https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:37:20 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518830 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:15:11 +0000 NorthStar 2518830@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: Thanks! I also own a townhome that I rent and had not planned to refinance, but it includes basically a home line that was used for the 20% down (right before recession) that is interest only. I might see if that can bring that into my normal loan, drop the interest and have my total payments go down (and possibly make some income on the dang money trap!). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518826 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:12:53 +0000 agold 2518826@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NorthStar: I didn't have any problems getting rid of my PMI. Based upon what other houses in my neighborhood had recently sold for, I was fairly confident in the appraised value of my house. I contacted my lender who then sent out an appraiser. I had to pay $350 for the appraisal and within a few weeks, the PMI was dropped. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518432 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:43:09 +0000 Raindrop 2518432@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NorthStar: Oh okay... Then I would go with the PMI again! :) Haha. </p> <p>There is no need to keep paying .2% over the course of your mortgage to avoid PMI. I know a lot of people hate it because it's a hassle to get rid of.</p> <p>One of my coworkers had a PMI and even though they clearly had 20% equity, their bank made them go through some hoops before getting rid of it. It took them almost a year to finally stop paying it. But even with that hassle they saved money overall. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518418 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:36:51 +0000 NorthStar 2518418@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: I completely agree. It's only 0.2% interest different, which equates to about $10,000 in interest over the life of a 20 year loan. If we get rid of PMI before 5 years comes, PMI would be the best solution. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518414 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:35:37 +0000 NorthStar 2518414@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Raindrop: Yes, we pay it currently. Only about $165/month, but it's still annoying. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518411 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:33:52 +0000 agold 2518411@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wouldn't want to be stuck with a higher interest rate forever. I started off with PMI and it was really easy to get it removed once I knew the value of my home had risen enough combined with the equity I got just from paying down the mortgage. Good luck!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518406 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:32:10 +0000 Raindrop 2518406@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Do you have a PMI right now? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518357 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:03:49 +0000 LindsayLou 2518357@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@smocks: We ended up moving instead, kept our savings for moving costs and used our equity as a large down payment. Looking back, our mortgage experience with our first house wasn't positive. The whole pmi thing, plus, our loan was purchased by a different lender before we even made our first payment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518320 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:47:58 +0000 MamaG 2518320@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NorthStar: We have a mortgage with the "PMI" baked into our rate (so your lender placed option). And I did it for the exact reason you mention. I can't deduct any portion of the PMI but I can deduct all of my interest. The problem was I bought the home in 2008 right before the market fallout. I think we are finally recovered in my area and I probably should go through the process of re-financing to get a lower rate and I should be able to avoid PMI at this point.</p> <p>The only way to get out of that higher rate with the PMI loaded in is to go through a re-fi. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518306 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:40:29 +0000 NorthStar 2518306@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@smocks: good idea! Thanks! we definitely plan on staying in our home long-term, unless something catastrophic happens. We built the house and have only been in it 2.5 years.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518301 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:38:02 +0000 smocks 2518301@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LindsayLou: I would follow up on that, and ask for evidence of the 5 year thing. That sounds like a potential HOPA violation. Do you have a fixed rate mortgage? Google "federal reserve hopa" - 80% borrower requested / 78% automatic termination is the standard.</p> <p>I agree with @jetsa - PMI if you don't plan on churning over the house! Before you make a decision, ask to see the mortgage insurance disclosure from the lender, that will detail out any stipulations for dropping PMI. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518297 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:34:05 +0000 kodybear 2518297@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>in the long term, pmi is def a better option. but if you plan to move soon maybe lender paid is better.. i'd also check with the lender about how to drop pmi. there are usually stipulations like you can only drop after a certain number of years, or if you want to drop it sooner the LTV has to be lower like 75% vs 80%. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518288 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:30:57 +0000 jetsa 2518288@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NorthStar: I meant it was disappointing for lindseylou to not be able to remove PMI because of the 5 year wait :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518283 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:28:40 +0000 NorthStar 2518283@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: i agree... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518282 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:28:22 +0000 lisa1783 2518282@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were able to drop our PMI this month and there were no stipulations other than paying for the reassessment. We've only been in our house 3 years but it depends on the lender. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518277 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:27:19 +0000 NorthStar 2518277@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: what part is disappointing? I think I'm confused! Just thinking through it, I think PMI might be the better way to go. If our appraised value was enough to count as 20% town, that would obviously be ideal, but we don't see that happening quite yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518275 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:26:21 +0000 jetsa 2518275@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NorthStar: Yeah, I just can't see the lender paid being any cheaper in the long term even with deductions. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518274 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:25:08 +0000 NorthStar 2518274@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LindsayLou: thanks! good idea! I want to talk to my husband tonight, get any ideas from him and then call the lender back tomorrow. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518273 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:24:49 +0000 jetsa 2518273@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LindsayLou: Well that is disappointing, we dropped it on our last house and are getting ready to refinance and drop it on our new house. I have never heard that but I will keep it in mind if we are not able to drop it when we refinance, thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518272 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:24:44 +0000 NorthStar 2518272@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: The benefit of lender paid is that you are not paying PMI and in our case, we make too much to include it on our tax return as a deduction. Instead, we pay slightly higher interest, which we can claim on our tax return. I think that is the main benefit and from what I'm reading online, this approach is only really beneficial if you don't intend to remain in your home long-term. If you intend to remain long-term, they say PMI is your best bet because you can get rid of it eventually. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518266 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:22:28 +0000 LindsayLou 2518266@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You might want to check and make sure that there aren't other stipulations to dropping pmi once you're able. We had pmi for our last house because we didn't have a large enough down payment when we bought. After 2 years, we had enough saved to pay off to necessary percentage. We called to ask about it, and turns out that with our lender, you have to be in the house for 5 years before they'll drop it off, regardless of how much you owe. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518259 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:16:08 +0000 jetsa 2518259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Removing PMI at 80% is a matter of calling and asking to have it removed no refinancing required and at 79% they remove it automatically.</p> <p>I would definitely go with PMI, I am missing the benefits of the other one. Is it supposedly cheaper?</p> <p>On a $100,000 loan with a 20 year term you pay an additional $2600 in interest for 3.8% over 3.6%. PMI automatically drops off so I would guess that would be the cheaper route. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/private-mortgage-insurance-or-lender-paid-mortgage-insurance#post-2518252 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:07:52 +0000 NorthStar 2518252@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are contemplating refinancing our home since rates are still low and ours currently is a 30 year loan at 4.25%. We are 2 years into the the mortgage. We would like to reduce the term of the loan, but wouldn't be able to afford doing a 15 year loan.</p> <p>Our lender offered us the following (the total payments would be virtually the same, until the PMI would be dropped):</p> <p>*3.6% 20 year loan + PMI until the house value is enough to remove it or we pay down loan enough.<br /> *3.8% 20 year loan with lender paid mortgage insurance</p> <p>Our house value is not enough to remove the PMI and get the lower rate, so we will either have to pay PMI or take the concession of a slightly higher rate. At first I was thinking of the 2nd option, but we have a nearly finished basement (which wasn't when we built the house), so if we pay PMI, I could see us being able to remove it in the next 4 years or so (although, do you have to refinance to do that)? With lender paid insurance, you are stuck with the slightly higher interest rate for the term of the loan. </p> <p>Thoughts? Other pros and cons that I'm missing? </p>