I received great news this weekend. The PMI has been removed from my mortgage. Wohoo! To read the complete adventures please see part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.

We mailed them a check for the certificate of valuation back in mid March. It was cashed on March 21. From my understanding they have 30 days to respond to our request for removal so on April 22 I called them since we hadn’t heard anything. They didn’t know anything of course. I have seriously never dealt with less knowledgeable customer service. I’ve called them about half a dozen times over the past few years and they never know anything. All they can ever do is request a letter be sent to me, and usually the letter says nothing. So on April 22 they requested a letter to be sent.

Surprisingly, a letter was mailed on April 24^th and I got it on Friday. The PMI has been removed! Amazing. I was not expecting that. I figured there would be some new loop hole, such as it can’t be removed if your address starts with an even number, or something similarly insane.

We also got our new mortgage statement for June and it’s $50 lower. It’s not everyday that your bills actually go down.

There was a small development in the PMI situation. Even after they told us no one would be coming to look at the house, some guy showed up to take pictures of it. What really stinks is now there is a permanent record of how messy my house was yesterday. Oh well, our lunch dishes shouldn’t affect the value of the house. He was seriously here for about two minutes. He took a picture of the living room, family room, kitchen, each bathroom, and each bedroom. He didn’t go in the back yard which I thought was interesting. We thought our landscaping would have some impact. He also didn’t take a picture of the game room, laundry room, or any of the closets. I don’t know what they are looking for. I can understand taking pictures of the kitchen and bathrooms I guess. But the kids bedrooms? What could be going on in there that would affect the value? I don’t know… The whole thing is very weird.

But the good news is that things are moving along. I read they have 30 days to respond to our request to have the PMI removed. We mailed our check on March 9^th so we should hear something back fairly soon.

For the rest of our PMI odyssey visit these posts: PMI removal (part 1), PMI removal (part 2), and PMI removal (part 3).

When I woke up this morning there was an email from the FTC regarding my PMI complaint. I was surprised how quickly they responded. They basically said they understand the importance of my concern and that I should talk to a lawyer. Grrr. How frustrating! So the whole thing was pointless. I mean, no point in seeing a lawyer to avoid a $130 fee.

So my husband called the mortgage company and did some more research. Here is what he found out about why they can charge this stupid fee.

He Googled the Homeowners Protection Act and found this…

the principal balance of the mortgage is first scheduled to reach 78 percent of the original value of the secured property (based solely on the initial amortization schedule in the case of a fixed rate loan or on the amortization schedule then in effect in the case of an adjustable rate loan, irrespective of the outstanding balance) if the borrower is current.

Which means that the fact that we are over the 22% equity in our house based on the original value of the property means nothing since we got there early by paying extra. Those dirty filthy [enter bad word here].

So that is where we stand.

Oh, and the $130 is a fee for someone to go online and research the value of our house. They don’t even come out to the house. A $130 fee for someone to look us up on Zillow? Shoot…

Do you remember the other day, how I requested my PMI be removed? I got a letter on Friday that said I have to send them a check for $130 for an appraisal. Which is not how I understand the law. The law says: For home mortgages signed on or after July 29, 1999, your PMI must - with certain exceptions - be terminated automatically when you reach 22 percent equity in your home based on the original property value, if your mortgage payments are current. So it seems to me that making me pay for an appraisal is against the law. I mean, maybe I’m reading into it too much, but the word automatically makes me think I shouldn’t have to do anything to have it removed. Besides, what difference does it make? I have reached 22% equity based on the original property value so who cares what the property is worth today. Plus, I don’t trust their appraisal company, they work for the very people who benefit from me having PMI.

So I filed a complaint with the FTC. I filled out a form online and it was very painless. I’m curious to see what happens next.

So we paid an extra $1,000 to our mortgage this month. They received the payment today. The extra money took 5 months off the term of our mortgage. 5 months! I’m so excited. That is a savings of $3,600 in interest. I love it.

There is some disagreement as to whether or not it’s a good idea to pay off your mortgage early. Here is a site that gives the pros and cons of paying it off. For me the security of owning my home outright is what makes it worth it. I know it’s not for everyone.

Another bonus is that it puts our outstanding balance under 78% of what we paid for our home. Which, from what I understand, means they have to take off the PMI. I put in a request today have it removed. They better take it off! I’m going to lose my mind if they don’t. I have researched this a great deal and everything I read says they have no choice but to remove it at this point. So hopefully this is the case and it comes off with no trouble. Here is the website for the FTC. They have an explanation of the law and a place where you can file a complaint if your mortgage company isn’t following the rules. No need to pay PMI for one extra month if you don’t have to.