Can I get a US mortgage if I live abroad?

Yes for US citizens with US-based credit history and income, harder for foreign nationals. US citizens living abroad qualify for conventional and government-backed (FHA, VA) mortgages on US property if they maintain a US credit profile and can document income through US tax returns, employer letters, or stable foreign-employer pay (sometimes requiring a 2-year history). Foreign nationals can get "foreign national loans" from specialty lenders (HSBC, Wells Fargo Private Mortgage, Chase International) typically requiring 30-40% down with rates 1-2 points above conventional. The complication is escrow and homeowner insurance management while abroad, which is why this guide focuses on calling your servicer from outside the US.

What if my servicer transferred my loan and I don't know the new number?

Under RESPA, when a servicer transfers your loan they must send a written notice (Goodbye Letter) at least 15 days before transfer with the new servicer's name, address, and phone number, and the new servicer must send a Hello Letter within 15 days after transfer. You also get a 60-day RESPA grace period during which payments to either the old or new servicer are treated as on-time, regardless of which one is correct. If you missed both letters, check the MERS Servicer Identification System (mers-servicerid.org) using your MIN number or property address; it identifies the current servicer for most US residential mortgages. Then call the number on their website's mortgage page.

Will my US mortgage servicer accept ACH payments from a foreign bank?

Almost never. Most US mortgage servicers require ACH payments from a US-domiciled checking account, not from a foreign bank. The workarounds: keep a US checking account open (Charles Schwab and Fidelity Cash Management Account are popular with expats because they refund ATM fees globally), wire payments monthly (expensive: $25-50 per wire), or use a service like Wise or Revolut that gives you a US ACH routing number and account number you can fund from foreign currency. Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America all accept Wise-originated ACH transfers since the routing number is a real US bank (typically Community Federal Savings Bank).

What's the international number for U.S. Bank mortgage servicing?

+1 (513) 277-5899 is the international collect line U.S. Bank Home Mortgage publishes under its military and overseas services pages. It accepts collect calls from any international operator, which means the toll routes back to U.S. Bank and the call costs you nothing if you can find a collect-call origination service (hotel phones and some landlines still support it). For direct dial without collect, the toll-free +1 (800) 365-7772 line works from some carriers at international rates. U.S. Bank does not publish a non-collect direct-dial international number for general retail mortgage customers; the +1 (513) line is the official path for borrowers calling from outside the US.

Can I request PMI cancellation by phone or does it have to be in writing?

You can start the request by phone but the Homeowners Protection Act (HPA) requires a written request to trigger the servicer's formal review obligation. Call the general servicing line, ask for the PMI department, and state: "I'm requesting cancellation of private mortgage insurance under the Homeowners Protection Act based on the current LTV of my loan." The rep will send you the forms (most servicers require a current property appraisal at your expense, typically $400-600). For automatic cancellation at 78% LTV based on original amortization, no request is needed; the servicer must drop PMI automatically. Borrower-initiated cancellation at 80% LTV requires the written request plus appraisal.

Call Your US Mortgage Servicer from Abroad \

To call your US mortgage servicer from abroad, look for an international direct-dial number on the back of your statement or in your servicer's app. Two of the biggest publish theirs explicitly: Chase Home Lending at +1 (713) 262-3300 and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage at +1 (513) 277-5899. Most others print only a 1-800, and US toll-free numbers don't reliably connect from outside the US. The rest of this article covers the numbers by servicer, the script, which federal rules to invoke, and how to handle a 60-minute escrow or forbearance call without paying $180 in hotel-phone surcharges.

The Two Calls You're Probably Making

Most mortgage calls from abroad fall into two categories, and the right approach is different for each.

Routine work is usually the app: setting up autopay, downloading a statement, asking why your escrow balance changed by $14, updating your mailing address. Your servicer's app and online portal handle all of this without a phone call, from any country, on any wifi. If your problem fits in a paragraph, the portal probably solves it.

High-stakes work is the phone: an escrow shortage you want to spread over 24 months instead of 12, a forbearance request after a layoff, a payoff statement that has to land at a title company by Friday, a PMI removal request, a servicing transfer that has your payments routing to the wrong place. These calls need a human, often a supervisor, and they're rarely under 30 minutes.

Both Are True. All of It Matters. The app is right for routine. The phone is right when the dollars or the deadline are real.

The Number on the Back of Your Statement

Every US mortgage statement prints your servicer's customer service number on page one. Three things to notice before you dial.

One: some servicers publish a +1 area-code number that routes from any country. Chase prints +1 (713) 262-3300. U.S. Bank prints +1 (513) 277-5899. These are direct-dial numbers, funded the same way as any international call to a US area code, which means your foreign carrier will connect them like any other +1 number.

