Loan closes in Apr, 1st payment in June, 2 months cushion, taxes paid in Dec, escrow year is calendar year. How much do we collect at closing? Is it 3 months (May + 2 cushion)? Title co says seller gets credit and 7 months is collected from buyer........(Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr + the (May + 2 cushion). I don't understand. Why? Reading the example from FDIC RESPA Escrow calendar, this does not hold up.

The first payment is in June with the taxes due in Dec plus 2 months cushion.

You will collect payments for June thru Dec = 7 payments - assuming the taxes are paid for 12 months you will need to collect 5 payments to make up the 12 payments due plus your 2 months cushion, therefore you need to collect 7 reserve payments.

If you don't have David's Escrow Analysis Worksheet then I highly recommend it. It's a great tool. You can find it here

http://www.bankerscompliance.com/compliance-resources/free-downloads.htm