We recently converted to a new loan servicing platform, and we are in the process of transferring servicing rights from our bank to a separate mortgage company, without transferring the underlying loan. We will send out the required notice of servicing transfer. Are we required to complete an assignment of mortgage?

If your bank is transferring only the servicing rights and not the loans themselves, you likely do not want to be assigning title to the mortgages to the servicer. Typically, an assignment of a mortgage transfers ownership of a loan, and that does not appear to be your bank’s intent.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Fed. Nat. Mortg. Ass’n v. Kuipers, 314 Ill.App.3d 631, 672 (2nd Dist. 2000) (“The assignment of a mortgage note carries with it an equitable assignment of the mortgage by which it was secured.”)