Escrow is the same tax and insurance dollars

An escrow account is how the servicer collects tax and insurance. Type those yearly bills. Do not add escrow as a third cost.

One cost, two ways to pay it

You might write one check to the servicer that includes principal, interest, tax, and insurance. Or you might pay tax and insurance yourself. The dollars are the tax and the policy either way.

WiseCalculator has fields for yearly property tax and yearly homeowners insurance. It does not have a separate escrow field. Filling both would double-count if you also tried to type “escrow” somewhere.

Cushions and shortages

Servicers sometimes hold a cushion or send a shortage notice that raises the monthly escrow for a while. This tool does not model that cushion. Type the tax and premium you expect for a normal year.

When a shortage is real and temporary, your lived month will be higher than this total until it is repaid. The calculator will not predict that notice.

PMI is still its own line

Some statements lump PMI near escrow. Here, PMI has its own monthly field, and it drops out when the balance rule says it ends. Tax and insurance do not drop out on that date.

After PMI ends, the housing line on the mortgage screen falls by the PMI amount only. Tax and insurance remain.

This explains how WiseCalculator treats the numbers you type. It is not a lender’s offer and it is not advice for your loan.