LITTON LOAN SERVICE My mortage has gone up, three times since they bought my loan for what reason, it's either pay or lose it. HOUSTON, Texas

You can easily figure out if you underpaid for your taxes. Find out when your mortgage company paid your taxes. Remember, taxes are paid in arrears, so whatever the mortgage company pays in Nov or Dec of 2007 is for Jan - Dec, 2007. Look at your tax bill for 2007. Then add up all the money that went into escrow for your taxes and see if you paid enough. Mortgage companies also like to have 2-3 extra months worth of escrow payments in reserve.

Did your actual mortgage payment go up, or did the payment go up because of the yearly increase in taxes? Your payments will usually go up every year if you escrow for taxes.

Do you escrow for insurance? If so, as we all know, insurance dramatically increased in Florida. Did your mortgage company use up the escrow to pay the insurance bill, then not have enough have enough money left to pay the taxes?

Are you homesteaded? If so, then your old mortgage company paid your taxes the first year based on the prior owner's assessment. Then, the following year, your home was re-assessed for tax purposes by the property appraiser's office. Then your yearly cap goes from there. This can be the reason you were reimbursed for your taxes the first year, but then they went up.

Do you have an ARM mortgage that re-adjusted and re-adjusts every 6 months? You did not say how long you have had your current mortgage, so I was unable to figure out if this could be the case. That could be the reason for the increased payment.

One or all of these reasons could be why your payment went up, as well as your confusion regarding the taxes. If you were unaware that any of these instances can happen, speak with someone you know who has had their home a few years.