Hello,

Can anyone give guidance or current best practice to collecting a mortgage release fee. We had historically collected the fee at closing but the regulations of accounting for the fees are making us rethink our strategy.

I have seen the release fee listed on a payoff statement in some cases. Is this a manual addition to the payoff or is there an automated mechanism available? Our system is FiServe "Premier".

Any information is appreciated.

Because lien release fees increase over time, we collect the release fee at payoff; it is a manual add to our payoff quote. We do have the 'future lien release fee' noted in the loan documents so the customer is aware that it will be charged at payoff. We are not a FiServe bank.

We collect the future release fee at closing and consider it a prepaid finance charge. It has never been questioned.

Just make sure you check your State law also.

You can add it to your note (i.e., demand fee, recon fee, recording fee etc.) on Fiserv at the time of booking the note, It is then included in the payoff quote and required unless manually removed or modified at the time of payoff.