What do I need to do when switching my home insurance to a different company?

If your old policy hasn’t expired when you cancel, you may receive a refund check. If the insurance company pays you directly, you will need to forward the check to Gate City Bank for deposit into your escrow account. Without the refund, there will be a shortage in your escrow account. This may cause an increase to your monthly mortgage payment. You can mail your check or stop by your local Gate City Bank location to have it placed in your escrow account.

Once you receive your refund, please endorse the check with “For Escrow Deposit Only,” along with all applicable signatures. Then, please mail the check to the following address:

Gate City Bank
PO Box 2847
Fargo, ND 58108

Please be advised that switching insurance and/or switching effective dates may alter your original escrow calculation. This could result in an additional increase or decrease to your monthly mortgage payment. Once Gate City Bank knows your refund has been placed in your escrow, we’ll look at your account to determine if it should go through analysis. Please contact us with any questions.

We’re happy to help provide some clarity here! Some mortgage loans are required to have an escrow account, including the tax and/or insurance payments. Please contact us to discuss your options.

In general, any of the below conditions require you to have a mortgage escrow account:

• If your loan-to-value (LTV) is over 80%
• If your mortgage loan has an active private mortgage insurance (PMI) policy
• If your mortgage loan has rural housing insurance
• If you have a VA mortgage loan
• If you have an FHA mortgage loan
• If you have any late credit payments within the last 12 months
• If your mortgage loan has required flood insurance, you must escrow for both the flood and homeowner's insurance

Great question! It’s an account used to pay for items related to your property, such as taxes and insurance, and is a calculated portion of your monthly mortgage payment.

We’re happy to provide some feedback on this! An escrow analysis is an annual evaluation by your bank to determine if you’re paying the right amount in taxes and insurance for your mortgage escrow account, which can result in changes to your monthly payment.

Your mortgage escrow payment is composed of three portions:

1. The anticipated amount needed to make your tax and/or insurance payments in the coming year.
2. A cushion to cover two months of anticipated payments.
3. Catch-up amounts for a shortage (if applicable). A shortage occurs when the amount that was paid for taxes and/or insurance increased from what was anticipated. The anticipated amount is always the amount of the prior year’s payments.