PMI question

[Chuck1674]

Mortgage with Citizens.. Seven months ago,I put down 10%. Now looking to get rid of PMI. Have realized some appreciation. Will I need to come up with the additional 10%. OR will I definitely need a new appraisal to show appreciation. Hoping they will work with me. Any advice before I call them this week. Thanks

[golfing eagles]

Mortgage with Citizens.. Seven months ago,I put down 10%. Now looking to get rid of PMI. Have realized some appreciation. Will I need to come up with the additional 10%. OR will I definitely need a new appraisal to show appreciation. Hoping they will work with me. Any advice before I call them this week. Thanks

Best advice is to just call them. You will get a bunch of answers on this forum, some right, some not so much. And I'm willing to bet the policy is different from bank to bank.

[Malsua]

Mortgage with Citizens.. Seven months ago,I put down 10%. Now looking to get rid of PMI. Have realized some appreciation. Will I need to come up with the additional 10%. OR will I definitely need a new appraisal to show appreciation. Hoping they will work with me. Any advice before I call them this week. Thanks

The bank won't take your word for it that your property has appreciated in value. You will need to get appraisals and submit the request to the bank. There will be cost involved. Hard to say what you're paying monthly in PMI but you may have costs $400+ and unless you've got a million dollar home, that's probably 3-6 months of PMI payments.

If you can pay the loan down to 80% that's the easiest way to eliminate PMI.

[Marathon Man]

Mortgage with Citizens.. Seven months ago,I put down 10%. Now looking to get rid of PMI. Have realized some appreciation. Will I need to come up with the additional 10%. OR will I definitely need a new appraisal to show appreciation. Hoping they will work with me. Any advice before I call them this week. Thanks

Yes. Just call them and ask your questions. Coming on an internet forum with such questions may not take you in the right direction.

[Stu from NYC]

Call the bank.

[Chuck1674]

Yes i will call, just looking for experiences of others. Did they require appraisal? Does anyone have a decent appraiser they recommend. My post stated I am going to call but it is always good to do due diligence first. No need to respond if u have nothing to ad

[JohnN]

No need to respond if u have nothing to ad

Hi Chuck, you're fairly new around here. Folks will not only reply with nothing to add, but they can often be quite "snarky" about it. You take the bad with the good.

Anyway, PMI. If your loan is not paid down to 80% of the original value, then you will absolutely need an appraisal. The bank will not take your word for it. The system is geared to wring every last dollar possible out of your wallet. Here's a decent article.
Good luck.

Final answer - call the bank for exact details.

Can I Cancel PMI If My Home Value Increases, or Am I Stuck With It? (https://www.homelight.com/blog/can-i-cancel-pmi-if-my-home-value-increases/)

[JoelJohnson]

We sold our old house and used some of the profits to reduce our mortgage with Citizen's to below 80% of the loan. We did a mortgage modification, which costs $200 but reduced our mortgage by about $200/month. Took about 5 minutes!

[Kim Fowler]

Yes i will call, just looking for experiences of others. Did they require appraisal? Does anyone have a decent appraiser they recommend. My post stated I am going to call but it is always good to do due diligence first. No need to respond if u have nothing to ad

I would expect that the bank will hire its own appraiser, and pass on the cost of the appraisal to you.

[Stu from NYC]

I would expect that the bank will hire its own appraiser, and pass on the cost of the appraisal to you.

Of course and that is why I suggested to the OP he call his bank.

[J1ceasar]

Don't forget, there's no reason not to shop around for a new loan, there are plenty of credit unions in Florida that while you may or may not save on the PMI how about you may be nicely surprised that their interest rate is lower

[Skunky1]

New bank appraisal is required or come up with the additional 10%

[Leadbone1]

Mortgage with Citizens.. Seven months ago,I put down 10%. Now looking to get rid of PMI. Have realized some appreciation. Will I need to come up with the additional 10%. OR will I definitely need a new appraisal to show appreciation. Hoping they will work with me. Any advice before I call them this week. Thanks

Your appreciation doesn’t matter. It would be nice if it worked that way but it doesn’t. You have to pay down 20% of the original loan value before you can get rid of PMI. It’s been that way forever.

