Mortgagee

The person who extends credit secured by a mortgage; the mortgage lender.

A term peculiar to mortgage law and contracts; refers to the person who lends money on the basis of a mortgage on real property.

A typical mortgagee is a bank or a credit union.

The mortgagee lends money to the mortgagor and the latter allows a mortgage to be charged against, or registered on title of his real property, as security.

It is the mortgagee who seeks to defeat, if there has been substantial or contractual default on the loan secured by the mortgage, the mortgagor's equitable remedy to redeem his/her default by paying off arrears. That process, if successful, is known as foreclosure.