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Entering Recurring Escrow Payees

Recurring escrow payees are payees to whom homeowners have regularly scheduled obligations, such as annual tax payments, homeowners insurance payments, and so forth. The process for setting up a recurring escrow payee simply involves:

1. Creating a contact record for the payee.
2. Setting up the escrow-related information for the payee.
3. Adding the escrow recurrent payee to homeowners' escrow obligations. 

If you want to enter an escrow payee that does not require recurring payments (such as for one-time pest control services), enter them as a non-recurring payee. For more information, refer to the Entering Non-recurring Escrow Payees section.

To enter a new escrow payee's contact record

Use the Contacts screen to enter the name and address of a new recurring escrow payee, and also to assign them to the escrow payees category.

1. Open the Contacts tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Contacts.
2. Click the Add button on the Contacts screen.
   The Contacts: Organization and Contact screen appears.
3. Enter the name of the payee in the Organization field.
   As you type the name, an area to enter categories for the contact appears in the lower portion of the screen.
4. In the new record line, choose Org from the Contact drop-down list.
5. In the Category 1 drop-down list, replace the General & Administration Undefined category, which is the default category, with General & Administration Escrow Payees.
   Escrow Payees is filled in automatically in the Category 2 field.
6. Click the Close button when you are finished.

For more information about adding contacts to Keystone, refer to the Adding Contacts to Your Database section.

Now you are ready to set up the payee as a recurring escrow payee. Proceed to "To set up an escrow recurrent payee" below.

To set up an escrow recurrent payee

Use the Escrow Recurrent Payees screen to set up the payee you created on the Contacts screen.

1. Open the Finances tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Recurrent Payees.
   The Escrow Recurrent Payees screen appears.
2. Click the Add/Delete/Modify button.
   The Escrow Recurrent Payees Add/Delete/Modify window appears.
3. In the new record line select the escrow payee you created above from the Escrow Recurrent Payee drop-down list.
4. Select the type of payee this is from the Escrow Category drop-down list.
   You can customize the list of categories on the Escrow tab of Affiliate Setup.
5. Click the Close button when you are finished.
   This returns you to the Escrow Recurrent Payees screen.
6. Set the remaining parameters for the payee.
• Name To Post - a short name that is recorded when a disbursement is made.
• Reference Name - a name that describes the reference data - for example, Policy No, Tax ID, and so forth - that will be used for screen and report headings.
• Payment Schedule - the frequency of disbursements due for that payee; can be set to Unequal Periods, Monthly, Every 2 Months, Every 3 Months, Every 6 Months, or Annually.
  
  If you select Unequal Periods, a Due Dates table is displayed. You can add the due dates (month and day, expressed as MM/DD) of the various payments to this table.

You are now ready to add the payee to homeowners' records. Proceed to "To add expected categories to a homeowner’s record" below.

To add expected categories to a homeowner’s record 

The first step in adding payees to homeowners is to define the escrow categories in which they will have obligations. You can customize the list of categories on the Escrow tab of Affiliate Setup.

Part of what this does is help ensure that you enter the correct payees for a homeowner. For example, you may have the same payee for both city tax and county tax but a particular homeowner only needs to pay city tax. If you have set up the homeowner’s expected escrow categories to include only city tax and then inadvertently also try to add county taxes to their record, Keystone will warn you about this.

Through this process, Keystone helps you maintain the integrity of your escrow assignments and reduce the possibilities for errors when managing escrow and performing escrow analysis.

1. Open the Finances tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Mortgage Payments.
   The Mortgage/Payment Information screen appears.
2. Select the homeowner you wish to add a payee to from the Name(s) drop-down list.
3. Open the Escrow Admin tab.
4. Click the Expected Escrow Categories button.
   The Expected Escrow Categories window appears.
   
   Keystone automatically fills in the default escrow categories that you set up on the Escrow tab of Affiliate Setup.
5. Review these default escrow categories. If any of them do not apply to this homeowner, use the record selector to select those escrow categories, then press the Delete key.
6. Use the new record line to add additional escrow categories that apply to this homeowner.
7. Click the Close button when you are finished.
8. Continue with "To add an escrow recurrent payee to a homeowner's record" below.

To add an escrow recurrent payee to a homeowner's record 

The final step is to link the homeowner with the payee to which they have escrow obligations. Use the Escrow Admin tab on the Mortgage/Payment Information screen to set this up.

1. Open the Finances tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Mortgage Payments.
   The Mortgage/Payment Information screen appears.
2. Select the homeowner you wish to add a payee to from the Name(s) drop-down list.
3. Open the Escrow Admin tab.
4. Choose the escrow payee you want to add to the homeowner's list of obligations from the Escrow Recurrent Payee drop-down list.
5. Enter the parameters of the homeowner's obligation to this escrow recurrent payee in the remaining fields.
   For more information about these fields, refer to the Escrow Admin tab section.
6. Click the Close button when you are finished.

The information on the Escrow Admin tab is used for escrow analysis and does not impact the homeowner’s escrow balance.  When you are entering a new mortgage, use your best estimate for this amount.  For subsequent years, Keystone will automatically fill in the information on this tab with the last payment to the recurring payee.