Open topic with navigation

Adjusting Payments for Existing Mortgages

If a homeowner is ahead or behind on their payments as of the date of first payment (DFP) you entered into Keystone for their mortgage, you will need to adjust their payment schedule.

Keystone calculates the payment status and all future balances for each mortgage based on their DFP value, so it is very important that you make sure this is done correctly.

Keystone uses both the mortgage payments and the expected payment amounts to determine how much a homeowner is ahead or behind. Just entering the payments and balances when you set up an existing mortgage is not sufficient. If, for example, a homeowner is three months behind when you add their mortgage to Keystone but the payment schedules in Keystone only show that the next expected payment is the normal monthly payment, Keystone won’t know that the homeowner is behind and cannot calculate accurately the beginning status of the mortgage.

When you enter an existing mortgage, the date of the first scheduled payment on both the Principal History and Escrow History screens must equal the date of the first payment that is not paid in full. The homeowner may not have made that payment at all or may have only paid a partial amount. If the homeowner made a partial payment, the date of first payment will be for the month for which they made the partial payment, and the payment now due will be the balance due for that month. Enter a second line with the next month’s date and an amount equal to the normal payment.

These status amounts will be negative in the case of a mortgage paid ahead.

The date you enter here for the first scheduled payment must be the same as the DFP used elsewhere. 

If there have been any changes in principal or escrow payment after the DFP, you should enter the effective date and amount of the new payment in the Principal History and Escrow History fields.

Examples: Existing Mortgage Scenarios

Homeowner Information

The homeowner for these examples has the following as their payment and balance amounts.

* Total escrow payments through 10/31/11 minus total escrow disbursements through 10/31/11

Additional Information

• Amount Paid and Net Escrow are balances as of close of business 10/31/11
• Today is 11/05/11
• Grace Period is 10 days (November payments due will not have a late fee)
• Late Fee is $10.00
• You will record as individual payments all amounts that come in effective 12/31/11

Entering Existing Balances

There are two dates on the payment screen, the Payment Due date (Due) and the Paid Date.  For the Balance-to-Date entry, these will be the same.  When you enter actual payments, they may not be the same.

Balance-to-Date entries must have the Non-Standard (NS) check box checked.  Standard entries are indicated by STD.

When you are entering the Balance-to-Date Non-Standard entry for the day before you start recording payments for this homeowner in Keystone, you can skip the Total field and just enter the Principal amount.  When you close the Payments screen, you will see a message that says Entry not in balance.  Should the amount paid be adjusted to the total?  The answer in this case should be Yes.  This should be the only time you would answer Yes to this question. 

Then you will get a second message that says The Due Date of the First Payment [date of payment] is not equal to the First Full Payment Date [date of first payment in Keystone].  Should the First Full Payment Date be equal to this value?  The answer should be No.

Because Keystone will accept a partial payment, delinquency is measured by principal status only.  For homeowners who are ahead, escrow paid can be entered as a lump sum and the payments ahead do not need to be split out.

When evaluating your data, don’t forget that November payment is due on the 1st.  The grace period is the time between the due date and when the late fee gets applied.

Examples of Mortgage Scenarios

The following examples illustrate scenarios similar to what you might encounter for homeowners who are current, ahead, or delinquent when you enter their mortgage into Keystone. The "Payments to Enter Into Keystone" column below represents the payment entry or entries you would need to make in order to ensure that the balances for an existing mortgage are entered and set up correctly.

NS = Non-Standard payment; STD = Standard payment

Color Key: Black = Principal; Blue = Escrow; Red = Late Fee