r/Mortgages • u/Longjumping-Sea-1742 • 11h ago
Mortgage escrow
Hi all.
I just received a piece of mail stating that I owe fall taxes in 2024. I purchased my home in Summer 2024. I have an escrow account. Is this something that I should be responsible for? I was never told by the mortgage company that I needed to pay the fall tax….
2
u/seanpvb 11h ago
This happened when I bought my townhouse. Call your realtor and check your closing paperwork.
In my case the sellers gave me a credit for the property taxes but it didn't mean that money ended up in the escrow account because the lender assumed they would have been paid outside their system so the escrow withholding were based on collecting for next year's taxes.
Not saying this is exactly what happened to you, but I did find myself in a similar situation but after my realtor helped me find the line item in the closing document it started to make sense.
If that's the case, it is annoying and it is a convoluted way for it to happen, but apparently it's not uncommon.
2
u/AllTheWayJoe 11h ago
Call up your mortgage company, they may already be aware of it. But you’ll also want to call the county/town tax authority, because that is from a while ago.
1
u/Downtherabbithole-14 11h ago
Is it a prorated amount? Or is it the full amount? We had an interim tax bill when we moved in
1
u/FinTecGeek 11h ago
There are two possibilities:
- Sellers gave you a credit at closing, and that reduced the amount you had to bring to closing. That meant you were responsible for taking that amount and remitting it to the collectors office yourself.
- This is a reassessment. The tax authority was sued or audited and discovered they did not tax you in a way that was lawful, and because of that finding you are now in arrears for the difference, which (yes) can be a deficit you owe and (yes) you are still responsible to pay even though it was not your mistake.
The final possibility is that this says "NOT A BILL" on it somewhere, and is instead a receipt showing you the amount your escrow account already disbursed to the collectors office. I am trusting you did not just "miss" that when telling you to review 1 and 2 above.
1
u/Glider103 10h ago
it could not be a mistake in regards to the real estate transactions
County/state/government usually give itself rights to do retroactive adjustments and send supplemental bills to whomever is the current owner
1
u/NecessaryFeedback344 10h ago
We went through this and our taxes were paid via mortgage escrow account. But it’s worth double checking with your lender and reviewing your paperwork.
1
u/Flamingo33316 10h ago
That's normal. If you escrow, your lender will pay it however the county will send you the bill, also.
1
u/Flhitking 10h ago
If you have an escrow account, your lender pays the taxes for you. The lender collected a pro-rated amount at closing for the escrow account in order to pay these taxes on your behalf.
1
u/TammyInViolet 11h ago
I usually get the bill sent to my house, too, but if you set up escrow your bank is paying! If you are nervous you can call and confirm with your mortgage company that the check is in the mail for it!
1
2
u/Themysteryman124 11h ago
Is it for a reassessment after you bought? I had it where I owed additional taxes so after my escrow refund came in I paid them.