Manage My Citadel Home Loan

An Escrow Account is established on behalf of the borrower to collect funds and pay out taxes, insurance premiums (including flood insurance), and Private Mortgage Insurance (when applicable).  The borrower contributes into the account with each monthly mortgage payment to provide enough money “in escrow” to cover those costs.

Under Federal Law, we are allowed to maintain a minimum balance or a cushion of funds in your Escrow Accounts. We use this cushion as safeguard to cover any unanticipated disbursement, or disbursement made before borrower’s payments are available in the account. Your minimum balance is equal to one month of escrow payment.

Your monthly mortgage payment includes the principal and interest payment for your loan; the monthly contribution for your escrow account is added to the principal and interest to determine your total monthly payment.

An Escrow Account may be optional, for the borrower’s convenience, or required by the lender based on certain loan conditions.  Usually the decision to setup an Escrow Account is made when you apply for your loan.  Escrow Accounts can also be added or removed during the life of the loan.  If you would like to add or change an Escrow Account please contact our Mortgage Servicing department for more information. The fee to remove escrow is .25% of the current principal balance.

Any balance left in your Escrow Account will be deducted from your payoff. For example, if you owe $1000 and have $100 in Escrow, your payoff amount would be $900.

You can see tax and insurance disbursements on your monthly mortgage statement and in Online & Mobile Banking. Each August, we send out an Annual Escrow Analysis statement, in which all disbursements for the year are listed as well.

Once a year, we review your Escrow Account to determine whether sufficient enough funds have been collected to cover payments of taxes and/or homeowners insurance for the current year and if we are collecting enough to cover the upcoming payment of property taxes and/or homeowner’s insurance. This Annual Escrow Analysis will determine whether your account has a shortage or an overage.

The annual Escrow Analysis Statement is mailed out the last week of August each year. If your monthly mortgage payment changes due to increases or decreases in your taxes and/or homeowners insurance, your new mortgage payment amount will be due beginning with your October payment of that year.  

If you have opted to receive eStatements, your Escrow Analysis Statement will also be available through Citadel Online & Mobile Banking. 

If your house is newly built the taxes may still be based on the land value only, without the value of the house. After construction, your property will be re-assessed by your County Tax Assessor and your taxes will be increased to include the house. The difference between these tax amounts will be billed to you on an “Interim Tax Bill”.

In addition, there may be an interim tax bill for each of your property taxes; City, County, and School. These bills will say “Interim Tax Bill” on the form. Usually, you will receive interim tax bills within the first year of your house being completed. Interim tax bills are not included in your escrow account and are usually paid by the homeowner. Please contact us at 800-666-0191 ext. 6220 to learn more.

Property taxes and insurance amounts fluctuate every year; therefore, escrow payments need to be adjusted to ensure we have enough funds to cover upcoming tax and insurance costs. Your total monthly payment will be adjusted to reflect any change in your required escrow payment. If you have any questions about increases in your property taxes please contact your local tax authority. If you have any questions about homeowner’s insurance premiums, please contact your insurance agent.

If your taxes or insurance increase by more than the escrow “cushion”, Citadel still makes the payments. An escrow account shortage is the amount of money needed to build your escrow cushion back up to equal 1 month’s escrow contribution. The following are common reasons for an escrow shortage:

• An increase in the tax or insurance bill
• Underestimation of the tax assessment on a new construction loan.
• An unanticipated disbursement, such as an interim tax bill.
• Changes in your insurance carrier
• Force Placed insurance.

Unfortunately, no; even if you pay your shortage, your mortgage payment will still increase if your property taxes and/ or homeowner’s insurance increase from the previous year. Your new escrow payment is calculated based on the total tax and insurance disbursement to be made from your escrow account this year. This total is divided by twelve months to arrive at your new monthly escrow payment.

Escrow account surplus details will be included on your escrow analysis. Surplus amounts are deposited into your Citadel savings account the first week of September. 

• set up for automatic transfer from a checking/savings account with Citadel, we will automatically update your payment.
• being withdrawn by Citadel from another institution, we will automatically update your payment.
• set up using Bill Pay or a Recurring Transfer on Citadel Online Banking, you will need to update the payment amount.
• set up by using Bill Pay from other institutions, or another third party, you will need to update the payment amount.

Private Mortgage Insurance, also called PMI, is a type of mortgage insurance you might be required to pay for if you have a conventional mortgage loan. PMI is usually required when you have a conventional loan and make a down payment of less than 20 percent of the home’s purchase price. This short term insurance protects the lender against loss if a homeowner defaults on their mortgage. Using PMI allows home buyers to purchase their house with a lower down payment.  

Please refer to your Mortgage Insurance Disclosure for the requirement. For many loans, the Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) can be canceled if:

• Your Loan To Original Value is equal or less than 80%
• You have a good payment history – which means payment cannot be late for more than 30 days within the last year and no more than 60 days late within the past 2 years.
• We may also require a new home valuation to ensure the value of your house has not dropped below the original value when the loan originated.  The appraisal must be ordered by Citadel and the cost for the valuation is non-refundable.

