Consumer complaint received 2015-07-09
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (PA)

Goal : To reduce the loan-to-current-value ( LTCV ) by improving home and paying down mortgage to below 80 % LTCV before 2 years to remove PMI from our mortgage that originated XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Between two and five years, the LTCV must be below 75 % to remove PMI. 
Complaint : U.S. Bank staff informed us by written communication in XXXX XXXX, that was also confirmed in XXXX XXXX by verbal communication ( speaking with XXXX at U.S. Bank XXXX that the request to remove PMI by having house reappraised has to be performed before the two year window, and after the appraisal we have four months to reduce the LTCV below 80 % to remove PMI as long as the request to reappraise was performed before the two year anniversary of mortgage ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. U.S. Bank now claims that the loan had to be paid down below 80 % LTCV before XXXX XXXX, XXXX and that the staff was trained improperly when XXXX advised us that only the request needed to be performed before the XXXX XXXX, XXXX two year anniversary. U.S. Bank is refusing to remove our PMI because they claim we are past the two-year loan origination date and 75 % LTCV will be required to remove the PMI. The loan balance is currently 79.7 % LTCV ( paid {$7000.00} on principal XXXX XXXX ), after U.S Bank informed us on XXXX XXXX that the PMI will not be removed because the house appraisal did not increase the loan value sufficiently to reduce the LTCV below 80 %, and we now have to reduce the LTCV to below 75 %. We had the funds allocated to pay down the loan, once the reappraisal value was calculated. Note that the loan had to be seasoned to remove PMI, and we had to wait until almost two years of payments to prove good payment history. 
Timeline : XXXX XXXX - Request information on PMI removal. Letter from U.S. Bank reads " A copy of the appraisal will be provided to you with our determination concerning the PMI removal. In the event the value is not sufficient to meet the LTCV required, you will have the option to reduce the XXXX within 4 months of the date of the appraisal to meet the required LTVC ratio. " XXXX XXXX - Phoned XXXX at U.S. Bank PMI department to clarify statement quoted above, XXXX tells me that the request to reappraise the house needs to be filed before the two year loan anniversary, not the actual balance paid below 80 % LTCV before the two-year anniversary - we have four months to pay it below 80 %. 
XXXX XXXX Written request for reappraisal and pay {$440.00} reappraisal fee. 
XXXX XXXX - Receive letter stating the U.S. Bank has started process. Letter states " Once the inspection is completed, the assessment report will be provided to us within approximately XXXX business days '' - The assessment report was dated XXXX - XXXX business days after inspection. 
XXXX XXXX - Home inspection occursXX/XX/XXXX XXXX - Two year loan anniversaryXX/XX/XXXX XXXX - No response from U.S. Bank, I call them and they inform me the house reappraisal was not sufficient to reduce the LTCV below 80 %, since loan is now past two years - must reach 75 % LTCV. XXXX informs me that his staff was not trained correctly and his staff has been retrained. Request to speak with XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX has returned two calls that I missed, I have left messages on about 15 days. XXXX will not respond to email and will not arrange a time to call. 
XXXX XXXX - {$7000.00} payment to reduce LTCV to 79.7 %. We had been waiting on U.S. Bank to contact us to determine how much money they needed to be paid to reduce the LTCV to below 80 % once the reappraisal was performed. 
XXXX XXXX - XXXX calls me back to offer refund of {$440.00} appraisal fee, I declined the refund. 

Our major complaint is PMI policy miscommunication in both written and verbal communication caused our PMI not to be removed. U.S. Bank staff was not trained properly and conveyed us incorrect information about critical timelines. This will cost us an additional {$3000.00} - XXXX.