Mortgage insurance

[sunbun]

Is there any way around paying mortgage insurance? We still don't own 20% of the house. However, our credit scores are stellar. Do they take that into consideration? We didn't have to pay mortgage insurance when we first bought the house, but we refinanced to take advantage of a lower interest rate. I am just trying to think of ways to bring down our already slim budget.

[russsk]

As far as I know, it's either take out two separate loans (80/20) or PMI. We also have excellent credit and PMI ended up being the cheaper option for us. I don't think creditworthiness has anything to do with it.

[Denvergirlie]

You can take out a second loan and use that to pay down to 80%, and then drop PMI, but it's a requirement, a regulation.
Your stellar credit might help you get a personal loan and or second mortage, but the credit markets are tight right now too.
Never hurts to stop by the bank and ask.

[alegna]

If the value of your home as gone up and you now owe less than 80% of what it is worth you can pay for an appraisal and petition to have the pmi dropped.

-Angela

[ryan'smom]

Originally Posted by alegna

If the value of your home as gone up and you now owe less than 80% of what it is worth you can pay for an appraisal and petition to have the pmi dropped.

-Angela

We are just now finalizing our refinance at a lower rate. We had the house re-appraised and it appraised *just* high enough to get our PMI dropped. We will be saving over $60 a month just for that, not to mention the lower interest rate savings as well. Well worth the appraisal fee. Do you have any idea what your home worth?