early. It was surprising to me how many steps were required to simply pay off a freakin' debt. Nevertheless, we followed the “rules” so we never had to do it again!

Here are 10 steps that I went through for our mortgage payoff procedure.

1. Request a Mortgage Payoff Statement

I thought we could just send in the last mortgage payment and we’d be all set. Nope! Evidently, you need to call your mortgage company and verbally request a “mortgage payoff statement”.

A mortgage payoff statement is a document that details your loan balance – how much you owe on your mortgage.

Make this a fun moment for yourself! This is the first time you get to say to someone from your mortgage company, “We’d like to pay off our mortgage today!”

Don’t be surprised if the representative isn’t as enthusiastic as you are about it. Our rep was helpful and congratulated us on the big moment in our lives, but I could tell she wasn’t doing a happy dance like I was.

During your phone conversation, you’ll choose a “Pay Off Good Through Date”. This essentially means that you’ll need to send in your final payment prior to this date to not incur further interest charges. For reference, we made this phone call at the beginning of the month and set our “Pay Off Good Through Date” for the end of the month.

2. Pay the Mortgage Payoff Statement Fees

Depending on your state, there may be extra fees included in paying off your mortgage. For us, we had to pay a $30 “statement fee” and a $14 “recording fee”.

One last poke in the side from the mortgage company before they grant your freedom!

Here's the mortgage payoff statement I received from my provider “Freedom Mortgage”.

Mortgage Pay Off Statement
Our Mortgage Payoff Statement with $30 Statement Fee and a $14 Recording Fee

3. Obtain a Certified Check or Request a Wire Transfer

Mortgage companies may not accept a regular online payment or a personal check for the final payment. For us, we had the choice of either a certified check or a wire transfer.

We went to our local bank and requested a wire transfer. It hit our account almost immediately. When we got home from the bank, I checked online and it had a lovely $0 balance.

4. Inquire About Your Escrow Balance

Depending on when you pay off the loan, you will more than likely have an escrow balance containing funds for future payments to your homeowner’s insurance and property taxes.

Ask your mortgage company about your escrow current balance and how much you’ll be receiving back. For us, we received a check for around $2,000 two weeks after we paid off the loan.

Don’t go spending this money now! You’re going to need it to pay these bills manually now.

5. Contact Your Homeowner’s Insurance Provider

Now that you don’t have an escrow account anymore, you’ll need to pay your homeowner’s insurance going forward. For us, this was an opportunity for us to maximize our travel rewards earnings by putting our annual insurance payment on our credit card instead of paying through escrow.

Reach out to your homeowner’s insurance provider and let them know that you’ve paid off your mortgage and you’ll be making the payments going forward.

Ask them about automatic billing options so that you don’t accidentally miss this important payment each year.

6. Contact Your City or Township Office

Just like the homeowner’s insurance, your property taxes were paid through escrow as well. Now, you’re in charge of paying them.

Touch base with your city offices and let them know that you’ve paid off your mortgage and you will now be making your property tax payments.

Our township had a convenient online payment system that was pretty impressive for a government website!

Mortgage Free Family at the Bank
The Hill Family at the bank paying off their mortgage early!

7. Cancel Your Automatic Mortgage Payment

If you don’t cancel your automatic mortgage payment for the upcoming month, you may accidentally pay more than you intended.  Sign in to your online account and ensure you’re all set.

This may sound silly, but based on some comments we've gotten on this article, it can happen! When it comes to your money, triple checking can make a big difference.

8. Adjust Your Budget Accordingly

Tracking your spending and saving is even more important now that you're mortgage free!

Plan a sinking fund for your homeowner’s insurance and your property taxes in your monthly budget. You don’t want these big-ticket items to surprise you down the road.

For budgeting our monthly expenses including our homeowner's insurance and property taxes, we love Mint. Besides Mint, there are dozens of other online budget apps that will help you keep track of your household expenses.

This is also a time to make some big decisions about this newfound money.

After Paying Off the Mortgage, What's Next?

Since my wife and I were making extra principal payments, we had an extra $2,300 to spend in our first month of mortgage freedom. It was a bit overwhelming for us!

