Consumer complaint received 2024-04-23
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Private mortgage insurance (PMI)
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC. (NJ)

Contacted PennyMac in XXXX of XXXX to request PMI removal. 

Advised I must pay {$150.00} for new appraisal of the property. Did so. 

Assessment was completed. No notice was sent with result. 

I contacted Pennymac on XX/XX/XXXX for the result. I was told that my home appraised for XXXX, resulting in a 66 % LTV ratio. In order for PMI to be removed, it needed to be 65 % or below. 

Within the year prior, I had 2 other appraisals for HELOCs. These showed a valuation of XXXX XXXX and XXXX. Both of these valuations would result in the deletion of PMI. 

Once in receipt of the appraisal conducted by Pennymac, I also noted a number of discrepancies in the report that would result in a lesser value for the property. 

I spoke on the phone with customer service on XX/XX/XXXX and was advised to upload the previous appraisals to the system and request an appeal. 

The next communication from PM on XX/XX/XXXX said that if I would like to dispute the conclusion ( which I had already stated that I did ), that I would need to upload 3-5 comps ( which I already did, as they were included in the appraisal reports ). 

I responded to this message with the same, letting them know that the comps I would like to use were included. 

The next communication from PM in the message center was the following " Our records reflect that this is a 2 unit property, so you have to reach a LTV of 65 %. Please note an appraisal that was completed for refinancing or other purposes is not valid for PMI deletion review. Our preliminary review indicates your LTV does not satisfy the requirements for deletion based on Original Value. You may be eligible to be reviewed based on Current Value. The next step to proceed is to perform an interior and exterior valuation. This will require us to ask a few questions and collect the valuation fee of {$150.00}. To better inform you, an analysis was performed on your current PMI policy, and if you decide not to proceed with this deletion request, you are expected to pay an estimate of {$33000.00} until the Auto Termination of your PMI. Do you consent to an interior and exterior evaluation? 
Sincerely, The Pennymac Team ''. 

This communication clearly shows that the original dispute was never filed and that my comps were not considered. I venture to guess that the above message was AI-generated for someone who was filing an initial dispute. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted PennyMac via phone. I was transferred 4 different times and told I could not speak to a supervisor because they were all " In a meeting ''. I spent over an hour on hold to speak with a supervisor. XXXX and XXXX were the reps that I spoke to, although they could not provide a last name or a badge number. 

Through my conversation with XXXX, she was clearly not paying attention as I detailed the above, and had no access to notes or there were no notes to begin with. XXXX came back on the line as they refused to transfer me to a supervisor, even though she was " chatting '' with him acting as an intermediary. I once again requested to be transferred.