Consumer complaint received 2019-03-01
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I called JP Morgan Chase regarding my Private Mortgage Insurance in early XXXX. My mortgage was purchased by the entity in XXXX and I have been paying Private Mortgage Insurance since inception of the loan. During XXXX I realized we were very close to reaching the 80 % LTV thresh-hold required to get rid of our PMI and wanted to go ahead and pay down my principal to reach the magic thresh-hold. Our family had much more free cash available and getting rid of the approximately {$100.00} additional monthly payment seemed to make sense. 

When I called and asked if could pay down the additional principal I was told that even if I did that I would have to either ( 1 ) pay for an appraisal or ( 2 ) wait until XX/XX/XXXX and request a waiver of PMI. I decided that instead of forfeiting {$550.00} I would wait the additional year. Getting close to XX/XX/XXXX I called Chase and asked what steps I would have to take to remove my PMI. I was told that even though my LTV would dip below the 80 % thresh-hold this year I would still have to pay for an appraisal or wait until my LTV hit 78 % for the PMI to fall off. I was very thorough in my original dealings with chase and was told that once I hit 80 % I would not have to pay for an appraisal, rather I would just have to request the amount be waived. Had I been given accurate information in the beginning, I would have paid for the appraisal - saving me over {$2500.00} in PMI payments. I also was VERY thorough in my communications with chase and calculated every scenario giving them ample proof that my LTV was well within the requirements. This work on my end was ignored and their response was simply that I had to pay for an appraisal anyway. 

I am going to pay the appraisal - mainly because I'm tired of throwing away money when my account is obviously not a risk. I have never been late on any debt payment including my mortgage payments to Chase. Please see my communication with them below regarding why a waiver is applicable in my scenario. 

" I would like to request a waiver of our monthly PMI payment. Our principal amount due {$130000.00} hits 79.93 percent of the original loan value {$170000.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. At this point in time the amount due will only be 73.62 percent of our original appraised value {$190000.00}. The original appraisal was performed on XX/XX/XXXX by XXXX XXXX, XXXX License # TX XXXX R. Our current value according to the XXXX County Appraisal District is {$220000.00}. Using this value as of XX/XX/XXXX our LTV will be 61.21 percent. The appraisal value from the district is publicly available via the XXXX County Appraisal District at XXXX XXXX XXXX. You can confirm this value easily by searching for our home. 

Other factors to consider when determining whether to waive the PMI amount include our current annual income of {$220000.00}, our high credit scores, and our history of timely payments both regarding our credit card with chase, our mortgage with chase, and any escrow shortages that hit our account. 

I will be happy to provide any documents required to process this request. 

I contacted chase in XXXX regarding removal of the PMI and at that time I was told I would have to receive an appraisal costing {$550.00} to remove the PMI OR I could wait until XX/XX/XXXX and fill out paperwork and the PMI would be waived at this point. I am now being told that I will have to pay an appraisal fee in XX/XX/XXXX, even though I confirmed with the original contact that this would not be the case. If I had been given clear information at the time of my first request I would have paid the {$550.00} and forewent the addition 12 months of PMI {$1100.00}. I am tired of dealing with the inadequate information Chase provides regarding the removal of this PMI. I understand that PMI is for protection of the lender, which is completely understandable, however, based on factors listed above I do not consider our account a risk and do not believe the insurance payment is necessary. Please accept this as my request for a waiver. ''

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation