Frequently asked questions.

We sit between the lender and the borrower and run the loan month to month. That means taking each payment, posting it against the amortization schedule, holding and paying escrow for taxes and insurance, sending statements and late notices, paying the lender, and filing the year-end tax forms. The lender keeps ownership and control of the loan.

Usually as soon as you carry a note you don’t want to babysit. Collecting by hand works for a while, until a payment comes in short, a tax bill gets missed or a buyer for the note asks for a clean pay history. A servicer turns that into a routine with a paper trail, for a known monthly cost.

Borrower welcome letter and payment setup, payment collection and posting, lender disbursements by ACH or check, escrow for property tax, hazard insurance and HOA dues, an annual escrow analysis, monthly statements, reminder and late notices, payoff and reinstatement quotes, online portals for lenders and borrowers, and Form 1098 / 1099-INT at year end.

First-lien notes secured by Texas property: residential, commercial, vacant land, and mobile and manufactured homes. We don’t service wraparound or subject-to loans, notes on property outside Texas, or loans that are already delinquent on the day they board.

Texas has its own homestead protections, property-tax calendar, foreclosure rules and servicer licensing. Working in one state means we apply one set of rules consistently on every loan instead of juggling fifty. If your property is elsewhere, use the Request Your State page and we’ll tell you if that changes.

No. Riverstone does not furnish payment data to the credit bureaus.

No. We service notes that lenders keep. If you want to sell a note for a lump sum, that’s a note-buyer transaction, and a clean servicing history from us will help you get a better price.

Call (210) 346-9827 or email support@riverstoneservicing.com, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central. Account details are also available in the online portals around the clock.

Send the boarding package: the signed promissory note, the recorded deed of trust, the closing or settlement statement, the borrower’s contact details and any payment history to date. Add the insurance declarations page and the latest tax statement if the loan is escrowed. We review the file, set the loan up and email your lender-portal login when it’s live.

Five to ten business days from a complete package. Rush boarding is an optional $50 per loan and targets 48 hours. If the loan is transferring from another servicer, the federal transfer notices also set the timing on the borrower’s side.

Funds are disbursed to you as borrower payments clear, by ACH to your bank account on file or by check if you prefer. Every disbursement shows in the lender portal alongside the payment it came from.

A lender portal with loan balances, payment history and escrow activity, plus monthly statements. At year end we issue Form 1099-INT for the interest you received and Form 1098 to the borrower, both by January 31.

It depends on when the loan closes relative to the tax bill. Texas property taxes are due by January 31, so a loan that closes in December or January may need close to a full year of taxes collected up front. Later in the year, about two months of reserves is usually enough. For insurance, the borrower typically prepays the first year and we hold a two-month cushion from then on.

Late fees are charged exactly as the note allows, after its grace period. We send a reminder, follow up by phone and letter, and keep every contact in the loan file so you can see where things stand. Late fees we collect are split 50/50 with you. Default and foreclosure support is not part of the monthly fee. It’s available as a separate service on request, quoted before any work starts.

Yes. You remain the lender of record and make the decisions: modifications, payoff terms, what to do about a delinquent loan. We don’t buy notes, market to your borrowers or sell your data.

Through the secure borrower payment portal by bank draft (ACH) or debit or credit card, or by check mailed to the address on your statement. Card payments carry a 3% surcharge. Auto-pay is the easiest way to avoid late fees. If the portal isn’t available to you yet, call (210) 346-9827 and we’ll help.

Call us before the due date if you can. Your promissory note sets the grace period and the late fee, and we’ll tell you exactly where your loan stands and what it takes to get current. We service the loan, but any change to its terms is your lender’s decision. Free help is also available from HUD-approved housing counselors at consumerfinance.gov.

In the borrower portal: current principal, every payment received, upcoming due dates and your escrow balance. If you can’t log in, call (210) 346-9827 and we’ll get you back in.

Usually, yes. Check your note for any prepayment terms. Request a payoff statement and we’ll calculate principal, interest to your payoff date and any fees. Statements are typically ready within 48 hours and are good for 30 days.

We will never ask you to pay through a new website, a gift card or a personal account. If you get payment instructions you weren’t expecting, call us at (210) 346-9827 before you send anything.

$150 one-time setup per loan, then $35 a month per loan without escrow or $40 a month with escrow. The same price applies whether you bring one note or a portfolio. Larger books can ask for written volume terms.

Only the ones on the published schedule: $50 optional rush boarding, a $150 research and correction fee if a boarding file needs rework, $50 per payoff statement, $35 for a returned payment (charged to the borrower), a 3% card surcharge, and $75 per loan to transfer out ($100 with less than 60 days’ notice). Default and foreclosure support is quoted separately if you ask for it.

No. You can move your loans with 60 days’ written notice. We send the borrower the required goodbye letter and hand the file to your new servicer.

Often, yes. If you regularly owner-finance homes, Texas generally requires a licensed Residential Mortgage Loan Originator to handle origination, with limited exemptions such as financing a small number of properties, selling to immediate family or selling your own homestead. Commercial and raw-land loans are usually outside those rules. Ask your attorney about your specific deal.

No. The Texas Constitution (Article XVI, Section 50) protects homesteads from most creditors, but a properly documented and recorded purchase-money lien used to buy the property is one of the listed exceptions.

Mostly RESPA and its Regulation X (12 CFR Part 1024) for consumer residential loans: transfer notices, escrow account analysis, deadlines for responding to borrower error notices and limits on force-placed insurance. Truth in Lending rules also govern periodic statements on many loans.

You sign with the new servicer and give the old one notice. The outgoing servicer sends the borrower a goodbye notice at least 15 days before the transfer, and the new servicer sends a welcome notice within 15 days after. For 60 days after the switch, a payment sent to the old servicer on time can’t be treated as late.

The servicer holds the servicing rights and is the borrower’s point of contact of record. A subservicer does the day-to-day work under contract to whoever holds those rights. For most private lenders, the third-party servicer handles both roles, and Riverstone works that way on Texas notes.

The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending reorganized its residential mortgage rules in late 2024, and residential mortgage servicers must now maintain an electronic surety bond filed through NMLS. If you service your own loans, check with the Department or your attorney about whether you’re affected.