Automatic escow by mortgage bank due to property taxes being paid late?
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Automatic escow by mortgage bank due to property taxes being paid late?
My orginal home loan/mortgage was bought by Wells Fargo Bank(WFB) after several years. I pay my own home insurance & property taxes every year late. This year 2009, I paid them late again, & now WFB issues me a new loan statement, indicating that I owe them for the property taxes that they (WFB) just paid because they received a late notice from the county, and also increasing my monthly payment due them, because they have forced me into a escrow account with them. Is it my responsibilty to pay them and get the money back from the county for the overpayment. I didn’t authorize an escrow!
Asked on May 11, 2009 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
Look at your mortgage, I guarantee there is language in there allowing WFB to do this. It will say something like "in the event of late payments the Mortgagor reserves the right to make up for any delinquencies", or "the Mortgagor reserves the right to pay down any lien or encumbrance against the property", something like that. And delinquent taxes would be such an encumbrance. This is standard and is done in order to protect the Bank. The last thing they want is for a tax lien to be placed against their security interest (your house).
As for reimbursement, you can get that from the town assuming all your taxes are now paid up to date.
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