JR HOOD
One for me, three for you.
A plain-English guide to FHA insurance refunds — and how to check for free.
If you had an FHA-insured mortgage and you sold the home or refinanced within about seven years of closing, HUD may owe you back part of the upfront mortgage insurance premium you paid. Many people never find out, because HUD mails refund paperwork to the address on the original mortgage — the home you left.
Checking takes about a minute and costs nothing. Here’s how.
HUD keeps a public database of unclaimed FHA insurance refunds — people the department owes money to but hasn’t been able to reach. Anyone can search it, free, no account required:
If your name is there, HUD is holding a refund it hasn’t been able to deliver.
You do not need JR Hood — or anyone else — to claim your refund. The direct route:
That’s the whole process. The money is yours — no one is entitled to a piece of it unless you decide their help is worth it.
We search HUD’s database, locate people who may be owed refunds at their current address, and mail them a letter saying so. The letter is the service — it’s free, and it tells you how to verify and claim on your own.
For people who would rather not handle the paperwork, the follow-ups, and the process navigation, JR Hood does it for them. Our fee is 25% of the refund, and only if the money actually arrives — no upfront costs, no retainers. You keep 75%. The motto is “one for me, three for you” — you always get the bigger share.
If you received our letter, or found your name in HUD’s database, you can start at jrhood.com/claim — your FHA case number is on the letter and in HUD’s search results. Prefer to talk to a person? Call (727) 346-6498 or email jacob@jrhood.com.
When you close on an FHA-insured mortgage, part of what you pay is an upfront mortgage insurance premium that goes to HUD. If the loan ends early — because you sell the home or refinance out of the FHA loan — some of that premium may never be used, and HUD may owe it back to you. That unused portion is the refund.
No. HUD’s refund database is public and free, and so is calling HUD’s support center at 1-800-697-6967. Claiming your own refund through HUD costs nothing at any step. A fee only enters the picture if you choose to hire a tracer to handle the process for you.
Don’t take anyone’s word for it — including ours. Verify everything on HUD’s own government website at entp.hud.gov/dsrs/refunds/. A legitimate tracer will point you to HUD first, never ask for money upfront, and put any fee in writing before doing anything on your behalf. If someone demands payment before you’ve seen your name in HUD’s database, walk away.
It depends on HUD’s workload and on the paperwork being complete and correct. As a general guide, plan on four to six months from the time HUD receives a complete application to the check arriving. Incomplete or incorrect paperwork is the most common cause of delay.
No. You can claim your refund yourself, directly through HUD, at no cost — this page tells you how. A tracer like JR Hood is for people who would rather hand the paperwork and follow-up to someone else — our fee is 25% of the refund, and only if it actually arrives. That’s a convenience, not a requirement.