Escrow fund

[scavenger]

I live in Maryland. I will be closing on a new house in July. The good faith estimate that I received from the lender lists 14 months of pre-paid property taxes and insurance that I need at closing for the lender to deposit into escrow. This is several thousand dollars. This seems like too many months. How many month's worth of escrow funds are legally required by the lender to deposit into escrow?

Thanks

 

[HomeGuru]

There is no law that requires escrow or the lender to require escrow deposits for impounds. That is the lenders call. There is a Federal law titled RESPA (Real Estate Settlement and Practices Act) that states that the lender cannot require more than 2 months of impounds.
http://www.hud.gov

Therefore in your case, the 14 months is 12 months too much.

 

[scavenger]

Thanks for your help. You just reduced my closing costs by a couple thousand dollars.

 

[HomeGuru]

No problem. Just send me a check for 50% of the savings.