The escrow guarantees the terms of the escrow are met. They use their reputation to cause both parties to believe that the funds will be released in accordance with the escrow agreement.
Ok, I use
insure, you use
guarantee.
The borrower is paying for a guarantee he will get his collateral back from a dishonest lender.
If you and the lender are the same person, you cannot offer that guarantee! But you still charge him for the guarantee!
You are basically building up a reputation of dishonesty.

Thanks again vod. Scammers gonna scam. Let's face it, the best scam-busters are scammers themselves, just like hackers.