Consumer complaint received 2024-06-26 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Private mortgage insurance (PMI)
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, my partner and I had an online chat with a Mr. Cooper representative in order to inquire about PMI removal as we have reached the percentage of equity required. We closed on our home on XX/XX/XXXX and have been making extra principal payments to reach the goal of getting rid of PMI. On XX/XX/XXXX, we were told about the request process and we were informed that if we were denied, we would be required to order an evaluation through Mr. Cooper to prove the value of our home. The options given for valuation were a full appraisal that would be {$450.00}, or an interior broker price opinion ( IBPO ) which would cost {$190.00} ( see documents titled " XXXX Mr Cooper PMI Transcript XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX '' ). At that time, my partner and I decided to do the basic request, as we have seen increases in home values in our area per XXXX and XXXX estimates, and XXXXXXXX XXXX from our original mortgage lender. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, a document dated XX/XX/XXXX was uploaded to our Mr. Cooper account stating that our PMI removal request was denied because " the value of [ our ] property appears to have declined below its original value ( note : a copy of the property valuation report will be sent separately ) '' ( see document titled " PMI Removal Rejection '' ). At this time, we assumed that a valuation report would be sent per the official document, so we waited for this to occur. 

After a month of waiting for a valuation report, we decided to contact a Mr. Cooper representative to request the report and spoke on the phone with someone on XX/XX/XXXX. When on the phone with the representative, we were told that there is not a valuation report and that we would need to contact XXXX XXXX in order to get the valuation. On XX/XX/XXXX, we spoke with a XXXX XXXX representative and were told that there was no valuation report that could be sent to us. We were advised at this time to open a case to inquire further about this issue ( XXXX XXXX : XXXX ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we received a call from XXXX XXXX where we were informed that a document was not required to be sent and that an appraisal done at our cost would have to be done and show a value of {$240000.00}. We were upset by this response since the original PMI removal rejection letter said that we would receive a valuation report. On the evening of XX/XX/XXXX, we coincidentally received a promotional email from Mr. Cooper about receiving a free equity estimate. As this was pertinent to the issue at hand regarding PMI removal, we expressed interest in the estimation service and received a phone call from a Senior Mortgage Professional at Mr. Cooper. On this phone all, we were informed that our home value has increased to {$300000.00} based off of comps in the area. This would make our total equity {$110000.00} and mean that our loan to value ratio is more than sufficient to warrant PMI removal. We received a report with this information on XX/XX/XXXX ( see document titled " Mr. Cooper Equity Valuation '' ).

As a result of this new information, we spoke with a Mr. Cooper representative on XX/XX/XXXX to see if we could utilize the Mr. Cooper equity estimate to justify the PMI removal since a home valuation was never sent to justify the rejection. On this call, we were told that we could dispute the PMI removal rejection by sending a letter with comps and reasoning on why our home should be valued higher. On XX/XX/XXXX, a dispute letter was sent with all of the information necessary to dispute the decision ( see document titled " PMI Removal Dispute '' ). A response sent on XX/XX/XXXX stated that the early termination of the PMI was still denied. This document stated that XXXX XXXX provided a valuation of {$220000.00} based on an automated analysis and that no valuation report was done ( see document titled " Mr Cooper Dispute Rejection '' ). Per this document, we would have to pay for an appraisal and the home would need to appraise for {$240000.00} or higher in order to dispute the valuation further. 

We were extremely upset by this decision as there is no official valuation report that is justifying the decision to reject the PMI removal request, and the equity report we received from Mr. Cooper showed a value that far surpassed the required amount. On XX/XX/XXXX, we made a final phone call to see what next steps were in order to get the PMI removed. On this call, we were told that an IBPO is no longer an option and that we would have to order a full appraisal for {$650.00} which was different than the cost we were originally told at the beginning of this process. At this time, we decided to submit a formal complaint with the CFPB in order to see if we would be able to resolve this issue without incurring more costs and stress.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation