Generally, an escrow shortage means there’s not enough money in your escrow account to pay your property taxes and/or insurance as they become due. This can occur for a variety of reasons:
- Your taxes and/or insurance costs went up, leaving too little money in your account
- There’s an insufficient escrow cushion (or reserve) in your account
- We had to purchase lender-placed insurance on your behalf
Option 1: Spreading the Shortage over Time
You can do nothing, and the shortage amount will be divided by 12 and added to each of your next 12 monthly escrow payments. You may also request that the shortage be spread over a longer period, up to 60 months.
Option 2: Paying off the Shortage Upfront
To avoid your shortage being added to and spread across your future monthly escrow payments, you can pay off the shortage if your account is current. The simplest way to do this is through your online account, although you may use other payment methods or call us at 855-913-5997 for assistance.
💡 Tip: Although paying upfront to cover your shortage will prevent your shortage amount from being added to your monthly escrow payments, your payment might still increase from one year to another because of factors like increased tax and insurance costs. You cannot pay more than your shortage upfront to avoid your payment increasing because of these other factors.
If you’re current on your payments, log in and click “Make a Payment” or navigate to the Payment card, and then select “Only Additional Principal and Escrow.” From there, add the shortage amount to the “Additional Escrow” field and make the payment.
If you’re not current on your payments, you’ll need to bring the account current before paying your shortage. To do this, after logging in and clicking “Make a Payment” or navigating to the Payment card, “Total Amount Due” will be selected by default. From there, click “Add Additional Principal and Escrow” and add the shortage amount to the “Additional Escrow” field. Finally, make your payment, which will include your total amount due as well as the shortage amount.