Good grief, you can't trust anyone!

We don't have our taxes tied to our mortgage bill. We got some good advice when we purchased our house which I will share with you in case you refinance. If you choose to refinance say you would like your property tax bill seperate. Then divide up the amount of your property taxes and divide it by 12 months. Then each month that money and put it in an interest bearing bank account or mutual fund. Then just pay the taxes every 6 months yours self. That way the money is earning you interest instead of going to the mortgage company. Make sure you get all the paper work fixed so the property tax bill comes to you every month. The taxes will still creep up, but at least you can earn some interest along the way.

Good for you for examining that a little further. Just think of the people who look at it, get upset, but do nothing. Then, they get overcharged and don't even know it. That's the worst part of this...these companies will just take the money and run if you don't put up a fight. You are so right, DON'T TRUST ANYONE, for sure! They'll rob you blind without you even knowing it. Your sentence "Always examine your bills and be sure they aren't prepared by idiots" says it all! You only forgot one word "by idiots and thieves"...

I hope by now you have gotten some of these issues resolved as anytime something is going up like this, it can be quite frustrating for sure. Especially if it is hard budgeting things as is. I know pretty soon the closer we get to owning our house 2 yrs, these are things we know to start really looking at. I just wish sometimes when they send you offers to refinance you did not have to go back to 30 yrs. especially with the interest rates continuing to stay so low.

OMG! I'd be so mad! $300 that's alot to come up with every month to make up for their miscalculation! Thankfully it's only $70 but it's still $70 you have to take from somewhere else in your budget KWIM? Ours goes up a few dollars a year usually they adjust just for cost of home owners insurance going up a few $ & a smidge on propety taxes. Ours went up $9 a month this year wich isn't bad but if it goes up we always seem to be about $65 short on property taxes every year. Last year though a gal I know refi'd and they messed up her escrow too and charged her another $200/mo that ment no groceries for several months for her family because of their error.

Wow they were really trying to ream you good fashioned! I am glad you took the time to go over the bill and call them on it. Just think of how many unsuspecting people will end up fattening the purses of the mortgage companies for these types of errors. It is really a shame!

Wow this is valuable information as so many of us needless to say get our bills and because we are struggling to juggle month after month really do not examined thoroughly. See you have proven that not everyone is perfect not even the big business companies, therefore thanks friend for the wonderful advice as in end we can only gain or just lost a telephone call, but will put our mind and pocket books at ease.

I agree, we need to look over every statement and transaction there is and that includes bank statements (they do make mistakes), utility bills and everything. Workers are becoming less and less competent, it seems. It's frustrating to always have to double check everything, but we need to.

Wow, I find that $70 even to be unacceptable. We have had maybe as much as a $30 fluctuation, but never more. I think the laws have gotten tighter, as well, because now, instead of breaking up an overage to give it back, month by month, they have been known to write me a check for a couple of hundred dollars. If your escrow account is ever a certain percentage above what is necessary they are required to give it back as a lump sum.

So glad you manage to get to the bottom of the increase. Something similar happened to me when they paid my homeowners insurance twice which caused an escrow shortage. I go over every bill with a fine toothed comb and will question it when a bill suddenly jumps even $10.00.

Hi Dragon, I have to be fair here and say that the people that do these jobs are just human and not above making mistakes. I worked in insurance for many years. I will never ever ever forget one very horrible mistake I made that really made life miserable for a customer. The man needed an SR 24 (I could be wrong on that form #) It was a form that allowed him to drive farm equipment. We had several forms for various things and all were SR-something or other. Well, I issued this man an SR-22 which is the most common one. It is issued to those that have bad, high risk driving records. Not only did this man's auto insurance rate go right through the roof but he was not legal to drive his farm equipment. I truly messed up this poor mans life by just typing out the wrong colored form. These forms are all identical except for their color and the number. I corrected it as quickly as I could but lost him a lot of money in the meantime as his farm was his livlihood. I'm telling you that was 23 years ago and I still feel bad when it crosses my mind. I work in the public still and it is so easy to make a mistake even though I've been doing this job for years.

This is such an easy mistake for the lenders to make, they often have parttime help that comes in to post just the tax amounts. I wouldn't leave a lender for that, besides the expense of getting a new loan can be large. What I would do is take care to be responsible for my own tax account. You get these figures at least once a year, because they are often deductions for your income taxes. So recognize that all lenders make mistakes and become pro-active.

Dragon- I agree with having your tax bill paid seperately from your mortgage. I wish all people did this to be honest because it would help them understand how little their property tax really is and would stop voting against them when local elections are held. I've seen and heard so much as a teacher in local elections that it really makes me sad when I hear about people griping about their property tax and how they shouldn't have to support other people's children. Most of the time the argument comes from folks who are done raising their children or from those who have no children at all. They seem to forget that we're all here together and if we don't all pitch in nothing would ever get done. So, as for watching people I support that. I personally don't trust the banks right not so I can understand the fear. However, now that you've straightened out that matter perhaps taking a new perspective on property tax all together would help when tax time comes. Namaste-Anora

And to think I was upset this year when our montly payment went up just 18 dollars a month on account of the projected escrow deficit. I had actually intended to pay our up front, but my husband ended up having to have emergency surgery and that put us behind with everything. That said, I always look over my mortgage bill with a magnifying glass to make sure that there is nothing that is wrong with the way that I am billed. I would love to be able to refinance at this point because of the lower interest rates, but I don't think that it is an option right now.

things like this shouldn't happen because money is a serious issue for some people. especially to those who trying to live frugal. i'm glad you kept alert on this one. thanks for sharing this valuable lesson.