Two: the 1-800 printed alongside it may not connect from where you're standing. US toll-free numbers are paid for by the receiving company under US-side carrier agreements. From outside the US, some foreign carriers refuse the call, others connect it at premium international rates, and a few US-side gateways reject non-US originating numbers. You won't know which until you try.

Three: the number printed on your statement may not match what's on the servicer's website, because your loan may be subserviced. If your statement says "Lakeview" or "ServiceMac" but you took the loan out with someone else, dial the number on the statement, not the one you remember.

Top US Servicers — International-Friendly Numbers

Two major servicers publish a direct-dial international line: Chase Home Lending and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage. The rest publish toll-free only and direct international callers to the back of their statement or to the country-specific international 800 access code.

Servicer | Customer Service | International Direct-Dial

Chase Home Lending | +1 (800) 848-9136 (Mon-Fri 8a-8p, Sat 9a-6p ET) | +1 (713) 262-3300

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage | +1 (800) 365-7772 (Mon-Fri 7a-8p, Sat 8a-2p CT) | +1 (513) 277-5899 (intl collect)

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage | +1 (800) 357-6675 (Mon-Fri 7a-10p, Sat 8a-2p CT) | +1 (775) 335-1115 (collect, per WF intl page)

Rocket Mortgage | +1 (800) 863-4332 (servicing client support) | Not published — check back of statement

Mr. Cooper / Nationstar / Lakeview | +1 (888) 480-2432 (Mr. Cooper) / +1 (855) 294-8564 (Lakeview) | Not published — check back of statement

PennyMac | +1 (800) 777-4001 (Mon-Fri 5a-6p, Sat 7a-11a PT) | Not published — check back of statement

Bank of America Home Loans | +1 (800) 669-6607 (Mon-Fri 8a-9p ET) | Not published — use country intl 800 access code

Chase's +1 (713) is the only number on this list explicitly published for callers outside the US. U.S. Bank's +1 (513) is the only published direct-dial international number U.S. Bank lists for home loans, found under the bank's military-services section. Wells Fargo's +1 (775) is the bank's general international collect line, listed on their international access codes page as the fallback for countries without a published toll-free access code.

For the four servicers without a published international line, the operational answer is the same: look at the back of your statement or log into the app. Many large servicers route different loan products to different call centers, so the number specific to your loan is the one to call.

Which Number for Which Problem

Mortgage call routing depends on the problem, not just the lender.

If you need to... | Call...

Discuss escrow shortage or surplus | General servicing line, ask for escrow analysis review

Request forbearance (layoff, medical, disaster) | Loss mitigation / hardship line if your servicer publishes one (Chase: +1 (800) 848-9380), otherwise the general line and ask for "loss mitigation"

Get a payoff statement for closing | General line, ask for the payoff department; specify the "good through" date

Request PMI cancellation | General line, ask to file a "private mortgage insurance cancellation request"

Dispute a servicing-transfer error | Both old and new servicer within the RESPA 60-day grace period

Report a FEMA disaster forbearance need | General line, mention the FEMA declaration number for your county

File a formal complaint | General line, request that your complaint be treated as a Qualified Written Request (QWR) under RESPA

Chase is one of the few major servicers that publishes a dedicated hardship line (+1 (800) 848-9380). Most servicers route hardship through their general queue and you have to ask for loss mitigation by name. Saying the actual words "loss mitigation" is what gets you transferred to the right team.

What to Say When the Rep Picks Up

Mortgage calls go faster when you walk in with the right phrasing and the right regulation name.

"I'm calling from [country], my loan number is [____], and I need [escrow review / loss mitigation / payoff statement / PMI cancellation request]." Saying your country first prevents them from texting a US-only verification code. Saying the regulation-language version of your problem ("loss mitigation," not "I want to skip payments") routes you faster.
Have ready: loan number, property address, last four of SSN, and for payoff requests the "good through" date you need the figure valid until.
For a dispute or formal complaint, say: "I'd like this treated as a Qualified Written Request." This is the RESPA lever. The servicer has 5 business days to acknowledge receipt and 30 business days to respond in writing. It isn't nuclear— it's the standard formal-dispute tool.
For PMI cancellation, say: "I'm requesting cancellation of private mortgage insurance under the Homeowners Protection Act based on the current LTV of my loan." Most servicers require this in writing, but starting it on the phone gets the forms in motion.
Get a reference number before you hang up. Write it down. This is the breadcrumb for every follow-up call.

The follow-up rule: anything important from a phone call gets backed up in writing through the portal's secure-message function or by mailing a letter to the address printed on your statement. Phone-only commitments rarely hold up. The QWR procedure is the lever that triggers real timelines.

When the Toll-Free Won't Connect

US toll-free numbers (1-800, 1-888, 1-833, 1-844, 1-855, 1-866, 1-877) are funded by the receiving company under US-side carrier agreements. From abroad, that funding model breaks three ways.

