Loan Servicing

Dictionary Says

Definition of 'Loan Servicing'

The administration aspect of a loan from the time the proceeds are dispersed until the loan is paid off. This includes sending monthly payment statements and collecting monthly payments, maintaining records of payments and balances, collecting and paying taxes and insurance (and managing escrow and impound funds), remitting funds to the note holder, and following up on delinquencies.
Investopedia Says

Investopedia explains 'Loan Servicing'

Loan servicers are compensated by retaining a relatively small percentage of each periodic loan payment known as the servicing fee or servicing strip. This is usually 0.25% to 0.5% of the periodic interest payment. For example, if the outstanding balance on a mortgage is $100,000 and the servicing fee is 0.25%, the servicer is entitled to retain ((.0025 / 12) x 100,000) = $20 of the next period payment before passing the remaining amount to the note holder. 

Loan servicing trades in the secondary market much like mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The valuation of mortgage servicing is similar to the valuation of MBS IO strips. Servicing strips are subject to a great deal of prepayment risk and tend to show negative convexity.

Related Definitions

  • Mortgage Servicing Rights - MSR

    A contractual agreement where the right, or rights, to service an existing mortgage are sold by the original lender to another party who specializes in the various functions of servicing ...
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  • Interest Only (IO) Strips

    The interest portion of mortgage, Treasury or bond payments, which is separated and sold individually from the principal portion of those same payments. The periodic payments of several ...
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  • Negative Convexity

    When the shape of a bond's yield curve is concave. A bond’s convexity is the rate of change of its duration, and is measured as the second derivative of price with respect to yield.Most ...
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    • Prepayment Risk

      The risk associated with the early unscheduled return of principal on a fixed-income security. Some fixed-income securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, have embedded call ...
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    • Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS)

      A type of asset-backed security that is secured by a mortgage or collection of mortgages. These securities must also be grouped in one of the top two ratings as determined by a ...
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    • Servicing Strip

      A security created by the stream of cash flows that result from the servicing fee on a mortgage. Servicing strips trade in a secondary market much like mortgage-backed securities do; the ...
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    • Servicing Fee

      A percentage of each mortgage payment made by a borrower to a mortgage servicer as compensation for keeping a record of payments, collecting and making escrow payments, passing principal ...
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    • Origination Fee

      An up-front fee charged by a lender for processing a new loan application, used as compensation for putting the loan in place. Origination fees are quoted as a percentage of the total ...
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    • Impound

      An account maintained by mortgage companies to collect amounts such as hazard insurance, property taxes, private mortgage insurance and other required payments from the mortgage holders; ...
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    • Non-Purpose Loan

      A type of loan that uses an investment portfolio as loan collateral and the proceeds of which can not be used to purchase, carry or trade securities. This type of loan allows investors ...
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