Your lender should honor your request to stop
private mortgage insurance after the fair market value of your home exceeds 20% of the principal owed.
Significantly, the survey found that nearly 60% of adults nationally say knowing about
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) coverage would impact their decision when choosing a specific lender.
Low down payment mortgages, and conventional loans with
private mortgage insurance in particular, play a very important role in supporting first-time homebuyers, and even more so in a market with declining affordability.
In March, Arch roiled the industry by partnering with Freddie Mac on a pilot project known as Integrated Mortgage Insurance, or IMAGIN, in which Arch and a pool of five other reinsurers agree in advance to provide mortgage insurance for high LTV loans that meet certain criteria--putting them in a first-loss position without the need for
private mortgage insurance. A new Arch subsidiary, Arch Mortgage Risk Transfer, is acting as intermediary between Freddie Mac and the reinsurers.
For military home buyers, taking advantage of VA mortgage financing allows them to purchase a new home for just $99 out of pocket with no out of pocket closing costs and no
private mortgage insurance, which helps to lower monthly payments.
Fannie's program is being offered to qualified first-time buyers and will require
private mortgage insurance or other risk sharing and income documentation, the company said.
For example, only about a third of people questioned said that they understood "very well" such things as the overall qualification process; fees and charges; the role of
private mortgage insurance; and the option of home equity credit.
The first
private mortgage insurance company appears to have been the Title and Guarantee Company of Rochester, N.Y., which opened in 1887.