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Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [escrow]

23 questions
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9 answers

What is an escrow and how does it work? Practical example

I cannot understand the concept of escrow. Wikipedia provides the following example: Escrow generally refers to money held by a third party on behalf of transacting parties. It is mostly used regarding the purchase of shares of a company. It is…
robertspierre
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Why do escrow services use wire transfer?

Escrow services seem to typically require earnest money funds to be deposited via wire transfer. These days the wire transfer instructions will be surrounded by 50-point bold red text warning you that wire fraud is on the rise and you must be extra…
user45623
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Why would an escrow/title company not accept ACH payments?

I've recently entered into the escrow relationship for a home purchase and I'm seeing the following language show up in an email. Please do NOT send an Electronic "ACH" transfer, as our bank does not accept these. I'm curious why a bank would not…
jxramos
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Should we park our money in our escrow account?

We want to figure out the best place to park our money in the next 1-5 years to save for a bigger place. Our escrow account that is linked to our mortgage is a checking account that has a 1% interest yield. I’m thinking this is the best option…
user52556
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Loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 65% to remove escrow?

I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo to try to close my escrow account on my mortgage (prefer to just manage taxes & insurance myself). I'm currently at an LTV of 75%, and after doing some quick research it seems like 80% is pretty much the…
Adam Johns
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The bank that owns my mortgage inexplicably increased my escrow payment by about $900. What can I do?

I bought my first home last summer, and since then my mortgage has changed hands several times. Most recently, the bank that owned it was acquired by another institution about four months ago. Since then, my monthly payment has gone up by nearly 50%…
hunsbct
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USA tax treatment of additional gain from an escrowed sale

In 2016, a privately-held company in which I owned shares was partially (irrelevant, I think) bought out by a private equity firm. We paid capital gains tax on the amount received in 2016 (minus that percentage of our basis). A small amount was held…
Andrew Lazarus
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Mortgage escrow and insurance premium refund

I live in Florida. Two months ago my mortgage company sent payment (almost $5K) to my previous home insurance for auto-renewal. I found another insurance company to cover my home for far less and contacted the previous insurance company to cancel…
DL72
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how to compute holding period on real estate

For the purposes of computing long term versus short term capital gains tax treatment, when does the holding period for real estate end? I can think of several options: At execution of the purchase contract At open of escrow. At the date of…
Diogenes Creosote
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Does indivitual investor get protected by Deposit Guarantee Scheme if the money has been transfered into a collective escrow account?

Some brokers like trade republic are advertising the investor's deposit is protected under Deposit Guarantee Scheme. But in the same time it keeps mentioning that the deposit is actually in a collective escrow account in a partner bank. Then this…
Wang
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Home in escrow but decide not to buy

I am in escrow on a home that I planned to buy with another person. I planned to pay 3/4 of the price in cash and he got a loan for 1/4 the price of the home. Since entering escrow we no longer are a couple and don’t want to buy the house. Can we…
Barbara
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Tax and managerial implications surrounding professional service retainers

I am a software engineer that has several clients that need me to do simple ad hoc tasks throughout the year for various projects. I have began considering setting up a retainer-based service for them where they would pay money into a retainer…
hotmeatballsoup
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Is it normal to delay initial payment on home insurance by escrow/mortgage company?

A few years ago, I bought a home. The mortgage company had( have) the escrow. One thing that bothered me, is that the mortgage company is supposed to pay the Home Insurance and the amount was deduced at closing. The Home insurance company did not…
puzzled
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Escrow sent money to wrong account

I signed up for a HELOC, but the terms for me being approved for the HELOC required me to use the full balance to pay down part of my mortgage. The bank worked with an escrow company to ensure that this would happen. The problem is the escrow…
Mocking
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Are there disadvantages to requesting off-schedule/early escrow analysis?

My property tax was cut in half due to a homestead exemption and I asked my bank if I could request to have an escrow analysis now and not have to wait until January to receive my new lower payment and refund. My bank responded with a quick…
PJS1987
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