An escrow account helps you manage important homeownership expenses like property taxes and homeowners insurance.
Each month, a portion of your mortgage payment is set aside in your escrow account. When your tax or insurance bills are due, we pay them for you from those funds.
This helps you avoid large, unexpected bills throughout the year.
Your monthly payment may include:
Property taxes and insurance premiums can increase or decrease from year to year. When those costs change, the escrow portion of your payment will change as well.
Each year, we review your escrow account to make sure there will be enough money available to pay these expenses on your behalf.
An escrow shortage happens when we project that your escrow account won't have enough money to cover future tax and insurance payments while maintaining the required minimum balance.
When that happens, the shortage is usually spread over the next 12 months and included in your monthly payment.
Sometimes your escrow account has more money than needed.
If your escrow balance is projected to stay above the required minimum amount:
In most cases, payment increases happen because:
When taxes or insurance go up, we must collect more each month to cover those costs.
Yes. Paying the shortage in full can remove the shortage repayment amount from your monthly payment.
However, if your taxes or insurance have increased, your payment may still be higher than it was last year because those higher costs still need to be collected through escrow.
You may be able to lower your escrow costs by:
If you're having trouble making your payment, please contact our Customer Service team at 877-350-0350 to discuss available options.
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We know escrow changes can be confusing. Our team is here to help answer your questions and explain how your payment is calculated. Contact us at 877-350-0350 and we'll be happy to assist you.