Personal Finance FAQs

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) guidelines do not allow lending institutions to automatically transfer the funds to your loan balance.  Any overage below $25 will be deducted from your first new payment after the annual escrow review (Please see your monthly statement for the amount due).

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) guidelines allow a reserve of up to two months of escrow payments to cover unanticipated increases in escrow bills.  The escrow reserve is in accordance with state law, federal guidelines, and your loan documents.

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act is a federal statute and regulation governing real estate lending practices, including but not limited to originating and servicing mortgage loans.

A payment increase is usually a result of an increase in your taxes and/or insurance. For specific information on your loan, please contact us.

Any shortage will automatically be spread over a period of 12 months and added to your monthly payment.  You may pay your shortage in full at any time by sending additional funds with your monthly payment and indicating that the funds are to be applied to escrow and shortage amount will be removed from your monthly payments once your check has been processed.

After your taxes and insurance are paid each year, we analyze the current escrow balance and compare it to the required escrow balance.  If there is a difference between your required balance and your current balance, an overage or shortage may occur.

If your loan is approved and closed with an escrow account, you may be required to maintain the escrow account for the life of the loan.