Mortgages typically have many different owners over the years and many different servicing bureaus, so it's not difficult for a mixup to occur over your loan balance. To protect yourself, run an amortization schedule and check the loan balance reported by your lender against it.


•Keep a copy of every check you ever write for your loan.


•If you call a mortgage servicing bureau about your loan, make sure you get the full name of the person with whom you speak.


• If you find yourself in a dispute with a lender about a payment or another issue, don't send correspondence to the same address you send your payment.


•Keep an eye on how much money your bank collects to cover your annual property taxes and insurance. Lenders are allowed to collect your annual escrow needs plus one-sixth of this figure, but many over collect.


• One of the smartest things someone can do with a mortgage is to prepay on the loan. All you need to do is contact your lender and ask for its prepayment procedure. Then, once a year, check the loan balance the lender sends you to make sure the additional payments have been applied properly.


•Fee-based plans that charge $300 to $500 for administering a prepayment system are a bad idea; you can do it better and cheaper by yourself.


• If you reach 20 percent equity in your home, you can save a substantial of money by asking your lender to drop private mortgage insurance.


• Avoid paying private mortgage insurance by taking an 80 percent first mortgage and a 10 or 15 percent second mortgage.