public-service · RESPA error resolution deadlines
RESPA Error Deadlines: What § 1024.35 Requires
RESPA's error-resolution rule sets three different servicer response deadlines depending on which listed error a borrower's notice raises.
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What matters now
- A payoff-balance error request gets the shortest deadline: seven business days.
- A foreclosure-sale-related error is answered by whichever is earlier, not a fixed number of days regardless of the sale schedule.
- Every other listed error, including misapplied payments and improper fees, falls under a 30-business-day deadline.
- Servicers may extend that 30-business-day deadline once, by 15 more days.
- Section 1024.35 was published in 2013 and was last amended in 2016.
When a mortgage servicer receives a notice of error under Regulation X’s error-resolution rule, the deadline the servicer must meet depends on which type of error is at issue. The regulation — “§ 1024.35 Error resolution procedures.” (12 CFR § 1024.35) — sets three separate response windows. A payoff-balance error gets a seven-business-day deadline (excluding legal public holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays) (12 CFR § 1024.35). An error tied to a scheduled foreclosure sale is answered by “whichever is earlier” (12 CFR § 1024.35), not a fixed number of days regardless of the sale schedule. Every other listed error falls under a 30-business-day catch-all deadline (12 CFR § 1024.35), which the servicer may extend once by an additional 15 days (12 CFR § 1024.35).
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- A request for an accurate payoff balance gets the shortest deadline: seven business days (12 CFR § 1024.35).
- An error connected to a scheduled foreclosure sale is answered by “whichever is earlier,” not a fixed number of days regardless of the sale schedule (12 CFR § 1024.35).
- Every other error the regulation lists — including misapplied payments and improperly imposed fees — falls under a 30-business-day deadline (12 CFR § 1024.35).
- The servicer can extend that 30-business-day deadline once, by 15 more days (12 CFR § 1024.35).
- The rule was published in 2013 and has been amended twice since, most recently in 2016 (12 CFR § 1024.35).
The rule that sets these deadlines
The deadlines below all come from the same provision: “§ 1024.35 Error resolution procedures.” (12 CFR § 1024.35) This section identifies specific servicer errors and assigns response deadlines.
Errors the deadlines cover
The regulation lists specific servicer errors that trigger these deadlines. Among them: “Failure to apply an accepted payment to principal, interest, escrow, or other charges” (12 CFR § 1024.35); “Imposition of a fee or charge that the servicer lacks a reasonable basis to impose” (12 CFR § 1024.35); and “Failure to provide an accurate payoff balance amount” (12 CFR § 1024.35). Each of these listed errors is answered under one of the three deadlines described below.
Seven-business-day deadline: payoff-balance errors
For a notice of error asserting a failure to provide an accurate payoff balance, the regulation requires a response “Not later than seven days (excluding legal public holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays)” (12 CFR § 1024.35). This is the shortest of the three deadlines the rule sets.
Foreclosure-sale error deadline
For an error connected to a scheduled foreclosure sale, the regulation ties the response deadline to “whichever is earlier” (12 CFR § 1024.35), not a fixed number of days regardless of the sale schedule.
30-business-day catch-all deadline
For every other error the regulation lists, the deadline is longer: “For all other asserted errors, not later than 30 days (excluding legal public holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays) after the servicer receives the applicable notice of error.” (12 CFR § 1024.35). The servicer is permitted to “extend the time period for responding by an additional 15 days” (12 CFR § 1024.35), which can push this catch-all deadline to as much as 45 business days (30 plus the 15-day extension) in total.
Regulatory history
The current version of § 1024.35 traces to a 2013 rulemaking with two later amendments, recorded in the Federal Register as “[78 FR 10876, Feb. 14, 2013, as amended at 78 FR 60437, Oct. 1, 2013; 81 FR 72371, Oct. 19, 2016]” (12 CFR § 1024.35).
What this article does not answer
This article covers only the response deadlines the regulation sets once a servicer has received a qualifying notice of error. It does not explain any form or address requirements for a notice, and it does not evaluate, resolve, or comment on any specific loan, servicer, or dispute. It also does not recommend or outline any strategy for pursuing a claim against a servicer, and it does not assess or compare specific mortgage servicers.