Why do some people choose to separate their mortgage, property tax, & home insurance payments and pay all separately to the mortgage company, municipality, and insurance company instead of paying the lender (such as Countrywide) one escrow payment and letting them pay the bills separately? It seems easier to pay one bill instead of 3, and it is the same cost, so...?
Yeah the question is why, thanks for stating the obvious though.

I am quite happy paying my bills myself. When I had a mortgage, I always paid my own taxes. Why pay money into escrow every month when I can just pay it myself. Now that my mortgage is paid off, it's the same. I pay my taxes every quarter.

I think for some folks that prefer not to budget themselves, it forces them to pay there taxes on time by removing the responsibility...or its a convenience..

And in a state like mine with high property taxes, money in escrow gets no interest on the monthly deposits, so thats money lost unnecessarily.

we pay our taxes seperate. Banks pay your taxes every 1/2 year or once a year, so they just sit on the money making interest off of it. Why let the bank make extra money off of your money, when you could be doing that. To be honest we're not really putting aside the money and making interest off of it but at least the bank isn't making extra cash off of our money.