Can A Mortgage Company force an escrow account?

[arlenew]

I own a home in Illinois. We have over 50% down on our home and would like to stop paying escrow.
My mortgage company has refused to let me do this. Do they have the legal right to force me to keep escrowing.
They have messed up paying my real estate taxes every year and I am tired of dealing with it so have decided to pay my own taxes..
Do I have any legal recourse?
Thank you.

[efflandt]

That is something you should have looked at before financing. For some reason most refinance sites show a higher interest rate if you did NOT want to have them do escrow (maybe so they can work your money with no return to you).

When I refinanced in spring, I was glad to hear I was given an interest bearing checking account to use for auto pay and escrow. I write my own checks from the account for taxes and insurance (apparently just so they can verify payment). And they have not told me that I need to maintain any particular balance in the account. Although, I do a split direct deposit to that account to cover the payments and gradually save enough for taxes and insurance, and a little extra to direct purchase stock in my bank.

[Samm1970]

If you have a government loan, i.e FHA, VA financing then they can and will deny your request to escrow. If you have conventional financing, you should be able to cancel the escrow unless you've been late on your mortgage payments. If your interest rate is above 6%, you may want to consider refinancing.