Mortgage Help Center

1. If you have an escrow account, the portion of your monthly mortgage payment that goes to your escrow account will adjust each year with the changes in property tax and homeowners insurance premium amounts.
2. Payment change calculations only happen once a year in January. The Credit Union does not perform a new analysis based on a change in insurance premiums or increases/decreases in the assessed value of the property.

3. In the annual January escrow statement, you will see that your monthly mortgage payment may change effective March 1 based on if you had an overage or shortage in your escrow account. This statement summarizes your escrow activity for the past 12 months, along with projections for the upcoming 12 months. You have options on how to handle the overage or shortage, which will affect your monthly payment. Please refer to the Payment Change Notification section of the escrow statement for this information.

   Your new monthly mortgage payment will be effective March 1. If you make your monthly payments electronically, be sure to update the payment amount after making your February payment, and before making your March payment. Here's how to easily update your payment: 

   • Is your mortgage payment made automatically from another institution?
     • You will need to update your automatic mortgage payment with that institution to reflect the newly adjusted amount shown on your Escrow Analysis Statement prior to March 1.
   • Are your mortgage payments set up as automatic reoccurring transfers from your Arbor Financial account?
     • These payments will update automatically according the the Escrow Analysis Statement. If you have special payment arrangements (like rounding your payment up), then contact us to update the payment for you.
   • Did you set up your recurring mortgage payments through Arbor’s Mobile & Online Banking?
     • There are two places to set up scheduled payments. The most common place is “Transfers” to set up a recurring transfer/payment. The other option is through Bill Pay. Update your payment amount as needed.

We want to help facilitate your budgeting needs, however, our mortgages require payment in full each month in order to process a payment. This means that you cannot pay half of your payment at a time; you must have the full amount for us to process the payment. 

We also understand that some members want to take advantage of the interest savings that a bi-weekly payment option offers. Making thirteen full payments per year is the equivalent of a bi-weekly mortgage payment option. The easiest way to do this is to pay extra every month by adding 1/12 of your regular payment to the normal payment you make each month (ex.: If your regular payments it $1,200, then 1/12 is $100, so your monthly payment would be $1,300. At the end of the year, you will have made the equivalent of an extra mortgage payment, which ends up saving you the same amount of interest as a bi-weekly payment program.).

Arbor Financial has three options for setting up automatic payments.
 

1. Pre-authorized transaction - are for account to account transfers.
2. ACH - you can choose to set up automatic payments from a different institution by simply bringing in a voided check with the signed ACH transfer form.
3. Online Banking Transfer- transfer funds between your accounts (example: your Arbor Financial checking to your mortgage). You can schedule one-time or reoccuring transfers. Setting up transfers are controled by you and can be done within Online Banking, learn how.

*ACH and Online Banking payments DO NOT auto-adjust! Members must update their payment yearly (if escrowed).

Let us know! We want to make switching your insurance coverage easy. In order to do this, we need to be aware you are making a change so we can guide you through the process.

If you change insurance companies and you don’t have time to call, you can also send the updated policy information or declarations page to mlservicing@go-rutgers.com or fax it to 269-544-3440.

If you receive a refund check from the old company, please deposit it back into your escrow account. Otherwise, there will be a shortage in your escrow.

• If the check amount is below $40,000.00, the insurance claim check will be deposited in the member’s account with no holds, and the funds will be made available to the member immediately. Arbor Financial Credit Union will request that the member supply us with photos or documentation of the repairs when they are finished so we can properly document the file.
• If the check amount is over $40,000.00, the funds will be handled according to the terms of the mortgage which are as follows:

1. The claim check will be deposited into the member’s account with a hold on the funds.
2. The Credit Union will release these funds with a written estimate or an invoice from the contractor performing the repairs. The funds will either be released to the member (if the invoice has been paid) or a check will be issued directly to the contractor (if making a down payment or paying an invoice).
3. We require licensed contractors be used for any work done, so if the member wishes to do any of the work themselves, they must contact the mortgage department for approval before any funds are released.
4. For a more in-depth information, Click here. Have questions still? Please call us directly at 269-544-3186 or email us at mlservicing@go-rutgers.com.