The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is looking for some of you and that may be a very good thing. There are currently 700,000 consumers who had home loans through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to whom refunds are owed. That’s $500 million in refunds, by the way, with $600 as the average amount owed.

The reason? Mortgage insurance premiums.

FHA, a division of HUD, insures home loans that are issued through specially approved lenders. The FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund is an upfront mortgage insurance premium paid by homeowners at the closing. Essentially, FHA mortgage insurance guarantees the loan and pays the lender if you should default on the mortgage. Because the lender is protected by the insurance, they are able to offer you better terms for your loan, such as a lower down payment.

If the insurance is terminated within three to seven years the borrower may be entitled to a refund. Termination occurs when the loan is paid off or refinanced.

Generally, upon termination of the insurance, your lender notifies HUD with the required information. Once processed you would be issued a check for the refund amount within seven to ten working days. This procedure works properly for approximately 70 percent of those owed refunds. However, problems may arise if your lender fails to send the information, you move and fail to provide a forwarding address, or if the information is inconsistent with HUD records.

Information about the unpaid refunds can be found on HUD’s website at www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/comp/refunds/index.cfm or by calling (800) 697-6967. The website also provides search capabilities of the agencies public records by consumer name for the refunds that have gone unpaid for at least two years.

HUD wants you to remember, you never have to pay for a refund due you from HUD. They warn that there are individuals and organizations known as “tracers” who search HUD’s public records and charge finders fees to homeowners due refunds. While HUD has begun to hire companies to track down borrowers owed the refunds, if anyone asks you to pay for the information and they do not work for HUD, you don’t have to pay to receive what you are owed.

So, if you’ve previously had an FHA insured loan, check it out. Uncle Sam may be holding a refund for you.