Consumer complaint received 2024-10-17
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Private mortgage insurance (PMI)
Company: U.S. BANCORP (MD)

Unfortunately, I have not kept good track of all the calls I've been making to US Bank over the past year or so. Originally, I call to ask if my PMI could be removed once I reached 80 % LTV, they said yes but only with a paid appraisal or if improvements were made. They sent me paperwork to start the process, but it turned out that I could only remove the PMI if I paid {$600.00} for an appraisal. I had installed XXXX XXXX to the house, so I considered this an improvement and therefore thought I could waive the appraisal. I called them again, and one representative stated that XXXX XXXX are not considered an improvement, and another representative stated that even though it was an improvement I would still need to pay for the appraisal. Since my PMI is considerably low, compared to the cost of the appraisal, I opted to wait to reach the 78 % LTV as it was explained to me that it would automatically drop once it reached 78 % LTV because of the Homeowner 's Protection Act of 1998 ( PMI Cancellation Act ). When it reached 78 % LTV and I saw that the PMI was not removed, I decided to call them again to inquire as to why it was not removed. The representative at that time stated that the bank is not actually required to remove it at 78 %. The representative forwarded my request to the department in-charged of Mortgage insurance and I was told I should get a letter from them. When I got the letter, the letter stated that the only way I could have the PMI removed was if I paid to have the home appraised and if it appraised so that my LTV was 78 % or lower, or that I could just wait until XX/XX/XXXX which was the date my Amortization sheet stated that PMI would drop. Again, it didn't make sense for me to pay for an appraisal, therefore I opted to wait it out. XXXX comes and now I have the PMI premium being charged twice! There's a charge on XX/XX/XXXX, and another one on XX/XX/XXXX ( 2 days after I finally got a letter stating that the PMI was terminated and that no more premiums for PMI will be charged ). I called again, the best the representative could do is have the department send me a letter explaining the charges ( it was obvious to me that she was struggling herself to explain the charges ). I asked to be transferred to the department so that it could be explained to me clearly and she stated that they do not take customer calls and can not address me. I explained to her that it is very unfair the fact that there's no way for me to communicate with the people I need to communicate with to get this matter resolved. US Bank makes communication extremely challenging, and I believe they do this on purpose. There's no customer service email address I can send tangible communication to. There's no chat I can print transcripts from. And when I asked if I could go to a branch to communicate this matter in person, the representative expressed to me that the employees in the branch will not be able to help me in this particular case and that the best they could do is call the customer service number.