Consumer complaint received 2017-08-22
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (MS)

In XXXX of XXXX, I contacted my mortgage servicer, US Bank ( loan number XXXX ) about paying down my principal balance in order to have my PMI insurance removed. They sent me a letter dated XXXX XXXX which outlined what needed to be done in order to have my PMI cancelled. In that letter, they state the amount I should pay to reach the 80 % LTOV amount as well as that I needed " evidence that the value of the property has not declined below the original value ... '' I took this to mean that I would provide a written evaluation. I paid {$3400.00} on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. They sent me a second letter dated XXXX XXXX, XXXX which again stated the PMI removal requirements. Also, in that letter they state that federal law provides me the right to request that PMI be cancelled by ... " based solely on actual payments, the principal balance of your loan has actually reached 80 % of the ORIGINAL VALUE of the property. '' No where in this letter or the previous one are the words third party appraisal or third party opinion mentioned as it pertains to the 80 % of original value rule. After a few weeks of not hearing anything, ( I just assumed my PMI was being cancelled ) I made another phone call. They stated that I must send in a letter. I wrote the letter asking for this process to begin which seemed rather foolish since I had told them directly on the phone. It seemed at this point that the bank was delaying this process as much as possible. I called pretty quickly after I sent the letter in to make sure they got it and learned, only at this point, that someone had to come out to my property to evaluate it. So I said ok, but again there was considerable delay in this process beginning, apparently there was confusion as to who was coming to my house. Finally I received a letter on XXXX XXXX with an appraisal that showed the value of my property had declined by {$2000.00} ( which I highly dispute ) and therefore I needed to pay an additional amount if I wanted my PMI removed. I told them no, it was hard for me to believe that my property declined in value and requested that my {$3400.00} be returned to me. This person said OK, she would do that. After several weeks, I had not received my money, I called the bank again. This was probably around XXXX XXXX. I was told by someone at that point that my PMI WAS going to be removed and I should be getting a refund check for my previous month 's PMI payment. Again, nothing happened and today I checked the account online and the PMI was still on there. I called today ( XXXX XXXX ) and asked what happened with my PMI being removed and they could not give me an explanation other than that person did not know what they were talking about. I asked for my money to be returned and was told it could not be. This person was in the mortgage insurance group that told me that. I told her that that was completely unfair and they were not acting in good faith or as a proper fiduciary. I asked about the person who originally told me my money would be sent back to me and she said they were in customer service and transferred me there. I explained to all to them again and they sent me back to the mortgage insurance department where this person told me to write a letter and the money would be returned to me. I asked her to explain how someone just told me that it could n't be and she finally did some research and said that it actually could not be returned because thirty days had elapsed since it was paid in. First of all, I feel, based on the original letter they sent which I based my whole intent on, I have fulfilled my obligations to have PMI taken off of my account and I should get a refund of PMI since the date I paid the {$3400.00}. They have willfully dragged this process out and could have been handled in a few days which goes all the way back to XXXX. If that can not be done, I would like my principal returned to me since, if they are requiring a third party to evaluate the property, that should be done in advance of my payment to reduce the principal. This whole process has been covered in ambiguity and delay. I believe there must be some incentive for the bank to not cancel PMI. Also, almost everyone I have talked to at this bank have told me complete falsehoods or are completely unaware of internal procedures. I would therefore also request that personal damages be assessed to this company for putting me through this emotional distress as well as punitive damages should also be assessed for failure to act in good faith and lack of any fiduciary capacity.