Here at Mammoth we want to make our customer experience as smooth as possible.
Many times our customers are given checks from their insurance companies with a mortgage
company or bank listed as a payee on the check. The insurance adjuster will usually
disclose when this happens, but tells the homeowner to contact the mortgage company to get
it endorsed. The mortgage company is listed as a payee because they have vested interest in
the property. They want to make sure that the property is fixed back to pre-storm condition in
the unlikely event that they will have to take over the property in a foreclosure.

Each mortgage company has a different process for mortgage check endorsement depending
on the size of the claim. When the customer calls the mortgage company, one of a few things
can happen. Sometimes, they will make the process sound easy, “send in the check, and
we will endorse it and send it back.” Or, “send it in, submit some paperwork, then they will
send the check back.” Sometimes, it seems a little more difficult because the “mortgage
endorsement packet” they send from the Loss Draft Department has a laundry list of items the
homeowner is required to provide. For example, Copy of Insurance Estimate, Copy of
Contractor Estimate, Copy of Contract, W9 from the Contractor, Lien Waiver, and more.
Sometimes, these documents require a notary. In some cases, the mortgage company may
even require a third party inspection to confirm the work is complete before they will release
final funds.

Most of the time, the homeowner is charged with dealing with this process, the reality is
that there are so many things that can happen, and it can be very confusing and time
consuming, but we have a solution to make it easy. See if you or someone you know has
had to deal with any of these issues when it comes to the mortgage check.

 

Here’s a list:
1) The mortgage company makes it sound like an easy process, the homeowner sends in
the check waiting for it to return in the mail, then when the homeowner goes to follow up,
they require a laundry list of items to get the check endorsed.

2) The mortgage company provides a detailed list of exactly what they need. The homeowner
provides all of the items requested and waits patiently for the check. Nothing happens for
weeks, then the homeowner follows up and they have not released the money for one of
several reasons.

– The contract doesn’t match the insurance paperwork
– The documents aren’t notarized
– The contractor’s estimate does not match the insurance estimate
– The lien waiver does not match the invoice
– The check amount does not match the insurance paperwork
– The revised insurance paperwork after supplement is different than the original and therefore doesn’t show that it matches the contract

3) The mortgage company sends only partial payment for the work and not all of the
money. This happens because they require a third party inspection company to confirm
the work was complete before they will release it all. They send the money in parts, usually
thirds, or they will pay half up front. Meanwhile the homeowner is waiting to get their roof
completed until they get all of the money, which will not come until the roof is complete and
they’ve scheduled a third party inspector through the mortgage company.

These are just a few things that can happen in dealing with this process. Mammoth has a
simple solution. One of our great partners “IINK”, that’s “ink” with two “i’s”, helps us with
this process. Their sole role is to help our customers get their mortgage checks processed
quickly, efficiently and easily by coordinating the shipping of the checks, retrieving and
submitting all required documentation. They will also be calling to follow up and make sure the
process keeps moving forward, and confirm the release of the payments. IINK will contact
our customers to get an authorization filled out and make sure that any required
documentation is submitted correctly from our customers and Mammoth to the mortgage
company so that the check is processed quickly. Mammoth’s policy is to finish our work
before we collect payment. However, we cannot deposit a mortgage check until it is endorsed,
this is not payment when we collect a mortgage check, this is starting the process to get
the check endorsed so that it can be used for payment. The endorsement process can
take sometimes weeks in order to get it endorsed and ready for deposit.

We ask our customers who have entrusted us with the repair of one of their most valuable assets to trust
us to help them with this process so that when our work is complete, the check will be ready
for deposit. Since we are asking for a check (not payment) before beginning work, we know
that this requires a lot of trust on our customers part. If a customer would prefer to wait until
the work is complete before passing along the mortgage check, we ask that our customers
contact the bank to get the process started as quickly as possible, and once the roof is
complete, let us take over the process so that we can expedite the check. Mammoth does not
charge our customers for this service, this is a cost Mammoth pays. If a customer would
prefer to handle the mortgage process, we just ask that you are prepared give us a check that
we can deposit upon completion of the roof for the ACV (actual cash value of the roof, plus the
deductible).