escrow shortage

[Frodoo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia


I am little confused because my mortgage company reported me as over 30 days late to all 3 credit agencies because my escrow account had a shortage of $38.00, they wrote me about it in snail mail a month later saying that they do not accept partial mortgage payments and asked for the money and an increase in my monthly payment to correct the shortage for escrow. Which I gladly did complied.
My question is: How am I late over 30 if the auto payment from my bank was the normal on time payment. Shouldn’t they have just sent me a registered letter, or called me?
Now my credit is burnished with this for seven years and I won’t rest until I get this resolved with them.
I disputed with Experian and they confirmed the late payment, what should I do next?
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[swalsh411]

Follow the procedure for disputing the (what you believe to be) incorrect entry on your credit report. I think there is more to this that you aren't telling however.

 

[Frodoo]

I don't know what else tell. They have a policy if your escrow is short they don't apply your mortgage payment until it's corrected and by the time you get the letter notification in the mail you are over 30 late before the corrected payment amount is ever received by them. In my case it was being auto paid by my bank and the amount set would have to be manually increased by me. There is nothing else to tell. Maybe I should have been paying attention more to my escrow balance.

 

[bdancer]

Did you not receive advance notice that your escrow account had a shortage and your payment would be adjusted to make up for this shortage? You normally get annual accounting of your escrow and notice of any adjustments at least several months before the change takes place.

It is perfectly normal for mortgage companies to not accept partial payments,, even if it's only $30 short due to a change in your escrow. You will just have to live with that late payment on your credit file. There is nothing for you to dispute.

By the way, after 24 months of on time payment, that late paymetn will age off the monthly detail on your credit report and won't have as much negative impact. The older an item, the less impact on your score.

 

[tuffbrk]

If they declined to accept the payment, the funds would have been ret'd. If, in fact, they applied your funds to Miscellaneous until such time as they received an explanation from you how to apply the funds or to wait until they rec'd the $38, you can write to them demanding that they provide a letter to you that you can provide to the credit reporting agencies.

Being $38 short is not a partial payment. Many mortgage companies would have applied the payment and auto generated a letter to you advising that your escrow account was shorted and that you needed to make up the difference. I find the situation, as described by you, to be quite odd.

All that I can think of is that they had been applying the payments with the shortage going against your escrow, for quite some time. You definitely should have received an escrow analysis, accompanied by a letter detailing that either you pay the shortage in full or they would divide the shortage by X number of months to allow you to make up the short fall over a period of time.