If you think you meet the all of the requirements for eliminating PMI, please send your written request to mortgageservicing@citadelbanking.com or mail to:

Citadel Federal Credit Union
Attention: Mortgage Servicing
1209 West Chester Pike, Suite 201
West Chester, PA 19382

Please include in the request your name, account #, property address and your authorization for us to charge the fee for home evaluation.

Yes, homeowner’s insurance is required for everyone who has a mortgage. As stated in your mortgage contract, you need to maintain adequate homeowner’s coverage at all time to protect your interest and the collateral interest. 

If your insurance is cancelled, lapses, or isn’t sufficient to cover your loan(s), Citadel is required to purchase adequate insurance on your behalf. This type of insurance is usually more expensive than a policy that you buy yourself and provides less coverage.  If you change insurance providers please notify us immediately to avoid having Force Placed insurance added to your loan.

Please note for Real Estate Loans - that this type of insurance only covers the structure of the property and it does not cover any contents of your home or personal liability.

Typically the insurance company will send us a copy of the homeowner's insurance bill. If you change insurance providers please let us know immediately so we can update our records and avoid missed invoices.

If there is an insurance claim on your property, the following steps must be followed before Citadel will endorse the insurance claim check:

• All Citadel Federal Credit Union real estate secured loans must be paid current.
• You must provide a completed and final estimate of the damages from your homeowner’s insurance company.  You can save time by sending this estimate to us before you receive the insurance check.   Send the Estimate of Damages with your name, contact information, and Citadel Account number by one of these methods:
• Email to: mortgageservicing@citadelbanking.com
• Fax to: 610-380-6083
• Mail to:
  Citadel Federal Credit Union
  Attention: Mortgage Servicing
  1209 West Chester Pike, Suite 201
  West Chester, PA 19382

   

If the total Claim  is $10,000 or less AND Mortgage Servicing has reviewed your Claim information:

• Have all parties sign your insurance claim check
• Bring your check into any of our branches or mail your check to us at the address above. We will endorse and return it to you, or deposit the funds into your Citadel account.

If the total Claim is more than $10,000 AND Mortgage Servicing has reviewed your Claim information::

• Have all parties sign your claim check
• Send us the signed estimate(s)  and or draw schedule(s) from contractor(s) 
• Your check will be deposited to your Citadel savings account and put on hold.
• Funds will be released with invoices from contractor. These checks will be payable to you and your contractor.
• Inspection will be required to ensure the repair is completed. Once we receive the final inspection that all works have been completed, we will issue a check for the remaining funds.
• Inspection fee is $125 and usually comes from the insurance claim funds.
• For near or total loss (claims is 80% or more of actual value of the property), it may be necessary to have more than one inspection; one at each stage of the process. Please contact us at 610-380-6000 ext. 6220 to discuss the details of your claim.

If you are a current customer, please complete this form.

If you are a third party requesting a payoff, please read the following:

• Payoff request will be processed within 48 hours.
• A signed Borrower’s authorization must be included with the payoff request. Requests will not be processed without a signed borrower’s authorization. Electronic signatures will not be accepted.
• If the mortgage account has an escrow, we will freeze disbursements for insurance and taxes when the Payoff Statement is prepared. If the Loan is not paid off in full by the “Good Through” date on the Payoff Statement, normal disbursement for taxes and insurance will resume.

To request a payoff, please fax your payoff request along with the borrower’s authorization to 610-380-6083 or email to mortgageservicing@citadelbanking.com. Include the following information:

• Customer name
• Mortgage Loan Number
• Property address
• Payoff good through date
• Name of person requesting the payoff
• Company
• Contact Phone #
• Contact email address for payoff delivery
• Contact fax # for payoff delivery

A Home Equity Line of Credit is frozen once the Payoff Statement is prepared. No further HELOC checks or Draw requests will be honored.

Payoffs should be made with guaranteed funds including Wire Transfer, Cashier’s check, Bank Check, Attorney Escrow Check or Title Company Check. Personal Checks and Money Orders are not accepted without prior approval. Loans paid off with a personal check or non-guaranteed funds will result in 6 days delay in Mortgage Satisfaction. Personal checks or non-guaranteed funds declined or returned will result in the accrual of additional interest and possible penalties.

If paying off a Home Equity Line of Credit, the signed “Authorized to close account form” must be accompany the payoff in order to close and satisfy the line. The “Authorized to Close Account Form” will be provided along with the payoff statement. Failure to send us this form may result in accrual of additional interest and possible penalties.

