After a HECM funds, the servicer is the company that sends statements, processes draws, and collects occupancy certifications. That company is often not the originator you met. Jay Zayer, a CRMP licensed in California and Arizona, tells borrowers to keep the welcome letter with the loan number, because 24 CFR 206.201 makes servicing an FHA-approved mortgagee duty that can be transferred.
This page is how to reach them. What they can require sits on what a servicer does.
Where is the phone number, and what do you say on the first call?
The monthly statement lists the servicer name, mailing address, phone, and loan number. The closing package’s servicing-transfer or first-payment letter lists the same. If both are gone, HUD’s HECM servicer lookup at 800-827-3702 can identify the current servicer from the property address. Have identification ready. Do not give a wire instruction to a caller who phoned you.
On the first call, ask them to confirm the loan number, the property address, and whether a Life Expectancy Set-Aside is paying taxes. Ask how to request a line-of-credit draw in writing. Ask where to return the annual occupancy certification (Mortgagee Letter 2023-23). 24 CFR 206.201(c)(2) required 15 days’ notice if servicing already moved; the new letter controls.
California and Arizona borrowers use the same federal servicing rules. The county tax collector is not the servicer. The originator’s CRM is not the servicer.
How do you request a draw, a payoff, or a plan change without getting lost?
Draws on an adjustable HECM line go to the servicer, not to the CRMP. Written requests beat phone-only promises. Payoff quotes for a sale or refinance come from the servicer; title companies will not accept a napkin figure. Payment-plan changes on an ARM are 24 CFR 206.26 requests to the servicer. See payment plan modification.
If taxes are unreimbursed, 24 CFR 206.205 lets the mortgagee pay property charges from your funds or demand you cure. That letter is a servicing event. Ignoring it because you still know the originator’s cell number is how defaults start.
A sale payoff still starts with a servicer quote. So does an heir payoff under 24 CFR 206.125.
Here is what this looks like in practice: statements stopped after a move from Mesa to a daughter’s spare room “for a few weeks.” The occupancy letter went to the empty house. The servicer’s phone number was on the last PDF in email. Calling HUD at 800-827-3702 recovered the name. Calling the originator first added a day and did not process the certification.
Who should not treat the originator as the permanent help desk?
Anyone whose only contact is a loan officer who has left the company. Anyone wiring a “payoff” from an email that does not match the statement domain. Anyone who has not occupied and hopes the originator can “explain it to HUD.” Jay will help you find the servicer. He cannot recertify occupancy from his office.
What can go wrong: phishing that copies a Celink or Finance of America logo. A draw request left on a voicemail with no written follow-up. A default letter stacked with junk mail because the trusted contact was never listed.
Keep one paper statement and one PDF. When an adult child is acting under a POA, the servicer will want the recorded instrument before they discuss draws. Do not wait for a crisis to mail it. 24 CFR 206.201 still requires an FHA-approved mortgagee to service. A family member is not a substitute servicer.
Who this does not help: a household that wants Jay to “handle HUD” after a move-out. Occupancy cannot be certified from an originator’s office. Call the servicer. Then decide whether the stay is temporary under 24 CFR 206.27 or a due-and-payable event.
A follow-up: if HUD assigned the loan after a claim, is the phone number still on the old statement? Assignment can move servicing to HUD’s agent. The latest notice controls. 800-827-3702 is the backup when the paper trail is a mess. Keep one paper copy of the statement where an adult child can find it.