I usually pay extra on my mortgage. Every servicer I have ever had always just applied this to the principal. My servicer was recently changed to GreenTree. I noticed a statement on my bill that " partial payments '' are not applied, but held ( presumably without interest ). My additional principal was treated as a partial payment. More importantly, if I ran into hard times and paid less ( but still covered interest and some principal ), *NONE* of that amount would have been credited to my account. This practice should not be permitted. Payments should never be placed in limbo not earning interest while you 're paying them interest. 
