A request for information is how a borrower formally asks a mortgage servicer, in writing, to hand over information about the servicing of the loan — the payment history, the escrow figures, who actually owns the loan. Under federal servicing law it is not a casual inquiry: it is a defined legal instrument with required contents and deadlines the servicer must meet once it arrives, the companion to the notice of error. This page is how it works: the rule behind it, what counts and what does not, where the request has to go, the servicer's response clock, the requests a servicer may decline, and the practical steps that make the request count.
The request for information lives in Regulation X, 12 CFR 1024.36, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's mortgage servicing rule under RESPA. In substance: a request for information is any written request from a borrower that includes the borrower's name, information identifying the mortgage loan account, and states the information requested about the servicing of the loan. No magic words are required — the letter does not have to cite the regulation or use any particular formula; it has to ask, in writing, for servicing information and identify the borrower and the loan. It is also the modern home of the older term borrowers still meet: a qualified written request (QWR) that asks for information about servicing is a request for information. A QWR that instead asserts the servicer made a mistake is a notice of error — and one letter can be both, if it both asks for information and asserts an error. And it is free to use: the servicer may not charge a fee for responding.
Two common writings fall outside the definition. First, a request written on a payment coupon — or on another servicer payment form — need not be treated as a request for information: the coupon goes to a payment-processing address, not to the people who answer information requests, and the rule lets the servicer treat it as never sent. Second, a request for a payoff balance is not a request for information at all — payoff statements are handled under Regulation Z, the Truth in Lending rule, with their own requirements. Asking for almost anything else about the servicing of the loan is squarely inside the definition: borrowers commonly request a payment history, escrow analyses and statements, copies of loan documents and loan terms, and the identity of the servicer or the owner of the loan.
The contents are the three elements of the definition: your name, information that identifies your mortgage loan account, and a statement of the information you are requesting about the servicing of the loan — specific enough that the servicer can search for it, such as the statement period, the escrow analysis or the document involved. The destination matters too. A servicer may designate a specific address for information requests, by written notice to borrowers — typically printed on the periodic statement or posted on its website — and if it has, the request should be sent to that designated address so the rule's duties and deadlines attach cleanly. Check the statement for the designated information-request address before anything is mailed.
Once a proper request arrives, the deadlines run against the servicer, counted in business days — days excluding weekends and federal holidays. First, the servicer must provide a written acknowledgment within 5 business days of receipt. Then the substantive response, on one of two clocks. If the request asks for the identity of, and the address or contact information for, the owner or assignee of the loan, the response is due within 10 business days — and that deadline cannot be extended. For all other requests, the response is due within 30 business days, extendable by 15 business days if, before the first 30 run out, the servicer notifies the borrower in writing of the extension and the reason for it.
A proper response does one of two things: it provides the information requested, or — after conducting a reasonable search — it explains in writing that the information is unavailable and gives the borrower the name and contact information of a person to follow up with. Silence is not a response, and neither is a bill: the servicer may not charge a fee for responding to a request for information, and it may not demand a payment on the account as a condition of responding. The information right does not pause because the account is behind, and it is not sold back to the borrower.
The rule also lists the requests a servicer need not answer on the merits: a request that is duplicative of a prior request the servicer already responded to; a request for information that is confidential, proprietary or privileged; a request that is irrelevant to the borrower's account; a request that is overbroad or unduly burdensome; and an untimely request — one received more than 1 year after the loan was transferred to another servicer or discharged. Declining is not silent, though: the servicer must tell the borrower in writing, within 5 business days of receiving the request, that it will not respond and why. A refusal with no written explanation inside that window is itself a rule failure worth escalating.
Regulation X gives the borrower a second, distinct written tool: the notice of error under 12 CFR 1024.35, covered in full in the sibling guide, what is a notice of error? The difference is the verb. A request for information asks the servicer to produce information about the loan; a notice of error asserts that the servicer made a servicing error and asks for a correction. Borrowers often need both, in sequence: first the information request to see what the servicer's own records show — the payment history, the escrow analysis, the basis for a charge — then, if the records confirm the mistake, the notice of error to force the correction. Each has its own designated-address practice and its own response rules, so label the letter for what it is; a single letter that does both is treated as both.
The procedure rewards paperwork done carefully. Keep copies of everything — the request itself and every document sent with it — and send it with proof of delivery: the deadlines run from the servicer's receipt, and the sender's proof is what fixes the dates. Attach copies, never originals, of any supporting documents; originals stay in the borrower's file. State exactly what is being requested, one item per clear line, so the response — or the gap in it — is easy to measure. Then watch the clock: acknowledgment inside 5 business days, the owner-or-assignee answer inside 10, everything else inside 30, or 45 with a written extension notice. If the servicer misses its deadlines, the escalation is a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), attaching the request and the proof of delivery — servicers answer CFPB complaints in writing, and that answer becomes part of the record.
Homeowner HQ exists to make this page unnecessary for its homeowners: your own agent's monthly updates track your home's value and your equity position, and the records of your loan — its servicer, its escrow, its payment history — stay organized while everything is routine, long before a formal written request is the remaining tool. The surrounding guides in this series cover the connected ground: what is a notice of error, what is dual tracking, what is foreclosure, what is a short sale, what is a deed in lieu of foreclosure, what is a loan modification, what is mortgage forbearance, what is a mortgage repayment plan, what is a payment deferral, what is mortgage reinstatement, and what is a deficiency judgment — the whole board, readable early, while every option is still on it.
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A request for information is any written request from a borrower to a mortgage servicer that asks for information about the servicing of the loan, under federal Regulation X, 12 CFR 1024.36. To count, the request must include the borrower's name, information that identifies the mortgage loan account, and a statement of the information requested about the servicing of the loan — no magic words are required. A qualified written request (QWR) that asks for information about servicing is a request for information; a QWR that asserts an error is a notice of error instead, and one letter can be both if it does both. Two things do not count: a request written on a payment coupon or another servicer payment form need not be treated as a request for information, and a request for a payoff balance is not one — payoff statements are handled under Regulation Z. The servicer may designate a specific address for information requests by written notice, and the request should be sent to that address. This page is general information, not legal or financial advice.
The deadlines are written into the rule and run in business days, excluding weekends and federal holidays. The servicer must acknowledge the request in writing within 5 business days of receiving it. It must then provide the information, or — after a reasonable search — explain in writing that the information is unavailable and give the name and contact information of a person the borrower can follow up with. That response is due within 10 business days when the request asks for the identity of, and the address or contact information for, the owner or assignee of the loan, and that 10-day deadline cannot be extended. For all other requests the response is due within 30 business days, extendable by 15 business days if the servicer notifies the borrower in writing before the first 30 run and gives the reason for the extension. No fee may be charged for responding, and the servicer may not demand a payment on the account as a condition of responding.
The rule lists requests a servicer need not respond to: a request that is duplicative of one the servicer already answered, a request for confidential, proprietary or privileged information, a request that is irrelevant to the borrower's account, a request that is overbroad or unduly burdensome, and an untimely request — one received more than 1 year after the loan was transferred to another servicer or discharged. Refusing is not silent, though: the servicer must tell the borrower in writing, within 5 business days of receiving the request, that it will not respond and why. Everything else gets the standard treatment — a written acknowledgment within 5 business days and a substantive response on the 10- or 30-business-day clock. A borrower whose servicer misses its deadlines, or who never gets the required written explanation, should keep copies of the request and proof of delivery and escalate with a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).