New Schedule Aligns Escrow Statements with California Tax Disbursements

In the spirit of continual improvement, we are in the process of changing the State Mass Escrow Analysis Schedule for homeowners in the state of California from January to June. This change ensures annual statements for homeowners in California will now include the actual tax disbursements that occur in the state each year (in November and March), as opposed to the projected tax disbursements.

This change was made after completing thorough research, and ensuring our new method aligns with industry best practices and would not create undue disruption to affected clients or homeowners. Our research showed the number of shortage increases for California homeowners was minimal after this change since we already included the projected tax disbursement included in the escrow analysis.

“Throughout the organization, we’re always looking for ways we can work better for clients and their homeowners,” said Michelle DeHart, VP, Loan Operations. “This enhancement does just that — aligning homeowner escrow accounts in California with annual tax disbursements in the state, allowing for better homeowner experience.”

We’ve already notified homeowners with properties in California about this schedule change. As part of this switch, for this year only, the affected homeowners will receive a short-year escrow analysis in the month of June, with a payment effective date of August 1, 2024. Again, this short-year escrow analysis is a one-time activity.

In 2025 and going forward, the State Mass Analyses will be sent to homeowners with properties in California once per year, in the month of June.