Foreign carrier refuses outright. Several European MVNOs, Latin American pay-as-you-go SIMs, and certain Asian carriers no longer connect outbound calls to US toll-free prefixes at all. You dial, you get dead air or a "this call cannot be completed" recording.

Foreign carrier connects at premium rates. The call goes through, but at $1-3 per minute or higher with no warning. A 60-minute payoff verification call lands as a $120 line item on next month's bill.

US-side rejection of non-US ANI. Some servicers' toll-free gateways won't accept calls from non-US originating numbers. You hear a fast busy or get the call dropped after a few seconds of hold music.

When the toll-free won't go through, the order of fallbacks is: (1) the +1 area-code direct-dial if your servicer publishes one, (2) the international 800 access code for the country you're in (Bank of America's official suggestion, works in some countries), (3) the international collect line if published, and (4) a browser-based US-side dialer that routes through US carrier peering. The first option is best. The fourth is what fills the gap when none of the first three work.

The Cheap Path for Long Servicing Calls

Mortgage calls run long. 30 to 90 minutes is normal for a payoff verification with per-diem interest math, a forbearance underwriting conversation, a servicing-transfer dispute, or an escrow analysis review. The longest call we've documented in this cluster was a 2.5-hour FEMA disaster forbearance call.

At carrier IDD rates of $1-3 per minute from a foreign hotel landline or a non-US-inclusive mobile plan, a 60-minute servicing call lands at $60-180. A 90-minute call hits $270. The call itself is free on the servicer's end; the cost is entirely on your carrier.

World Dialer is a browser-based way to dial any US landline or mobile, including every servicer line in the table above. Open the browser, type the number, call. The rate is a fraction of carrier IDD rates— see worlddialer.com for current pricing. No app, no subscription required, no contract.

This is not for the five-minute "what's my balance" call. The app handles that. World Dialer is for the calls where the per-minute math turns the carrier bill into its own problem: the 45-minute payoff verification, the hour-long forbearance discussion, the 2-hour back-and-forth with the loss-mitigation team about documentation. Calls where the cost of the call itself would be a second problem on top of the mortgage problem.

Federal Rules That Are On Your Side

Three federal rules give you specific levers when calling your servicer about a problem.

Rule | What it gives you

RESPA / Regulation X | The Qualified Written Request (QWR) procedure: 5 business days to acknowledge, 30 business days to respond in writing. Triggered by saying the words "Qualified Written Request" or by sending a written notice.

Homeowners Protection Act (HPA, 1998) | Automatic PMI cancellation at 78% LTV based on original value. Borrower-initiated cancellation right at 80% LTV. Servicer must process a written request.

Federal disaster forbearance | FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac all offer forbearance for borrowers affected by a FEMA-declared disaster— typically 3-month initial periods, extendable.

The QWR is the lever most borrowers don't know exists. Saying "I'd like this treated as a Qualified Written Request" on a recorded call, followed by a written confirmation through the portal or by mail, starts the regulatory clock. Servicers also accept "Notice of Error" or "Request for Information" under current Regulation X— the term you use matters less than putting the request in writing afterward.

PMI cancellation is a slow process most servicers won't proactively initiate. The borrower has to ask, usually with a current appraisal. Property values climbed in many US markets while owners were abroad on assignment— this is a real opportunity that's worth a 20-minute call.

Disaster forbearance is invoked by mentioning the specific FEMA declaration number. FEMA publishes declarations at fema.gov; the declaration number is what your servicer's loss-mitigation team will ask for.

Quick-Reference: Which Number, When

Save these before your hotel wifi drops.

If you need to... | Call...

Reach Chase from any country | +1 (713) 262-3300 (intl direct-dial)

Reach U.S. Bank from any country | +1 (513) 277-5899 (intl collect)

Reach Wells Fargo when toll-free fails | +1 (775) 335-1115 (intl collect)

File a formal complaint | General line, request QWR treatment under RESPA

Request PMI cancellation | General line, invoke HPA at 80% LTV

Request disaster forbearance | General line, cite the FEMA declaration number

Long servicing call from abroad | Browser dialer to avoid carrier IDD surcharge

Screenshot this page. The worst time to search "Chase mortgage international number" is when your payoff statement is due at the title company in 48 hours and the 1-800 just dropped.

Make the Call

You have the numbers. You have the script. You have the regulations to invoke. The servicer's loss-mitigation team or payoff department is sitting on the other end with the same Reg X playbook as every other US mortgage servicer. Time to make the call.

Need an affordable way to reach a US-based servicing line for a 60-minute payoff or forbearance call? World Dialer works in your browser. Call any US landline at a fraction of carrier IDD rates. No app, no subscription required, no contract. Pay only for what you use.

We'll be here next time you need us.

→ Try WorldDialer

For related guides in this cluster, see calling US banks from abroad and how to dispute a US credit card charge from abroad.

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How to Call Your US Mortgage Servicer from Abroad