About the payments .. What about paying online?
or thru your bank website- internet bill pay something like that??

I do most payments online now at the websites for Ins, phone, etc and you get a confirmation page you can save or print out - as well as an email confirming. I save those too.

I like having the records saved on my computer.

You should be able to look at your past bank statements for records of payments going to the mortgage company on your banks website.

I had to track down something and just sent my bank an email from the contact us -about what I needed and they were very helpful.

Like if you needed all payments found to the mortgage company...
the bank should be able to do a search and send you a list with the info.