Impound Account

Definition

An escrow account where your lender holds money for property taxes and insurance, basically hostaging your funds until it's time to pay them.

Example Usage

Our impound account required an additional $300 monthly, which caught us off guard when calculating the true mortgage cost.

Origin

From 'impound,' meaning to seize or confine

Fun Fact

Impound accounts are required by most lenders for first mortgages with less than 20% down, but optional for others.

Source: Mortgage lending terminology

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