Payoffs — clearing a mortgage at closing

A payoff letter is the lender telling you exactly what it takes to retire the loan. Two things about it decide how the Payoffs tab behaves.

It expires. Every payoff is good only through a date the lender states. Wiring an expired figure underpays the lender, so the loan is not satisfied, the lien is never released, and the buyer owns a house with somebody else's mortgage still attached to it. That usually surfaces months later, when the money is gone.

It grows daily. Interest accrues per diem, so the amount owed on the 12th is not the amount printed for the 10th.

Recording one:
1. Open the closing file and choose the Payoffs tab.
2. Choose "Record a payoff" and enter the lender, the amount, and the date it is good through. The date is required — an amount without it is not a payoff, only a snapshot of one.
3. Enter the per diem if the lender quoted one. Leave it blank if they did not; Turtini will not invent a figure, because a guessed per diem overstates the payoff.

Attaching the letter:
A payoff you have typed is still just a number somebody typed. Choose "Attach letter" and link the lender's own document to mark it received. Until then, disbursements against it are refused.

What the status dot means:
• Green — received, current, and safe to disburse against.
• Amber — recorded but the letter has not been attached yet.
• Red — expired, or missing the amount or the date.
• Grey — superseded, because the lender re-quoted.

Paying it:
Post the disbursement on the Escrow tab and tag it to the payoff. Turtini checks the figure before the row is written and refuses it if the payoff has expired, has not been received, has been superseded, or if the amount does not match what the lender asked for. Underpaying leaves the lien; overpaying sends the seller's money to a lender who will take months to return it.

When the lender re-quotes:
Choose "Supersede" on the old payoff and record the new one. The old letter stays on the file as the record of what was believed at the time — it just stops being disbursable.

Turtini keeps the record of all of this. It does not hold or move the funds; your bank or title company does.