Consumer complaint received 2024-10-22
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Private mortgage insurance (PMI)
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC (MD)

NewRez is not complying with the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, we bought a new home for {$650000.00} and financed the home for an amount requiring PMI. Shortly after purchasing our home, our mortgage was unfortunately sold to NewRez. We subsequently sold our prior home resulting in a large cash payment which we used to pay the balance of our mortgage down to {$110000.00}. We now owe less than {$110000.00} on a home we recently paid {$650000.00} for. We believe that this warrants the removal of PMI from our mortgage. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we contacted NewRez in writing by email and requested that they remove the PMI. On XX/XX/XXXX, NewRez responded stating, " We received your recent inquiry and are still working diligently to provide you with a written response. However, it's taking a bit more time than we thought it would. We apologize for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience. '' By XX/XX/XXXX, we had not received any further communication from NewRez, so we called them and they told us that they needed a few more days to process the request. By XX/XX/XXXX we had not received any further communication from NewRez so we called them and were told that the request had a due date of XX/XX/XXXX, but they might need up to XXXX additional business days to process the request. By XX/XX/XXXX, we had not received any additional communication, so we contacted NewRez and were told it would take longer. My wife requested to speak with a manager, and NewRez stated that a manager would call her back. The call back never happened, so she recontacted NewRez that same day and was given XXXX XXXX 's contact information ( XXXX ). My wife sent an email to that address requesting assistance, and we have yet to receive a response. 

It is now the end of XXXX, and we have been trying to address this issue for two months. We have already paid two months worth of PMI since our request for removal, and we are about to make another PMI payment at the beginning of XXXX. 

12 U.S. Code 4902 outlines the requirement for PMI to be cancelled when the mortgagor : ( 1 ) submits a request in writing to the servicer that cancellation be initiated ; ( 2 ) has a good payment history with respect to the residential mortgage ; ( 3 ) is current on the payments required by the terms of the residential mortgage transaction ; and ( 4 ) has satisfied any requirement of the holder of the mortgage ( as of the date of a request under paragraph ( 1 ) for ( A ) evidence ( of a type established in advance and made known to the mortgagor by the servicer promptly upon receipt of a request under paragraph ( 1 ) ) that the value of the property securing the mortgage has not declined below the original value of the property ; and ( B ) certification that the equity of the mortgagor in the residence securing the mortgage is unencumbered by a subordinate lien. 

We have submitted our request in writing. We have made all payments on time. We are current on all payments required by the terms of our mortgage, and NewRez has not requested any evidence that the value of the property has not declined or that the mortgage is unencumbered by a subordinate lien. With such obvious positive equity in this home, there should be no need for any further documentation, and the house is not encumbered by an other liens.

Since NewRez has taken so long to remove the PMI, we have already made 2 PMI payments since our request, and we are about to make another in our XX/XX/XXXX payment. We believe that the PMI payment for our XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX payments are all " unearned premiums '' as defined by 12 U.S. Code 4902 and should be returned to us.