Escrow Interest
- Thread starter aileron
- Start date
BigRed32771
Expert Expediter
I think the problem is not that they don't pay interest (as required by contract) but that the interest rate is currently so low that it might as well be none.
Ours has been showing up. It only amounts to $4 bucks a year.
In an annual review of our settlements, Diane and I noticed odd things going on with our escrow interest. A call to contractor relations yielded a partial answer and we are waiting for the rest.
It seems that interest is being paid on our escrow money but it is deposited in an account that does not show up on the settlement. That is why we see interest money listed but the escrow balance does not change by the amount of interest that one would expect to see credited to the escrow balance.
A deeper look into this showed odd amounts of interest credited over a time line that made little sense to us. The amount of interest remains steady for several months, jumps, remains steady for a different period, and jumps again. We are waiting for a call back and an explanation. The size and timing of the jumps are too large and erratic to be explained by a change in the interest rate.
We have no idea how much money now sits in our separate interest account and contractor relations was unable to tell us on our first call in. Interest earned on the escrow account balance used to be credited directly to the escrow account, but not any more for some yet unexplained reason.
As I said, we are waiting for the rest of the story as contractor relations looks into this.
It might be a good idea for contractors to review a year's worth of settlements to see what is going on with your escrow account and interest earned on it. This is easily done online.
Log into the Extranet, click Business Records, click Contractor Settlements. Once there, you can download them a month at a time and open them one at a time. To quickly review them all, open them all. Each opens in a separate window or tab. Once they are all open, it is easy to click through them and track your escrow interest activity.
Diane and I are not getting up in arms about this as the amount of money is small and everything may be on the up and up. Nevertheless, FedEx Custom Critical has always been very good and reliable with our money. Errors rarely happen and are quickly corrected when found. It seems strange to us that the amounts of interest paid follow no discernible time line and that contractor relations cannot quickly tell us how much money is in the separate interest account. Stranger still that the settlement does not even disclose that such an account exists and that no confirmation is given on the settlement that we are earning interest on the interest.
It seems that interest is being paid on our escrow money but it is deposited in an account that does not show up on the settlement. That is why we see interest money listed but the escrow balance does not change by the amount of interest that one would expect to see credited to the escrow balance.
A deeper look into this showed odd amounts of interest credited over a time line that made little sense to us. The amount of interest remains steady for several months, jumps, remains steady for a different period, and jumps again. We are waiting for a call back and an explanation. The size and timing of the jumps are too large and erratic to be explained by a change in the interest rate.
We have no idea how much money now sits in our separate interest account and contractor relations was unable to tell us on our first call in. Interest earned on the escrow account balance used to be credited directly to the escrow account, but not any more for some yet unexplained reason.
As I said, we are waiting for the rest of the story as contractor relations looks into this.
It might be a good idea for contractors to review a year's worth of settlements to see what is going on with your escrow account and interest earned on it. This is easily done online.
Log into the Extranet, click Business Records, click Contractor Settlements. Once there, you can download them a month at a time and open them one at a time. To quickly review them all, open them all. Each opens in a separate window or tab. Once they are all open, it is easy to click through them and track your escrow interest activity.
Diane and I are not getting up in arms about this as the amount of money is small and everything may be on the up and up. Nevertheless, FedEx Custom Critical has always been very good and reliable with our money. Errors rarely happen and are quickly corrected when found. It seems strange to us that the amounts of interest paid follow no discernible time line and that contractor relations cannot quickly tell us how much money is in the separate interest account. Stranger still that the settlement does not even disclose that such an account exists and that no confirmation is given on the settlement that we are earning interest on the interest.
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I questioned this last year with the settlement people and was told at the end of the year the interest will be posted and it was.