Overnight Delivery: Check must include: Borrower's Name, Property Address and Account Number

Overnight Delivery Address:

Citadel Federal Credit Union
Attention: Mortgage Servicing
1209 West Chester Pike, Suite 201
West Chester, PA 19382

Wire Transfer: There is a $10 wire payoff fee, which must be added to the payoff amount. Wires with insufficient information to identify the account will be rejected and returned to the originator.

Wire funds to:

• ABA: 231380104
• Account: GL808
• FBO: Borrower Name, Street Address, Citadel Account Number

We’ll mail you a paid in full letter to confirm that your mortgage has been paid off.

If there is any overage due to you after the payoff has been processed, funds will be automatically deposited into your Citadel savings account. If you prefer to receive a check, please contact us at 800-666-0191 ext. 6220

The mortgage satisfaction will be sent to the county for recording. Although we send out Satisfactions within 6 days of the payoff, the lien release can take up to 60 days, based on the time it takes the County to record the Satisfaction. When the Recorded Satisfaction is returned to us, we will forward a copy to your mailing address on file. Please keep this document as proof that your loan is paid in full. If you have moved, please contact us to make sure we have the most updated mailing address.

The payoff balance includes principal balance plus the following:

• Interest due
• Outstanding late charges/fees (if applicable)
• Loan satisfaction fee
• Less any the escrow balance (if applicable).

A satisfaction fee is a fee charged by the County Recorder’s of Deeds office to record the lien release on the property.  The Satisfaction fee is included in the loan Payoff Statement. Fees vary by County.

Citadel deducts the Escrow balance from the principal balance when the loan is paid off, reducing the total payoff amount. The loan Payoff Statement will show the escrow amount that is credited to the payoff.

Our Mortgage and Fixed Home Equity products do not have a pre-payment penalty.

Our Home Equity Line of Credit has a $250 early termination fee if the Line is closed within the first 36 months after it is opened. There is no fee if the Line is paid down but not closed. After 36 months there is no fee for termination.

To dispute an error with your Mortgage account or statement, please complete the Mortgage Error Resolution form. Once you complete the form please mail back to us at:

Citadel Credit Union
Attention: Mortgage Servicing
1209 West Chester Pike, Suite 201
West Chester, PA 19382

You may also scan the form and email it to: MtgErrorandInfo@CitadelBanking.com.

Mortgage Interest Statements (Form 1098) are in the mail by January 31. They are also available in Online & Mobile Banking. To access your documents in Online or Mobile Banking, follow these steps:

• Select 'Documents & Statements' from the main menu. (You may need to switch profiles from the menu to access documents that are not associated with your primary account.)
• Select the 'Tax Froms & Notices' tab and scroll to the document you wish to view.

The IRS requires us to report the outstanding principal balance as of January 1st of the tax year being reported in Box 2 or when Citadel originated or acquired the loan in the tax year.

The amount of interest you pay may change from year to year, usually because of a change in your interest rate or in the number of payments we received from you during the calendar year. For instance, you may have paid less interest if you modified your loan or received payment assistance through the Homeowners Assistance Fund. This may result in a lower amount of interest showing on your Form 1098.

There are several reasons for the difference between the amounts shown on your Form 1098 and billing statement. The interest reported on your Form 1098 may include fees or exclude interest that wasn't due yet or wasn’t paid by you. The principal amount on your Form 1098 may include capitalized amounts from a modification.

We can't provide tax advice. We suggest you contact your own tax advisor or the IRS at 800-829-1040 or IRS.gov.

Box 5 (Mortgage insurance premiums) applies only to loans closed after December 31, 2006. Also, Box 5 may not be reported on Form 1098 if the deduction for mortgage insurance premiums paid is not extended for the current tax year. For more information about the deductibility of mortgage insurance, see the Schedule A (Form 1040) instructions at IRS.gov.

The IRS requires us to prepare Form 1098 in the name and Social Security number of the "Payer of Record" on a loan. The "Payer of Record" is the first person listed on the billing statement, who is also known as the primary borrower.

We can’t provide tax advice. Please refer to the IRS "Instructions for Payer/Borrower" included with your Form 1098, contact your own tax advisor or the IRS at 800-829-1040 or IRS.gov.

You should receive Form 1098 from each company to which you paid reportable mortgage interest or points. You could receive more than one Form 1098 if you refinanced the property during the year and/or if servicing on the loan was transferred.

The IRS doesn't require us to report real estate taxes paid by you on Form 1098. We do, however, provide that information to you on the Annual Tax and Interest Statement for informational purposes only. Any real estate taxes paid will be reflected in the “Escrow Activity” or “Additional Amount” section of the statement. To determine if the real estate taxes you paid are deductible, we suggest you contact your own tax advisor or the IRS at 800-829-1040 or IRS.gov.

According to the IRS, not all points are reportable, such as points paid to improve a residence, purchase a second home or refinance a loan. We suggest you contact your own tax advisor or the IRS at 800-829-1040 or IRS.gov.