Does PWC send out a tax bill? (real estate, hazard insurance)

[HEATHER72]

Hi all - BOA took it upon themselves to up my escrow payment $100 a month. I was NOT expecting that since 1) the county has not approved the tax rate for 2012 and 2) if they do approve the rate they having been throwing around, my taxes should go down about $15 a month.

My question is... once PWC approves the new tax rate, do they mail something out to reflect what my new taxes will be? I can't for the life of me remember if they do. It would only make sense that they do. I want to show BOA they are charging me way too much as an escrow payment.

[ChristineVA]

I don't get a bill but I do recall getting a statement of some sort.

[oneasterisk]

I don't recall getting a tax bill from PWC. Just last week they sent me the notice of reassessment, and on the top it said that it was NOT a bill. At this point I have not received any notice from my bank on a change of escrow.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

Just last week they sent me the notice of reassessment, and on the top it said that it was NOT a bill.

I also received my statement last week.

[HEATHER72]

No, no... not an assessment. Something that looks like a bill but is not a bill (LOL) once they figure out what the tax rate will be.

[Forehead]

I got an assessment recently which showed the value of my property had increased somewhat. I also got a statement from the mortgage company that they were increasing my escrow payments by a modest amount, a few bucks a month. I assumed it was the same tax rate, just on the higher assessment. Not too big a deal to me, but it also wasn't close to $100 a month.

[guilliam]

The new assessments came out last week. NOT a bill, I think they are still arguing over whether to raise rates are not. Suprised BOA has already raised your escrow, unless it just reflects insurance?

[Mike From NIU]

The escrow amount should be based on a combination of what was paid out of the escrow for the previous year plus what is projected to be paid out in the current year. Also, hazard insurance is part of escrow. If either your taxes or hazard insurance went up in 2011, your escrow balance may dip below the allowable maximum amount that BOA is allowed to hold. (Banks are allowed to require an escrow balance that never dips below 2 months of monthly escrow payments in a given year. They cannot require a higher escrow payment or amount.) If that is the case, the bank will adjust your upcoming escrow payments to recover the "shortage" and to meet the anticipated continued higher insurance and tax amounts.

I doubt BOA is basing your escrow amount on the tax rate, as they do not have the time to manually enter every mortgage holder's assessment and anticipated tax rate into their system. Instead, I would be willing to bet that your real estate taxes increased in 2011 compared to 2010 and that your insurance also went up in 2011 (my increased 25%, and I was told that was pretty universal due to the large numbers of natural disasters in spring of 2011). If so, BOA is simply increasing the escrow amount this year for the "extra" they paid out last year.

It's an unpleasant surprise, to be sure, and one that I had this year with my bank (SunTrust). But once I read all of the fine print, it seemed to be on the up and up.

[VRE332]

Heather, I think if you want to pay the bi-annual tax yourself, and remove your escrow, you have to contact the mortgage company and the PWC tax.

[HEATHER72]

Originally Posted by VRE332

Heather, I think if you want to pay the bi-annual tax yourself, and remove your escrow, you have to contact the mortgage company and the PWC tax.

I didn't say I wanted to pay the bill myself.