We decided to allocate our extra money in the following ways:

Hill Family in Cabo San Lucas
Here we are enjoying the sunshine in Cabo San Lucas after we paid off our mortgage

9. Receive an Official Letter from your (former) Mortgage Provider

Around 30 days after you make your final payment, you’ll receive an official letter from the mortgage company stating that your loan is paid in full. You’ll want to keep this one for your records.

Or you could frame it like we did. Frame or no frame, make sure you save it just in case. 

10. Obtain the Mortgage Release Documents

Your mortgage company will produce “mortgage release documents” that prove the mortgage is no more. Be sure to speak with your lender to understand when these documents will be sent to your County Clerk for processing.

You should also receive a copy of these documents that you’ll keep for your records. Depending on your specific situation, you may need to go to the County Clerk to get a copy yourself.

FAQ on What to Do After You Pay Off Your Mortgage

Since writing this article a few years ago, I've received a lot of questions and comments (below). It helps a lot for other people who are paying off their mortgage to read this information so feel free to add information below to help others as they are making their mortgage freedom official.

Here are a few of the recurring questions that have come up:

Okay, I paid off my mortgage. How do I prove that I own the house?

When you purchased your home originally, you should have a document called a “Warranty Deed”. Your notarized warranty deed is proof of ownership for your home.

Other ways to prove that you own your home are as follows:

  • A Satisfaction of Mortgage Letter
  • Documentation showing that no mortgage company is associated with your homeowner's insurance
  • Producing a copy of your Schedule E from past personal tax returns (showing that you're not taking the mortgage interest deduction)

Do I have to use a wire transfer or bank check to pay off my mortgage officially?

This all depends on your bank, your lender and your specific situation.

In the comments below, you'll find some people were able to use ACH to make their final payment while others (like me) had to go with a wire transfer.

Make contact with your mortgage provider and ensure you understand the proper steps to follow to make this mortgage payoff official!

What are the fees and costs associated with paying off my mortgage?

Those fees vary depending on your state and your unique situation. In this article, we've seen fees between $40-$260 for fees such as:

  • Recording Fee
  • Statement Fee
  • Calculated Interest
  • Reconvey/Release Prep Fee
  • Expedite Fee
  • County Recording Fee

Be sure to ask ahead of time what fees you should expect in the mortgage payoff process. Even if you're months away, calling your mortgage lender ahead of time and starting that conversation can't hurt.

Final Thoughts on What to Do After You Pay off Your Mortgage

After all of these steps, make sure you celebrate this HUGE mortgage-free moment with your loved ones. Some people live with mortgages for their entire lives … not you. You’re mortgage free!

Here's how our crazy family celebrated:


Are you figuring out what to do after paying off your mortgage?

Please let us know in the comments below. There are a quite a few other folks just like you in the comments section.


What To Do After You Pay Off Your Mortgage

Andy Hill

Andy Hill, AFC® is the award-winning family finance coach behind Marriage Kids and Money - a platform dedicated to helping families build wealth and happiness. With millions of podcast downloads and video views, Andy’s message of family financial empowerment has resonated with listeners, readers and viewers across the world. When he's not "talking money", Andy enjoys being a Soccer Dad, singing karaoke with his wife and relaxing on his hammock.

78 Comments

  • I just wanted to give a heads up on the company who services the loan on a payoff.
    We paid off our mortgage final check sent to mortgage company corporate office. Called about 20 times didn’t show payment? Customer service puts you on hold or drops your call, finally get through. Went to my bank check had cleared on the 7th. Mortgage company had stamped the check and put in their account. Called on the 12th told me they haven’t received funds, emailed front and back of check. The mortgage company calls on the 19th says they still can’t find the payment. Checked their website customer complaints this is very common they do this now and it’s all the time with lost payoff checks. Verify everything!!

    Reply
    • I want to pay off my parents’ mortgage.
      I continue reading testimonial like Robert’s.
      I’m trying to avoid this when I pay off my parents’.
      They have electronic payments via website.
      I wonder if i shouldn’t just look at the current balance, pay that and then follow through with paying the rest of the fees that accrue.

      I’m going to seek out an attorney to try and hedge off any pitfalls such as crooked companies “losing the pay-off payment”.

