Escrow Perils

You might think that an escrow company would be reliable.
You might also think that they all charge about the same.
You might think they have no need to be ethically challenged.
But you would be wrong, based on my experience.

The first story involves the payment of taxes. In this story, the taxes which were nearly due were paid into the escrow, with the escrow company responsible for paying them to the county.

A couple of months later I received a notice of past due taxes from the county. A call to the escrow company yielded a report that the taxes had been recently paid, but not as yet recorded by the county. I moved on.

Two months later, another notice, and a demand for an ominous penalty if not paid soon. More calls to the escrow company. Same story, it's as if they had a stock answer for people who called up with this complaint. "We paid it, but the county hasn't recorded it as yet". Concerned, I called the county. No record of payment. Escrow company stuck with their story. Week went by, and another exact iteration. Very concerned, I called my realtor/loan broker friend who had selected this escrow company in the first place. He got involved, the escrow company paid the taxes and the penalty, and I went "whew".

Second story. Different loan broker, a family friend, selected the escrow company. The cost for the escrow itself turned out to be approximately 1.5 times what it would have been with the escrow company selected by my friend.

Third story, same broker as #2. Lesson: never use a remote escrow company. Or at least if you do, pick an ethical one. The weakness is that the remote escrow company has the option of doing a good job of getting all the paperwork signed in a timely fashion, or doing a poor job. Guess which one pays better? The shoddy job. They get to keep the money, interest free, until the paperwork is completed. And a random remote escrow company will do that for a week or longer. Observe that a local escrow company might do this too, but the usual signing event gets all paperwork signed, and makes screwups more obviously bogus.

Secondarily, can a remote escrow company actually get the work done? Sure. Does that cost more? You bet.

Summary. Like in the auto repair business, it pays to not allow one's escrow company to charge as much as they like. It's good to develop a relationship with someone who will recommend an escrow company, and appropriately pressure the recommended escrow company to charge reasonably and behave ethically and competently.