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Escrow checklist after a mortgage-servicer transfer
If your mortgage servicing was transferred, I’d reconcile the escrow records instead of assuming every balance and payment carried over perfectly. Not because an error is likely, just because taxes and insurance are the things you don’t want to discover late.
I’d compare:
- The final statement from the old servicer with the first statement from the new one: principal, interest, escrow balance, unapplied funds, and any shortage or surplus.
- The escrow analysis, including projected tax and insurance disbursement dates and the required cushion.
- County or municipal tax records to confirm the latest installment was paid, and the insurer’s payment history to confirm the premium was received and the policy remains active.
- Payment history around the transfer date, especially any payment sent to the old servicer before the cutoff.
- Year-end mortgage-interest reporting once it becomes available, since the old and new servicers may each report part of the year.
I’d save the transfer notice, both account statements, payment confirmations, tax receipts, and insurance declarations page. If something doesn’t match, I’d ask the new servicer in writing for an escrow and payment-history reconciliation, then contact the old servicer for the pre-transfer records if needed. Keep making the scheduled payment while they review it unless you receive different written instructions.
Has anyone compared the old escrow analysis with the new servicer’s opening statement? I’m especially interested in how people handled a missing tax disbursement, an insurance payment that wasn’t reflected yet, or a shortage balance that changed during the transfer.
Sources for the current development:
Mortgage Transfer
Mortgage Service Transfer FAQs | Mortgage | Chase.com
Welcome Mr. Cooper Mortgage Customers | M&T Bank
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When checking payment history around the transfer date, could the reconciliation also confirm whether a payment made shortly beforehand was put in suspense or unapplied funds instead of being credited to the correct escrow and principal balances? That might explain why the new servicer’s totals don’t match even when the payment was sent on time.
Include suspense or unapplied funds in the check. Also verify that the old servicer’s final escrow balance was transferred, not just whether the new servicer allocated the recent payment correctly.
Compare:
- The old servicer’s closing escrow balance on its final statement
- The transfer amount shown in the new servicer’s opening records
- Any separate suspense, unapplied, or pending-payment balance
- The first new escrow analysis and its starting balance
A payment can be credited properly and the account can still be wrong if the transferred escrow balance was omitted, duplicated, or folded into an unexplained adjustment. Ask for a transaction-level transfer reconciliation if those figures don’t tie out.