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When to cancel PMI

Posted on: 05th Oct, 2005 03:56 pm
How and When Do I Cancel PMI?
Hi Tim,

I think I can provide you with some information regarding this.

Actually your lender may automatically terminate your PMI or private mortgage insurance when your equity reaches 22% of the original value of your property, that is, the value at the time of taking the loan.

But you can always request your lender to cancel the PMI rather than waiting for him to cancel. When your equity reaches 20% of the original value of your property you put a request with your lender to cancel it. If your mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae, your PMI can be cancelled when the loan balance goes down to 75% of the current home value as established by a new appraisal. But the loan must be two years old and the mortgage payments should have been made in time.

You should know what your principal balance has to be so that your PMI can get cancelled. After that you can try to obtain an amortization schedule of your loan which helps you to know when you reach that point.

You can always give a call to your lender, if you are uncertain whether you are paying PMI. If they say yes, then ask them for the details on when and how to cancel it. It can be easily done by you only, without depending on others.

The few things which you should take care of are ?

  • You should have made your mortgage without failure for at least the last year.

  • You cannot have any liens on your property.

  • None should consider your loan as "high risk".

Hope this information will prove useful to you.

Regards,
Jason
Posted on: 05th Oct, 2005 04:55 pm
I don't know, I been trying to cancel my PMI with GMAC and they have been giving me the run around. They make it so hard it's almost like they are annoyed that you are trying to get rid of your PMI. What can I do?
Posted on: 25th Sep, 2008 03:56 pm
Hi Kimo!

Welcome to the Forums!

If you have paid 20% of the home loan, then you can ask the lender for the cancellation of PMI. If the lender does not agree then you can ask him why he is not canceling it.

However, there are various criteria on which PMI cancellation depends. To know about them click on the following link :

http://www.mortgagefit.com/discuss/about1693.html

Feel free to ask if you have further queries.

Sussane
Posted on: 25th Sep, 2008 11:13 pm
Please enter GMAC and PMI into Google. It would not let me include a link in my post, but Google that and you will see for yourself all the complaints.

There is no question that GMAC is robbing people, myself included. My mortgage just turned 4 years old and I already have almost half of the principal paid. How in the world could GMAC justify continuing to charge me PMI? How could that possibly be legal. I read the Homeowners Insurance Act and it specifically says that the intent of the law is to prevent unfair PMI charges. From what I read, I am EXACTLY the type of borrower that this law is supposed to protect. So, unless the law is 100% ineffective, I should have some recourse.

Can you please advise us on what action we need to take to fight this?

Anyone who is still paying PMI to GMAC after you principal has been paid down to 78% and you meet the rest of the criteria (no late payments, etc), please email me at "dlcsays@comcast.net" Please put GMAC in the title of your email, so I don't end up deleting it. If we can get some kind of class action suit, I definitely want to pursue that. Per the law, GMAC should be charged $1000 per violation. I really just want the money back that they've stolen from me, but I sure wouldn't mind seeing them get fined as well. I'm going to file a complaint with the NJ Division of Banking and Insurance, but I'd rather pursue this on a national level, since they are in violation of a federal law.

[Link deactivated as per forum rules. Thanks]
Posted on: 22nd Dec, 2008 06:02 pm
Hi Dana

Did you speak to the lender about the cancellation of PMI? Check out the mortgage docs and see if anything is mentioned regarding the cancellation of PMI. As far as I know, at 78% LTV, the lender must cancel the PMI coverage automatically.

Thanks.
Posted on: 23rd Dec, 2008 01:06 am
Niicssm, thanks for the response. They are insisting I get an appraisal, which I do not think should be necessary. I've been requesting they drop the PMI since I paid the principal down to 80%, so about two years. I've made multiple requests. They are unbelievable! Also, my mortgage payment is such a small part of my income. Since I generally pay twice the amount that's due, and probably have the principal down to around 60% or less (I need to calculate and see where I'm at), there is simply no excuse for them to have not dropped it by now. I think it should have been dropped automatically. But without question it should have been dropped by request. IMO, they blatantly violate the HPA. Blatantly!
Posted on: 23rd Dec, 2008 02:02 pm
Hey Dana,

