Mortgage escrow property tax check to county bounces

My mortgage company, American Home Mortgage, sent a check from my escrow to the county for my property taxes. When I called the county to find out why it never got applied to my tax statement, they told me they got the check but it "wasn't honored" by the bank when the county tried to cash it. The county was graceful enough to waive the $35 bounced check fee, but now I owe $806 in bi-annual taxes. When I called, AHM said they are taking care of it and to call them back in a week.

AHM went into bankruptcy protection at the beginning of this month. What are my options besides just waiting and hoping for the best?

Comments

gingy wrote:

you are not the only one. npr just did a thing. yeah. it's getting weird out there.

Posted on 2007-08-24 20:19:21
Rob Banz wrote:

Holy shiv! Refinance your ass outta there!

Posted on 2007-08-25 09:13:14
Geoff wrote:

You are ultimately responsible - if the county wanted to foreclose, you would need to pay the taxes and then sue AHM.

That said, your taxes (and insurance) are supposed to go into an escrow account (where you get the interest), so if AHM has been dipping into that account, that's grounds for a lawsuit in itself.

If you have enough equity in your house, you can request the escrow account be closed, and all money refunded to you. You would then be responsible for paying the taxes yourself. Honestly this is the best way to do it if you can force yourself to put the money aside for taxes into a savings account - you can get a much higher interest rate than the 0.25% APR most escrow accounts pay.

Posted on 2007-08-28 21:32:20

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