Is Your Escrow Account Correct?

Government officials estimate that two-thirds of all escrow accounts contain overcharges of $150 to $1,000!

Escrow or ?impound? accounts are required by mortgage lenders to pay future bills for recurring expenses such as real estate taxes and insurance premiums. Monthly payments and reserve accounts are determined by a complex system, and your lender reviews your account annually and adjusts your monthly bill whenever property taxes or insurance premiums vary. However, these escrow payment adjustments result in overcharges to two-thirds of all homeowners!

What kinds of errors occur?

These errors include miscalculations of monthly payment amounts as well as incorrect, late or even non-payment of tax bills and/or insurance premiums. An escrow shortage occurs when insufficient funds are held to cover future bills and an overage occurs if excess funds are maintained in the homeowner?s account.

Why do these mistakes occur?

Mistakes occur for several reason including inexperienced personnel, incorrect escrow reviews, faulty software as well as incorrect procedures for computing escrow monthly payments?often resulting in monthly overcharges and excess funds held in the reserve or ?cushion? account.

You have rights!

If you discover a mistake in your escrow account, you can write to your lender and obtain a refund for any overcharges. Regulations require a lender response within 20 days. However, many consumers don?t even know mistakes have occurred. Our audits of escrow accounts have uncovered hundreds of errors from $100 to $1000 or more. Audit your escrow account today!