Featured Member: Joseph Olusegun Askia Bowens

Meet this month’s Featured YPAL Member: Joseph Olusegun Askia Bowens

What is your day job? I work as a Loss Mitigation Analyst for Republic Bank. I have experienced much success at Republic Bank! Republic Bank is a great place to work for employees with a servant heart. Republic Bank provides awareness and opportunities to their employees regarding community projects, so that they can create an impact to the communities they serve in additional ways other than bank products. Republic Bank is truly an institution that cares about the vitality of their employees as well as the communities they serve.

What is your side hustle? I am founder of BOW Escrow Services

What is the purpose of your side hustle? I help those who are in Real Estate Investing (REI) and those who have their personal homes by preparing them for potential increase in their escrow along with analyzing their escrow quarterly to prevent errors in their escrow. Errors that could lead to mortgage forbearance, foreclosure or an erroneous mortgage payment.

What is escrow? Your mortgage escrow consist of your property taxes and home insurance premiums. Those can change from year to year. If your property taxes and/or insurance premiums change, your total monthly payment will change. It’s a good idea to keep a close eye on your mortgage statements, and any tax and insurance bills, to be able to spot quickly if there are problems with your escrow account. An escrow account requires a couple hours review quarterly, however, the average person doesn’t have the time to do that and financial institutions can only afford to give couple hours each month,  for hundreds of clients that loan will analyze.

Give me an example- There are so many scenarios of escrow errors but I’ll briefly describe one scenario. Your loan analyze once a year with an estimated payment for tax bills and insurance premiums. If a client goes on force-place, the policy is back-dated and can cost 4 times the cost of a normal insurance policy. A client’s escrow will go into the negative after their financial institution makes this payment thus increasing their mortgage payment to bring their balance back positive and to disburse their premium at the new higher rate. On top of this, if your annual property taxes are also held in escrow, those will increase as well and will increase your payment even more. For most people, both of these issues are highly likely to lead to foreclosure on the property, because of inability to make the mortgage payment. REI might not go into foreclosure but they don’t want to pay high mortgage payment because it cuts into their ROI.

What is the best part of your job? I am in both of my positions to help people. I started my career in banking 8 years ago. My passion increased overtime once I became aware of how I was assisting my clients to retain one of the most precious investments they would choose- their home.

How are you managing social distancing? My management has been extreme. It wasn’t until the end of July I returned to interacting with people in person. My wife and I went to Colorado. Its beautiful out there!

How are you staying in touch with family and friends during this time? Any advice? I’ve video chat with close friends and associates to remain social. My advice is if you have a few family members and friends you trust, continue to meet with them periodically in person. Just keep a stock of Clorox wipes and a bottle of sanitizer in your car to use on yourself for safe measures lol. I know its extreme but hey…I told you I’m extreme in the previous question.

Why did you join YPAL? I joined YPAL to connect with young professionals with high aspirations like myself.

Book recommendation? I’ve read 6 books during the quarantine. 3 out of the 6 books deserve high recognition 1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill 2. The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking 3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Favorite restaurant in Louisville? (or fav carry out right now?) Eden and Kissi ! It’s an Afro-Caribbean food with a French touch! I’m almost like Homer Simpson drooling when I think about their food.

What do you do for self-care? Integral yoga and hiking.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Broccoli! There are so many variations to cook it

What is your favorite childhood memory? Building a snowman with my sister ( I know someone is out there singing to themselves “do you want to build a snowman?” from Frozen)

Do you know a great young professional who we should feature next month? Tell us about them (or yourself) here!

A big thank you to our Featured Member Blog Post Sponsor, Webster University!
Webster University, a global institution, provides adult learners with a quality graduate education in a diverse and personalized learning environment. Take your career to the next level with a graduate degree designed for the working professional. Your future is now! Contact Webster University, Louisville at (502) 896-1835 or visit their website www.webster.edu