I think in order to cancel the PMI, you should agree for an appraisal. This appraisal will help the lender know the loan to value ratio. If the LTV comes around 78%, then I think the lender will cancel the PMI.
Posted on: 23rd Dec, 2008 10:57 pm
I am fighting GMAC right now! I am on a accelerated payment program and met my 78% last March. I am scheduled for automatic cancellation this year April 2009. Pursuant to the Federal Law PMI should have been cancelled last year. Everytime I inquired, they just sent me letters pertaining to the 80? and wanted me to get an appraisal0 and suggested that I use one of their agencies. Now, my schedule says PMI should have been off my April 2009 statment, They charged me for April and will not remove PMI until May. I am now fighting for the one year that I overpaid.
Class action suit! Count me in.
My payments are current, I am paid ahead and I am not a high risk.
Posted on: 08th Apr, 2009 07:33 pm
why don't you refinance with another lender and stop giving your business/money to gmac?
Posted on: 14th May, 2009 08:52 am
Hi guys. I've been having the same problems with bank of america. I hired an attorney who wrote them a letter to remind them. They responded with a request for another appraisal. We called them. They responded with a request for another appraisal. Both my contract and the law say it's past the point of requiring PMI, and it's supposed to be dropped automatically. I wish I could tell everyone the best course of action, but I haven't found it yet.
Posted on: 18th Dec, 2009 04:18 pm
Tomandellie... did you appraise the property as your lender has asked for? I think you should go for the appraisal and check out the value of the property.
Posted on: 18th Dec, 2009 09:21 pm
I recieved the same letter and have been stonewalled by Bank of America. They are making statements which I believe are in violantion of the fairhousing act of 1998. and definetly not what I was told at the time of signing of the loan docs.

The people to start the process is Comptroller of the currency administrtor of National Banks: helpwithmybank under government.

I would at least file a complaint to show that their practices are unfair if not illegal.

Bank of America has had many lawsuits, and have lost, due to the incompatance of their loan servicing practices and I wouldn't be suprised if they are playing the odds that we won't persue this.

Also, the appraisal office is part of B of A, so they get you both ways.

They have also been called a rip off by many at Ripoff Report:
Submitted: Monday, August 06, 2007
Posted: Monday, August 06, 2007

If you recently had an appraisal done on you home by Landsafe Appraisers, for Countrywide Homeloans out of simi Valley CA, and the appraisal came back GROSSLY less than comparable properties in your area especially on the east and west coast (NY, NJ,CA, etc.), so low that the LTV ratio doesn't qualify you for waiver of the PMI premiums then tell me your story, because after meeting all the requirement as establish by RESPA and making ontime payments foe 3 years Countrywide has resorted to predatory practices to keep people like you and myself for ever leaving their financial plantation. The overseer of this plantion is Landsafe Appraisers.

I say this because, once you satisfy the ontime payment requirements stipulated in your closing documents, as i said in my case after three years of on-time payments, Countrywide will ask you to pay for the bullet (appraisal) with which they will deny the waiver of you PMI premiums.

This denial is probably based "Low Ball" appraisal tactics (uncomparable comp's; fradulent use of establish methods of evaluation of property, tangible and /or intangible factors,. anything to stop you from refinancing your loan with someone else, or in my case getting ride of PMI payments so that you can pay down your principle. they really do this if you have what they call risky loans.

In my case a low rate interest only loan. Please post your stories involving same or simular experiences with Master Countrywide Homeloans and Overseer Landsafe Appraisers

Lb
Posted on: 23rd Dec, 2009 08:26 pm
I am stuck forced to give these greedy hogs my $$ each month too. They sent me a letter stating I need to be an LTV of 70%.. Something doesn't sound right about that at all.

If there's a class action, count me in. "greg9442@hotmail.com"

[Email address deactivated as per forum rules]
Posted on: 31st Jan, 2010 05:12 pm
Any luck with getting GMAC to cancel PMI? I'm at 78% LTV but they still request an appraisal.
Posted on: 04th Feb, 2010 04:18 pm
You will have to contact the customer service department of your lender and inquire about the procedures for PMI removal. However, the formal request will have to be in writing.
Posted on: 05th Feb, 2010 02:09 am
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