      But attorneys can be crooked too.
      I have had my fair share and utter FILL of attorneys who promise one thing, get paid, and do absolutely NOTHING including NOT communicating

      Reply
  • Hello Andy – Great article! Thank you for the helpful information, as it has been difficult to find this info elsewhere. We paid off our mortgage last week! It took us 7 years and we are now looking forward to being completely debt free in our early 40’s.

    Thank you also for the great video with mortgage celebration ideas! We did our own private family debt free scream.
    Looking forward to trying some of your ideas with our kids (especially roasting marshmallows and making a piñata).

    Keep up the great work on your podcast!

    Reply
  • We just requested our payoff quote! A little over 15 years into a 30-year mortgage..

    Reply
  • Neither of my banks having funds I could use to pay off the mortage have a local branch in my town. My Mortgage Payoff Statement, of course, said to include our name(s) and the mortgage account number in a wire transfer; obviously needed. But when I started filling out the online wire transfer from one of my banks, inconceivably the “memo” field only allowed 25 characters; not enough. I spoke w/ their cust. svc. and was told no other way to include that info. So I tried my other bank. Their memo field was larger, but said it was only for my info and would not be sent with the wire. So I called the mortgage company back and asked what to do. My mortgage balance was less than $2,000 anyway. So they said I could make a payment with them over the phone enough to bring the balance below $1,000; which I did today. Then tomorrow they’ll call me and I can make the final payment over the phone since the balance is less than $1,000. Wow! That’s a lot simpler. I wish I’d known that approach earlier: pay it down to less than $1,000, then the next day or so pay off the remainder over the phone with customer service.

    Reply
    • This is great advice from your experience Dave! I’m glad you left this comment because it might help a lot of other people as they are looking to complete their mortgage payoff.

      I hope you’re dancing your mortgage-free dance right now my friend!

      Reply
    • Dave, thanks for sharing your story. I will try to do it that way next week (pay all but <$1k online, then call to payoff the last little bit) with Wells Fargo.

      Reply
  • I just paid off my mortgage and it went down pretty strangely . First i knew that in the coming months what my plans were so i wrote an escrow waiver release request . in about 3 weeks they removed the escrow from my MP . Told me that in about 3-4 weeks they would send me a refund since the escrow was now closed. Just about a month after that i called and inquired as to the status of my refund . A confused cust. rep said – ” oh , but you dont havent paid the loan off yet “.. . Then after a few more calls They told me it was in the process of refund . While on that last call , I told the cust rep that i was planning on paying the loan off and asked if i could just make the paymet online (ACH) . ” oh sure she said .- Well just to have fun, I paid all but the balance of $7.50 . Next thing i know ,the online app wouldnt allow me to pay the balance down to zero . Again , another call . …. So NOW they tell me about the certifed check to pay off the loan — Excuse me ?? wow , .. and they work there ! – Anyway , finally someone finds out that since the balance was less than 10 bucks that it would just be written off. Now there is a world of doubt in my mind . I plan on following up with them EVERY WEEK until i get full satisfaction that my loan is closed . (Amerifirst Mortgage – nice people , really )

    Reply
    • So much confusion and so many steps! It’s insane.

      I hope you are able to feel that sense of complete mortgage freedom soon Roger. It’s all about resting easy and the process doesn’t make that simple.

      Good luck!

      Reply
  • Andy, I also have a FREEDOM Mortgage that I paid off on May 5, 2021 and FREEDOM Mort. wired my funds back to me on May 10,2021. I have called and emailed them to no avail. I spoke with their Bank (Keybank) and got nowhere. No one will tell me why funds were sent back.
    My last email from them today says the investigation is ongoing to June 6, 2021 and my payoff statement says my paymt is due June 1, 2021.
    Any idea what my next move is? Never had this happen before and FREEDOM MORTGAGE is good at no calls to customers. I have filed complaint with consumer financial protection bureau and called the FBI today and left message. HELP!

    Reply
    • Steven, this is a horrible situation! I’m so sorry to hear you going through this especially as you’re trying to put this mortgage to bed for good.

      My only guess is that it has been busier than normal with the refinance boom and important information was lost in the shuffle.

      If you’re still unable to get a hold of anyone from Freedom Mortgage, I’d recommend consulting a trusted real estate attorney to understand your next best legal steps. Good luck!

