Loan Register Definition

What Is a Loan Register?

A loan register is an internal database of maturity dates on loans belonging to a servicer. The loan register shows when the loans are due and lists them in chronological order by maturity date.

How a Loan Register Works

Loan registers are also known as maturity tickers. They are important tools for in-house loan officers, who use them to create follow-up leads. Most servicers have dedicated teams for business retention; they use loan registers to determine which borrowers to target in mass mailings or phone campaigns.

For servicers, loan registers are essential to generating return business. These registers allow a company to revisit its existing clients at the exact time that they may be thinking of taking out a new loan. While most loan registers are automated for larger corporations, smaller lenders and mortgage broker shops may use a more informal way of keeping track of their pool of aged loans. White boards, spreadsheets, and simple calendar systems can help them track when their customers’ loans are coming due.

Servicer vs. Lender

The loan servicer, or mortgage servicer, is the back-end company that deals with the day-to-day maintenance of an active loan. It applies payments as they are remitted, issues payoff statements as they are requested, and makes payment—such as hazard insurance premiums and real estate taxes—to third parties.

When it comes to a mortgage, a borrower’s main point of contact is with the lender. A lender reviews the requirements for the loan application, verifies that the borrower meets all qualifications, and obtains any supporting documents that may be needed. Sometimes a lender will also facilitate the closing process. Once this is complete, the loan and the borrowers move out of the lender’s pipeline and into the servicer’s.

The servicer makes sure that all the documentation that has been recorded from the closing is filed and stored as required by the state in which the property resides. The servicer will be also be the one who sends out the monthly payment notice and receives the payment from the borrower. Unlike with the lender, some borrowers may never speak to their servicer. Nevertheless, servicers can change over the course of a loan if they sell off a portion of the liens they are holding to another servicer or if they go out of business.

While many smaller lenders do not service their own loans, it’s not uncommon for larger lenders to do it all, from lending to servicing, under one roof.