Is Your Homeowners Insurance Paid For From Escrow...?

[AKL_Megs]

... Or do you pay it yourself? (No need to answer if you are lucky enough to own outright! )

I'm pretty sure we set it up so that our homeowners was to be paid out of escrow, but alas, it wasn't set up that way afterall. Now we have a $1000 bill, and $1000 extra dollars in escrow for nothing.

Is there a simple phone call solution? Does anyone know?

 

[rlovew]

Ours is paid out of escrow- but our escrow is also reviewed once a year and if we need to pay more (taxes/insurance were more than expected) we are billed for it then- if there is extra we are sent a check for the difference.

 

[ENSOCK]

Why is the money in EScrow? If it is there then you should get a refund. Try the website bankersonline. com and see if you can find escrow information there. Good luck!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

escrow - along with the taxes. Some will argue that its best for you to keep the money, collect interest and pay on your own. But I'm not "grown up" enough to keep that separate account for $8k plus.

OP - call your lender, fax them your insurance bill and have them pay it. OR have them issue you a check immediately.

 

[AKL_Megs]

escrow - along with the taxes. Some will argue that its best for you to keep the money, collect interest and pay on your own. But I'm not "grown up" enough to keep that separate account for $8k plus.

Yeah, we feel the same way. That is why we PUT it there, one less thing...

 

[FargoBear]

Contact your agent or insurance carrier and ask them to change the billing from direct billed to mortgagee-billed, then provide the name and address for the mortgagee/lienholder.

The insurance company will not care which funding source the payment is coming from, just as long as it is paid. Those sort of changes can be made at any point during the policy period.

 

[RitaE]

Ours is paid from escrow. I don't think we were given a choice our last mortgage and with the whopping .75% or whatever our savings account earns I'm not all that concerned about my lost interest anyway. Its probably a couple of dollars.

You escrow holder should do an analysis every 12 months. If your balance is too high you will get a refund and/or your escrow payment will lower. If your balance is too low your escrow payment will increase.

 

[momrek06]

HOMEOWNERS? No. I like to shop around from time to time to see if I can get a better rate. My Homeowners Ins is not tied in with my mortgage at all. Now if you were asking about TAXES, yes they are tied in with my mortgage.

I did not realize you could tie your homeowners ins into your mortgage.

 

[RitaE]

you can still shop for a better rate when you pay your homeowner's insurance from escrow.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

you can still shop for a better rate when you pay your homeowner's insurance from escrow.

Good point and very true

 

[Buckalew11]

Ours is. One less thing for me to deal with although we should probably do it ourselves.

I received what looked like our bill for it yesterday but it was just a notice to let me know the amount.

Someone said something about 8K. Really?! *faints* Mine was 750! I'd better stay put!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Ours is. One less thing for me to deal with although we should probably do it ourselves.

I received what looked like our bill for it yesterday but it was just a notice to let me know the amount.

Someone said something about 8K. Really?! *faints* Mine was 750! I'd better stay put!

The 8k is taxes

8k for Homeowners? I must have some fabulous jewels somewhere

 

[bored]

Mine isn't paid thru escrow. The less people who get to use my money for free the better. I have money directed deposited each payday to a money market account that I use to pay the bill.

 

[barkley]

we pay both ourselves. i set aside 1/12th of what's needed each month in a separate (from regular use) bank account and then pay when it's due.

the lender (when we bought) WAY OVER estimated the premiums and taxes. i was not willing to wait a year to have them prove me right, do a refund and adjust the payment.

it's no biggie-3 checks a year (2 tax, 1 insurance), and if i remember right i got a bit of a break paying my homeowners once a year vs. the mortgage company who would have either paid it quarterly or twice a year.

 

[woodkins]

HOMEOWNERS? No. I like to shop around from time to time to see if I can get a better rate. My Homeowners Ins is not tied in with my mortgage at all. Now if you were asking about TAXES, yes they are tied in with my mortgage.

I did not realize you could tie your homeowners ins into your mortgage.

The rate you have for your homeowners ins has nothing to do with whether it is paid out of escrow or not. The escrow acct is simply acting as a bank acct that will pay out to whomever you designate-typically property taxes and homeowners ins. We have both paid out of our escrow acct. It is easier for us to do so by paying 1 bill to our mortgage company and then I know that both homeowners and taxes will be paid in full on time.

I actually grieved our property taxes this past yr and had our yearly taxes lowered by about $1800 so I got a rather nice refund from the overage that was left in our escrow accout after the yearly audit....used it to pay for last month's trip to WDW

 

[golfgal]

Call your insurance agent, that is probably where the mistake is. You will need to supply them with your mortgage company information. It probably wasn't paid from escrow because they didn't get a bill from the insurance company-that is the only why they know to pay that. You MIGHT have to pay the $1000 but then you can request the excess in escrow mailed out to you-it just takes a while.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Are you positive you have a bill? When we lived in Livonia the "copy" they sent us did not say anywhere on it that it was merely a copy and that the original bill had already been sent to the mortgage company. I remember panicking and making several phone calls before figuring it all out. Everywhere else we have lived labels the copies as such.

 

[Octoberbride03]

HOMEOWNERS? No. I like to shop around from time to time to see if I can get a better rate. My Homeowners Ins is not tied in with my mortgage at all. Now if you were asking about TAXES, yes they are tied in with my mortgage.

I did not realize you could tie your homeowners ins into your mortgage.

My parents always did it that way. And I do it now, Homeowners and taxes in escrow and the bank pays them accordingly. Honestly its a much easier hit to our budget to do it this way. At the end of the year we get letters from the city and homeowners reviewing current rates. For taxes we usually just have to send in a little bit extra to cover the new assessment. And for homeowners we usually wind up with a lower rate for the coming year since we have no claims and security etc. Why shop around when our rate gets lower every year? Hopefully the next 2 months will be the same with no claims to make and the rate should go down again.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Called them, they are faxing the bill over. Our agent made a mistake.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Called them, they are faxing the bill over. Our agent made a mistake.

I am glad it is cleared up