      Reply
  • there are advertisements to protect you deed? is this necessary? is it possible for someone to claim our property?

    Reply
  • Thank you so much for the information. It was way more thorough than what Wells Fargo sent us in the mail. Their information was somewhat helpful. It seemed more like they were making sure we did what they needed and wanted from us, than helping us during this process. When I called it seemed like the only thing really important to the Wells Fargo banker was the final payoff date. Again, your information was so much helpful than the bank’s letter they sent or the phone call I place.

    Reply
    • I’m so glad to hear that Eric!

      If there were any specific details that made the Wells Fargo mortgage payoff process unique, please add it to the comments to help others who are doing the same process.

      Enjoy your mortgage freedom!

      Reply
  • After a couple of refinances, numerous uninitiated by me mortgage servicer changes, and additional principal included with each payment ( from a few dollars to much more – enough for the balance to always be a round number so as to set up future objectives/ milestones concerning the principal balance) / ( should’ve begun doing this years ago); am ready to payoff the mortgage next month, after, not 3 yrs but 35 yrs.
    Was going to wait but after reading your steps, and your readers’ comments I noted questions I would have and called for the payoff figure and additional info.
    The automatic system did note this month’s payment was received BUT had the next month’s principal payment and balance incorrect.
    My mortgage co informed me: normally do a 30-day payoff quote by means I request -fax, email, US mail. I can pay my money order, check – personal or cashiers, or wire transfer. Payoff letter will instruct where to send payment. I inquired and received time periods for ‘satisfaction letter’ to me, sent to the State, and documents from the State to me. Also the current escrow balance and time frame after payment for balance to be ‘released’ back to me.
    There is to be only 1 document fee, the ‘State release fee’ (each state and amount is different and mine includes the County recording fee) of $43.
    Though I was excited during the phone call and wanted to be sure of all the info the process entailed, the customer service rep was unenthusiastic, monotone, and drab through all my questions.
    Thank you very much for your very authoritative article.
    I will wait till it’s all, all settled, proof received, County recording done, escrow returned; will then follow up with the HO Ins Co, and then celebrate with love ones and maybe even ex-loved ones!

    Reply
    • It’s amazing how many steps there are, right?!

      I’m glad you’re on your way to making it final J. One less worry in your life … for good!

      Reply
  • Thanks so much for sharing all this information. I went to our bank branch this morning to send the wire to pay our last bit down, our bank batches wires so it may not have gone out till this afternoon. Without this post, there is a lot we would not have known (I mean why does no one actually tell you, you need a payoff letter and can’t just pay the mortgage?!! Or maybe they do and I slept through that class :) ). In any case our loan is serviced by Cenlar and I’ve been reading that company’s a bit of a hot mess when it comes to loan servicing, so here’s praying that it gets applied sometime tomorrow and we see it reflected and have no issues with the rest of the documentation. Again, Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us, you’re doing good things on the interwebs, keep it up!

    Reply
    • Congrats on the paid-off house!

      I’m glad this article was helpful in your payoff process.

      Keep us posted on the Cenlar happenings so we can help others if they are finding issues too!

      Reply
  • This is very useful since we are going to pay off the house end of the month. It took up about 3 years and 6 months! Thank you for sharing those information. And I wish more people will be debt free in their life!

    Reply
    • Way to go Jane! That is awesome news!

      I’m curious. What are you going to do with your extra money now?

      Reply
  • For those who have BoA mortgages. We received our Freedom Letter from BoA dated Novemer 6, 2020 on November 12,2020. However, we had not received a copy of the Mortgage Release Documents. With the Holidays and the slowness of the mail I decided to wait until January to pursue these documents. I just go off the phone with BoA and the person I spoke with was kind enough to give me me case number for the documents and told me to expect to receive them in a few days. When I asked when the actual Mortgage Release Documents had been sent to our County I as told that had not happened. But that as a result of my call, the documents would be sent to my County. I know that this is not the way it is supposed to work, so I am letting those who are closing out their moprtgages with BoA to be aware that they after they receive their Freedom Letter they will have to request BoA to send the Morgage Release Documents to their respective County as well as requesting a copy for themselves.

