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Home > Escrow Frustration, It Has To Go!

Escrow Frustration, It Has To Go!

February 18th, 2014 at 01:33 am

I've blogged before regarding how our mortgage escrow company pays our City property tax in Quarterly Installments, but the City charges an installment fee to utilize that method. I usually have to go through hoops to get them to reimburse me as it is not our problem or choice they do so. Well, yet again, 4th year in a row they continue to do their "normal" practice. I called them up and it wasn't pretty needless to say, I've had enough. They finally blamed it on the "tax authority" and gave me the contact info as according to them, the "tax authority" requests the taxes be paid in such manor. Well, it is our money in that account, not theirs, I say how the money is spent!

Anyway, I'm tired of it, the mortgage will be going quickly as humanly possible. We had already made a goal of at least $50/mo. toward the mortgage for 2014, we want to escrow ourselves, I am tired watching their every move like a hawk.

Extra payments so far this year:
Jan = $115.00
Feb = $165.00
Mar = $310+$750(tax refund)+$300(CU Cash Rewards)

Posted in Debt, Personal Finance, Mortgage | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Escrow Frustration, It Has To Go!”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 01:46 am 1392687980
    1392687980

    Completely understand the frustration. Is your goal to pay down the mortgage entirely or just enough to allow you to pay your own taxes?

  2. snafu Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 02:01 am 1392688910
    1392688910

    In our area the mortgage holders [generally the banks] charge a fee to forward tax payments and the City charge a penalty because the annual municipal tax is due in June and not paid in full until December. You can end the ruckus by making the municipal property tax directly to the city and skip escrow nonsense. If your community does not yet offer an Tax Instalment Payment Program, concat your Alderman/City Counsellor and ask them to lobby for their constituents. It's very inexpensive to operate, the payments automatically flow from individuals bank account to City's bank. Failure to pay, miss a payment, NSF or any mis step by homeowner results in the entire sum due and resultant penalties.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 02:15 am 1392689700
    1392689700

    @snafu, some mortgages don't allow you to pay your own taxes. The mortgage requires you to escrow insurance and taxes. I believe this is the issue for Xtremethunder.

  4. Xtreme Thunder Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 02:22 am 1392690151
    1392690151

    @CCF - I'd like to pay it off completely, but we would probably end up selling before that happens. Our worst financial mistake ever, an FHA loan with 5% down. At 20% equity from original appraisal, we can escrow ourselves, plus our $75/mo. (currently) PMI will drop off as well, maybe I will write a blog soon regarding our financial mistake! Next home will be 20% down.

    @snafu - I wish I could pay directly, but the mortgage company requires escrow at the moment.

  5. Looking Forward Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 06:05 am 1392703558
    1392703558

    Our mortgage is an FHA and thankfully we don't have any problems like this with our escrow account.
    That would be very frustrating!!

  6. creditcardfree Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 01:25 pm 1392729952
    1392729952

    Generally, not positive about FHA, you can pay down to 78% loan to value (current value) and then have the PMI removed. You would likely have to pay for an appraisal, which the mortgage company would hire. If the value comes in too low for the 78% you can pay down to that amount.

    We did this on two of our homes. This time around we have a VA loan, which I also won't do again. We are required to escrow for the life of the loan. Not big deal since we will move again.

    Try to remember what you like about owning your own home, rather than these fees, and then pay your mortgage to where you can have control of paying your own taxes and insurance.

  7. PatientSaver Says:
    February 18th, 2014 at 07:51 pm 1392753092
    1392753092

    Interesting. Our town requires property taxes twice a year, not quarterly. The bank didn't charge anything to forward my tax payments on to the town. I think I would have had a hissy fit if they did. I never liked the system of the bank paying property taxes as I was less in touch with exactly what was my mortgage and what was taxes. Now i don't have to worry about that anymore.

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