What is mortgage/escrow billing (e-bill)?

Mortgage escrow billing, in the context of insurance, refers to the part of the insured's monthly mortgage payment that is allocated to cover insurance costs. This process ensures that the insured's homeowners insurance premiums are paid on time, preventing lapses in coverage. The lender collects a portion of the total insurance premium along with the mortgage payment, and these funds are deposited into an escrow account. The lender then uses the funds in the escrow account to pay the insurance provider directly when the premium is due.

In the agency bill scenario, your agency needs to collect funds from the lender, rather than the from the insured directly.

How to use Ascend for mortgage/escrow billing

1. Set up a program as you normally would. Do not use one time payments or installment plans. For more information on how to create a program, click here.

2. Set the minimum earned premium on the policy to 100% to ensure the finance option is not shown.

3. Once the program has been created, use the "Get it here" link to generate an invoice

4. Download the invoice and send this to the lender. They will likely mail a check to your agency.

   Only users with Admin or Accounting permissions can perform the next steps

5. Once the check has been received, visit the Incoming Payments page to deposit the check. Note this incurs a per-check which must be covered by your agency. More info on that process here. If uncertain, please confirm your check fee configuration with your account manager or support.

6. Once the check has been deposited, reconcile it to the program (instructions here), which will then allow you to use Ascend to pay the carrier/wholesaler

FAQ

How can I speed this process up?

If the lender is willing to pay via wire, you should enable wire on the program. Learn how to do that here.

Escrow payment will not cover full policy balance

If insured wants to pay in full, they should pay the balance not covered by the escrow company via check or wire to your agency. Once both payments are received, they can be reconciled to the program and you can pay the carrier/wholesaler.

If the insured does not want to pay in full, the escrow payment can be used as the down payment and the insured will be responsible for paying monthly installments and interest.

Multiple property use case (ie some policies paid by escrow, some paid by insured)

This is the same scenario is above - the insured can choose whether to pay in full or finance and will be responsible for any balance due.

The difference here is that there will likely be multiple checks/wires coming in from the different properties.

Escrow payment won't arrive before policy cancelation date.

In this case, the insured will either

1. Need to pay in full and be reimbursed once the mortgage payment arrives, or

2. They can finance and pay the down payment to lower the amount due up front, but will be responsible for covering any interest accrued.

Policy is direct bill

Ascend should not be used for direct bill policies. Payment should be made directly to the insurer.

Contact Us

Need more help? Contact us at support@useascend.com for more help.