    Reply
    • Thank you so much for this detail Charlie! Keep the comments coming as this helps others with their individual situations.

      Congrats on your mortgage freedom!

      Reply
  • Thanks for this info., I am still unclear about how you receive the final ‘deed’ stuff? Our mortgage is currently in only my name, but would like the final deed to reflect both my husband and myself. Any advice? Thanks!

    Reply
    • I would recommend contacting your county clerk’s office to discuss this change. For us, this was the “Register of Deeds” division.

      When you purchased your home originally, you should have a document called a “Warranty Deed”. Your notarized warranty deed is proof of ownership for your home.

      Reply
  • My Husband and I paid our home off November 23. It is December 19th and still no escrow refund! They said they mailed it December 07. Seems like it is taking along time to get to our mailbox.

    Reply
    • Congratulations on paying off your mortgage!

      Our mail has been taking a lot longer too. I’d give them a call and ask for an update. It’s probably not a small amount of money!

      Reply
    • Way to go Bernadette!

      If you don’t get a congrats letter, here’s mine. CONGRATULATIONS!! You rock!!

      Reply
  • Hi I need to pay off my mortgage for other lending purposes and it is extremely time sensitive. I wired funds from my Chase acct to pay off my BofA mortgage on Aug. 11. It is now Aug. 17 and BofA still has NOT processed the wire. The funds left my Chase account on Aug. 11 and they have not rejected it or returned it. BofA mortgage dept currently has a 90+ min hold time to get thru to their rep but I’ve been calling them everyday. Their customer service is not very useful to say the least and they tell me something different every day (if I get through.. sometimes the rep accidentally hangs up after 2 hrs of hold time). My lender is asking for my zero balance statement, is there something (anything) I can do here other than helplessly call everyday?

    Reply
    • Wow! I wish I had some advice for you.

      If it were me, I would continue to call or physically visit a bank branch and get an answer.

      That’s horrible that you are going through this!

      Reply
    • I had something similar and two times payments did not go through. I had to call the load department and riddle me this. . the paperwork I have for an account number had one digit off that they dont tell you when you are paying online versus in the branch? I was baffeled by that .. They worked with me to fix it and was done in 15 minutes. Hopefully you dont have hidden account number at the end of your account too. This was such a pain.. tried to process two separate times no one ever said hey the last digit isnt correct. But the collections agent called and said Hey we have a problem.. I said “yes we do, lets fix it” and we did!

      Reply
  • I didn’t do mine quite right….. There were more fees than I had anticipated. $30 just to get the payoff quote. $20 for a 3rd party reconvey/release prep fee (whatever that is), $9 for calculated interest, then $20 for an expedite fee, because I didn’t want to wait for who knows how long to get the quote in the mail (I was sure the quote would be expired by then!). Then the shocker – $192 for a county recording fee. Really?? So, here’s the funny part. My bank lets me wire a maximum of $5000 ($30 wire fee). With the unexpectedly high recording fee, it bumped my payoff to $5015. I had not anticipated that. (I did this all on-line, because, you know, there are germs at the bank.) So I wired $5000 for the next day, then hurriedly called the mortgage company, and made a $15 payment, hoping to all heck the payment would post before the wire got there, as they told me they could reject the wire if it wasn’t paid in full. (I don’t know if that’s true, or not.) I was sure it wasn’t going to work. But it did!! The mortgage web site shows a $0 balance today, and they actually owe me $4. (Interest – as I paid it off before the quote expired.) Seems like it should be easy. But it’s hard! I was absolutely determined to pay the mortgage off THAT DAY. Probably should have taken it a bit slower. :-) Now I don’t know if they’ll send me the deed, or how that works, or what happens next. But for $192 I’m thinking they should hand deliver it.

    Reply
    • It’s amazing how many hoops you have to jump through!!

      CRAZY! You’d figure that it would just be the amount of your mortgage principal, but NOPE!

      Good luck with the final steps and enjoy that freedom!

      Reply
  • Andy thank you so so so much for the information! You and your family are such an inspiration. I had no idea about the extra steps I need to take after I make my final payment this month. Yay! My husband and I took 3 years + 1 month to pay off our house.
    So I called Freedom Mortgage today for my “pay off good through date” and my rep didn’t sound too enthusiastic either meanwhile I’m over here doing the Carlton dance all day long. lol

    Reply
    • haha! Yes, I was like jumping up and down in the kitchen and our rep was just doing her daily duties. It was funny.

