MORTGAGE ESCROW LITIGATION

Many homeowners finance the purchase of their home by mortgaging their property and paying principal and interest back to the mortgage company on their loans over a period of time established in the loan. Often, the mortgage company provides a mechanism whereby the homeowner can pay for property taxes, hazard insurance and private mortgage insurance into an "escrow account" maintained and managed by the mortgage company. The mortgage company then receives the bill from the taxing authority or the insurance company and pays the bill for the homeowner.

Various contractual and legal rules require the mortgage company to reduce the balances in the escrow account to or below certain levels during the course of the year. It has been discovered that many mortgage companies do not reduce these escrow balances. Instead they hold too much money in these escrow accounts--money belonging to the homeowners, but which they may not use.