Getting Rid of PMI

[Anonymous]

Hi,

We bought our home in September of 2012 with 10% down. Given the pay down of principal and modest appreciation is it possible to petition mortgage company to assess if we are now at 80% LTV to get rid of PMI, or must we refinance to do that? One other caveat is that wife is self employed with an ever expanding and very successful business. However, back in 2012 her business did not have a long enough track record despite being successful so we needed FIL to co-sign our mortgage (interest rate is 3.75%). I now make 60K more per year than in 2012 as well. An added benefit would be to also remove him from the mortgage. He's a great guy but it has always bothered me to have him on the mortgage even though he was more than happy to do it. So to do both (remove PMI and FIL) I'm guessing a refi is required? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Yes, a refi is required to do both those things. Rates are almost as low now as their historic lows in 2012 though, so ask around and you should be able to get close to the same rate. I love Deb Levy with Eagle Bank, she has done three loans for us.

[Anonymous]

Depends on your mortgage. Mine had PMI automatically cancel once I paid off 12% (I think that was the number) of the original mortgage. If I paid early then I could get rid of it early. I don't believe there was a way for them to reappraise the house - I think that required a refinance.

[Anonymous]

I think 11:23 is mistaken and, depending on your original mortgage, you may be able to get your PMI lifted with just an appraisal. One word of warning though; I've tried to have it lifted on two different homes, and both times, the bank dragged its feet so long I decided it was simpler to refinance.

[Anonymous]

I was successful getting rid of PMI by reaching 79% LTV. I sent a letter to the bank requesting getting rid of PMI, I had to pay them to do an appraisal as the bank wanted to make sure the property had not depreciated. That was it. The whole process took a month .

[Anonymous]

I had an appraisal done and that made NCB lift PMI. To get FIL off you need to refi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think 11:23 is mistaken and, depending on your original mortgage, you may be able to get your PMI lifted with just an appraisal. One word of warning though; I've tried to have it lifted on two different homes, and both times, the bank dragged its feet so long I decided it was simpler to refinance.

I'm not mistaken. If you read the OP, he wants to get rid of PMI AND ALSO to get his FIL off the mortgage. To do BOTH of those things, he needs to refi. To just get rid of PMI, it depends on the loan what the terms are to do that, but to get someone who is on the loan off the loan, he needs to refi.