If you pay taxes through a mortgage escrow account, know two things: Be careful and monitor the tax payments!

Every year, we mail property-tax delinquency notices. Each time, hundreds of people call us shocked, because they are learning their mortgage companies failed to get it right.

It's happening with all mortgage companies on every kind of property - from the smallest condos to the biggest mansions.

As the news media has been pointing out in recent weeks, mortgage companies are making errant payments more than 3,000 times a year in Cook County! Other county treasurers across the nation have told me of similar problems for years.

How does it happen? It would seem like a simple thing: On the deed and the mortgage, there's a 14-digit Property Index Number (PIN), and the company has to make sure it pays the taxes on the right PIN. Or the company needs to make sure it also pays on the separate PIN for the side lot or deeded parking space. But too often, the company fails.

The result? Some homeowners have delinquent taxes and other homeowners are wondering why their tax was double-paid.

Other times, the lender fails to observe that taxes were paid at closing or refinancing - and pays the same bill again. Still other times, a homeowner in a new development finds that instead of paying just their share of a tax bill, the mortgage company paid for an entire condo building or multiple houses!

Here is what you do: Monitor the tax payments closely.

After each installment, verify that your taxes were paid using one of our 24-hour services: the automated phone system at 312.443.5100 or the "payment status" section at cookcountytreasurer.com on the Internet.

Under a new Illinois law, lenders are required to send you a statement on the taxes paid and which PIN(s) were paid.

Next, know that homeowners have rights under both state law and a federal law called the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act or "RESPA." Under these laws, so long as the borrower is current on escrow, the mortgage company is responsible to correct its error: whether that means reimbursing the escrow account for funds spent in error or paying any late penalties caused by the company's failure to pay.

We also offer instructions at our website under "monitoring your mortgage." We include a sample letter the homeowner can use to demand correction of an error under the federal law, RESPA.

Please call our office, visit our website or send an email at "Contact Us" at cookcountytreasurer.com if you have any questions.