      So happy that you have your Mortgage Freedom from Freedom Mortgage!!!

      Reply
  • Thank you Andy for the simple explanations. As I write this, I am about to be MORTGAGE FREE and starting the process to send my very last payment. It is sinking in and I cannot help the emotions to realize the dream is now REAL!

    Reply
    • Woo hoo! That’s awesome news, Oscar!

      Celebrate with the ones you love. Way to go!

      Reply
  • The very last thing you need to do is call your home owner’s insurance company and have them remove the lien holder from your policy.

    Reply
  • I’m doing mine a bit differently….As I knew I was in the last year of payments, I cancelled the escrow account with the bank and paid my taxes myself with the escrow refund. The home insurance portion of escrow was cancelled last year and is now on auto pay monthly with a credit card to earn points, avoid being late or not having the money set aside. When I do my annual shopping to compare home insurance costs, the process to switch my insurance company is MUCH easier now that the bank is out of the equation. I will probably pay my last payment in the branch (wearing dark glasses, long sleeves, and a duffel bag) while I slip the teller my cash in an envelope and wisper goodbye

    Reply
    • Oh my god! Please take a video. This sounds epic!

      Smart move on the credit card points for the insurance. You can hit some bonuses straight away.

      Reply
      • Ok, I did it. Had to use the “drive thru” though because of the virus. My dark glasses and “go ahead, call the cops” t-shirt did not make a big impact…… I wrote a goodbye letter to Wells _argo and shoved it in the tube along with t-shirts for the employees that said F OFF. (this is why I call them Wells _argo) We all laughed at this, but there is no video tape at the drive thru. I am _inally _ree!

        Reply
        • Incredible! I’m sure that _elt good to say goodbye!

          Congratulations on your new freedom!

          Reply
  • I am dealing with the Executor for the Estate of my mortgage holder. Loan was on an Installment Note due in 5 years with a balloon payment. They agreed to a big discount if paid asap. Since there are no banks involved, is the process still the same?
    Any information is appreciated.

    Reply
    • Wow! This one is above my pay grade. I would highly recommend seeking out a trusted estate attorney. This will be well worth the cost.

      Reply
    • Very helpful, as I plan to pay my mortgage off this coming week. I did live on the water so I do intend to keep my insurance.
      Great idea for insurance payment.
      Thank you

      Reply
      • I’m glad to hear it helped! And way to go with eliminating your mortgage for good!

        Reply
  • Thanks for this great information. I paid my house off in 3yrs on September 2019. I followed your steps right before doing so and they were dead on accurate.

    Reply
    • Wow! 3 years is incredible!

      I’m so glad to hear that the article was helpful. Enjoy that MORTGAGE FREEDOM!

      Reply
  • I am ready to pay off now. 8 years ahead of time and this was a GREAT info so I know what to expect. I have 3 taxes per year and insurance escrowed. Since I will be paying off BEFORE any of the taxes are due I am going to see if they will use the 700.00 some escrow towards the pay off. If not, I will ask when I will receive my escrow funds back. I am so glad I stumbled upon your post.
    Kathy in Michigan

    Reply
  • Thank you for this great step by step information, it is much appreciated!

    Reply
  • Thanks for this! We’re about to pay off our mortgage this month (!) and Freedom Mortgage also happens to be our mortgage servicer, so it was really helpful to see exactly what this process looks like. Thanks again!

    Reply
    • What a perfect internet coincidence! Glad I could help!

      Enjoy that freedom :)

      Reply
  • Suppose you get no cooperation from mortgage company. First they send payoff letter. Payoff submitted timely. Mortgage company then asked for more to cover escrow account used for property taxes I’m skeptical because Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has sued them and mortgage company changed their name. dan

    Reply
    • Sounds shady Dan. If you’re skeptical in sending them more money, ask for more details.

      If you’ll be managing the taxes and insurance payments going forward, then why do they need more from you?

      Good luck! And congrats!

