The company that services my mortgage, (Seterus) has sent me a form W9. Why would they do this? I called and was told they are updating their records to make sure they are accurate. This has never happened before with any bank or company I’ve dealt with in the past. Any idea what it is all about?
Thanks!
Your mortgage company is required to provide a Form 1098 to both you and the Feds. This shows the mortgage interest you paid. They need your SSN to be right to do the form correctly. And since your tax deduction for mortgage interest depends on this being done correctly, it’s in your interest to ensure they have your SSN correct.
We normally think of the W9 form as used for when folks are paying us, not when we’re paying them. But it’s really just a form to transmit your SSN, coupled with some legal assurances that lying on the form is not just messing with the corporation at the other end, but also Uncle Sam. Who will not be amused about any shenanigans.
Ok, thanks. Makes sense.
My sister worked for the IRS; humor was not allowed.
HMRC have the same rule:) My office was inspected by them once and they would not even accept a cup of tea - apparently that might be considered undue influence or something. They were there for three days and never cracked a smile.
The odd part is that the info they need is usually obtained when the loan is first taken out. They must have reason to think that the info they have is bad.
Not necessarily. The OP could have moved, changed his name, or been assigned a different SSN since the last time he completed a W-9. Besides that, one thing we’ve learned during the foreclosure crisis is that loan originators aren’t very good at checking loan applications, so the original loan servicing agent could have fucked up all sorts of things.
Mortgage was sold/transferred or whatever they call it nowadays. Former bank is known for stupid stuff (foreclosing on homes they have no lien against) I don’t think the new one is much better. 