ATTENTION ONLINE CREDIT UNIONS
It’s escrow analysis season! We know that many of you will be running your escrow analysis statements in the next month or two. Since the rollout of enhancements in the 21.10 release, we’ve had to make a few adjustments, so here’s the latest news:
ENHANCEMENTS TO THE FORMAT
The new format for the CU*BASE Escrow Analysis Disclosure Statement was intended to make the statement easier to understand and more member-friendly. We added new details as required by RESPA, expanded the CU-defined comments area that prints at the bottom, began storing the projected amount to be disbursed so we could display both projected and actual paid amounts, broke out anticipated annual disbursements by collateral definition type, added a coupon page for payment of a shortage, and changed the layout so the address will fit into a standard window envelope for easier mailing. These enhancements have been very well received so far.
Unfortunately, after the changes were implemented there was a brief period where some elements of the new format prevented escrow statements from being archived. (Read the alert.) This was corrected by simplifying the printed output to no longer use special font formatting such as boxes and lines. So while the format still includes all of the improvements already described, the overall look will be simpler and less graphical than we originally intended. We will continue to work toward restoring these features once we can reconcile them to how our archival process works.
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON NOW
One issue that is still occurring for some CUs is that when printing multiple escrow statements, occasionally a third, empty page with only a header and page number is being produced. We are working on that now and hope to make an adjustment to prevent this by the end of January.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Other things we’ll be addressing in future projects:
- Adjustments to how the PMI figure appears in the history section (to show a monthly premium instead of an annual figure).
- Adding totals to the amount columns.
- Minor tweaks to the coupon section, including addressing a formatting error when there is a PO box in the address, and removing the date from the shortage payment verbiage.
- Adding an automated tool so you can pay escrow surplus funds to your members via check.
We appreciate all of the feedback we received from clients who have been printing statements since the release went in. Keep it coming!