[Dond1959]

Is Citizen’s the servicer of the loan? It doesn’t matter who originated the loan, the servicer handles these requests. Loans are typically sold to FNMA or FHLMC and the servicer follows their guidelines on removing PMI. In most cases a new appraisal is required.

[jimkerr]

Call your loan servicer. Tell them you want to drop PMI. They’ll tell you you’ll have to pay for an appraisal. If that appraisal shoots your value up to where you have 20% equity, they’ll take care of you and slow you to drop the PMI.

[joseppe]

Call your loan servicer. Tell them you want to drop PMI. They’ll tell you you’ll have to pay for an appraisal. If that appraisal shoots your value up to where you have 20% equity, they’ll take care of you and slow you to drop the PMI.

Appreciation doesn't matter. Depending on when you bought, if you have appreciation it may be more prudent to refinance rather than paying down the existing mortgage.

[Girlcopper]

Mortgage with Citizens.. Seven months ago,I put down 10%. Now looking to get rid of PMI. Have realized some appreciation. Will I need to come up with the additional 10%. OR will I definitely need a new appraisal to show appreciation. Hoping they will work with me. Any advice before I call them this week. Thanks
Just call them and ask. I doubt you will get an accurate answer here

[cathell62]

Double check your contract. Some companies that handle mortgages don't care that if you pay it down below 80%, if you had it for less than a specified number of years typically five. After 5 years and you're under 80% they can remove it. All depends on the type of contract that you signed and what the PMI portion States. You might have to do a total refi which is going to cost you a whole lot of additional fees which may not be worth it.

[DAVES]

Yes i will call, just looking for experiences of others. Did they require appraisal? Does anyone have a decent appraiser they recommend. My post stated I am going to call but it is always good to do due diligence first. No need to respond if u have nothing to ad

Mortgages are tightly controlled. You will find that everyone, every bank has the same policy.

Call the bank, probably better to set up an appointment and do a face to face. You are paying mortgage insurance because to put too little as a down payment. The banker is no longer your neighbor, they will they have to follow the rules. Appreciation? A safe bet they will charge you for an appraisal.

Thinking out of the box, perhaps, a refinance is an option. There is a gotcha there too.
You will pay closing costs AGAIN even using the same bank. Check stuff like liens against the property? As your lender they would be notified of any liens against the property BUT they can and will charge you anyway.

[Neils]

Your appreciation doesn’t matter. It would be nice if it worked that way but it doesn’t. You have to pay down 20% of the original loan value before you can get rid of PMI. It’s been that way forever.

Incorrect. Once home value exceeds that the amount needed to cover the full 20% most banks will allow you to drip the pmi

[DAVES]

Appreciation doesn't matter. Depending on when you bought, if you have appreciation it may be more prudent to refinance rather than paying down the existing mortgage.

We all need to realize we are in the ring way out of our weight class.

Fair? We signed a contract to pay xx% for 15 or 30 years. Rates fall and I want to renegotiate. YES, I DO. We are shocked that the bank that already charged us closing costs want to charge us yet again. In my case the closing costs that I had already paid once meant a refinance does not pay.

[momchaves]

From experience, find a new place for your mortgage. We had PMI on our mortgage with Citizens First Bank, and let's just say we tried to follow their directions to eliminate the PMI, only to have the house not appraise enough. They used their appraiser. Need I say more. We got a lower rate, no PMI, with a local Credit Union. Have had other poor experiences with the same bank.

[mark100]

Call Citizens and ask. Anyone else making a comment is purely speculation.

[rphil11ort]

Some banks require 1 year then You can pay for.an appraisal and if 20% equity exists pmi will go away. Definitely call the servicing dept to check the rules and the.process

[rphil11ort]

Your appreciation doesn’t matter. It would be nice if it worked that way but it doesn’t. You have to pay down 20% of the original loan value before you can get rid of PMI. It’s been that way forever.

Unless you have an fha mortgage pmi will go away with an appraisal. It will go away naturally at 25% from the original value. At least it has been that way for.the last 38 years I have been in the business

[Chuck1674]

I called the bank and they said just make a principle payment that brings the balance of original loan where 78 percent is owed and paid comes off automatically.