To understand your mortgage loan payoff amount, it's important to distinguish between your "mortgage balance" and the "payoff amount." Your monthly mortgage payment is applied to the interest accrued in the previous month, as interest is paid in arrears.

Each day after a payment is made, new interest accrues daily until the next payment is processed. This accumulating interest affects your payoff amount.

If you're working with Touchstone for refinancing or selling, we'll handle the request for a payoff statement on your behalf. For instance, if you're closing a refinance in October, the payment you made on October 1st was for September's interest. Keep in mind that interest will continue to accrue daily until the payoff is received by your lender.

Be aware that lenders may include additional charges in the payoff statement, such as default interest, adjustments for any shortage or surplus, additional prepayment premiums, legal fees, documentation fees, loss sharing fees, termination fees, and fax fees.