      Reply
  • Great information, we are 3.5 payments from wrapping up our mortgage. We had no idea that there was work to be done after the last payment. Our lender is requiring us to call them just before the last payment is made (May, 2019) as I now realize they will likely add fees as noted in the article. Thanks!

    Reply
    • 3.5 payments away from MORTGAGE FREEDOM! That’s awesome news, Mark.

      If you want to share your good news with the listeners of my podcast in May, please let me know.

      Reply
  • Thanks Mr. Hill, the mortgage company was a little skeptical about me inquiring about my mortgage payoff statement in fact she suggest that I pay my February payment before I get a pay off statement which maybe less than my monthly payment Thanks for the information that I will be following in the coming months.

    Sheila

    Reply
    • Wow! It sounds like you’re ready to say goodbye to the biggest loan in your life. Congratulations!

      Reply
  • We are a payment or two away and we’d found out about the payoff request alreay, but your write up was very helpful! I assumed there would be a final fee gouge or two, but it was nice to see it wasn’t worse. Hopefully our gouges will be similarly modest. A belated congratulations and thanks a lot!

    Reply
    • Awesome Jeff! Way to go!

      I’m glad to hear you’re nearing the doors of mortgage freedom!

      If you want to share your win with my podcast audience (marriagekidsandmoney.com/mkmpodcast) when it’s all paid off, please contact me. It could inspire someone else to crush their mortgage too!

      Reply
  • Thanks – this information was really helpful especially the list of all of the entities we had to update. We just made our last payment and have started down the list of notifications. Thanks again!

    Reply
    • It’s time to party Ted! Way to go!! I’m glad the info was helpful for you. I figured that I better write it down somewhere!

      Reply
  • Holy cow!!!! I had no idea it was that complex…. Thank you so much for writing this up. I will be using it as a reference in the very near future! :D

    Reply
    • Me too! I figured we’d send in the last payment at that’d be it, but nope!

      Reply
      • It’s not mandatory to make final payment using secure fund: bank check, wire transfer…. Just make payment using ACH.
        If could pay your principal balance with full projected (current statement) interest (Amount 1). If your mortgage processor sends paper to your local recording office (some does and some does not) then they will charge you this fee (no extra – $14). You can call/google recording office for this fee (Amount 2).
        Your final payment Amount 1 + Amount 2.
        $30 fee will be charge if you ask to for payoff statement.
        If you overpay then you will get your money back within 30 days after final processing.

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        • Great feedback Eugene! I’ve only paid off one mortgage and this was the process I went through.

          I’m glad to hear there are other ways of getting it done!

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          • Andy, I have a question. Does the mortgage payoff amount have to include the normal escrow payment as well? I don’t see why it should, since I plan to pay off the mortgage before the property tax and insurance are due.

          • I believe in my situation I did not have to include escrow (taxes and insurance), but every mortgage company is different. I would recommend contacting your mortgage company directly and asking them. It’ll be a fun call to have!

            “So … I’m about to pay off my mortgage and … ”

            Good luck!

          • We paid our mortgage off yesterday! Thanks for this post it was really helpful. Our mortgage was with Cenlar, the payoff letter came with very specific payoff steps and information that needed to be followed exactly to be credited properly. A wire transfer was required, the statement said that an ACH credit would be rejected. We are on the west coast and our payoff bank was on the east coast, so we wired the money the day before to be sure not to pay extra interest. That’s our story! Thanks again and still can’t believe we are now mortgage free!!

          • Congratulations Karin! What a load off of your shoulders!

            And thank you for including these details. It should help others who are looking in the comment section for inspiration and direction too.

        • I think with some loan servicers you may run the risk of not having the loan closed if you proceed that way, Indeed the loan will be paid off, but they may not ‘close’ it. This happened to a car loan we once had only to find out years later that the loan was never closed out when we applied for our mortgage. When we were ready to pay off our mortgage now and I read this post I was reminded of the fact that we couldn’t just let the payments go through to the end date naturally, or we ran the risk of the loan never actually being “closed”.

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  • Love it! Congratulations! I don’t escrow funds with my mortgage, but good advice regarding starting a sinking fund for your taxes and insurance. That’s what I do. Otherwise, the costs can really creep up on you!

    Reply

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