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Last Updated on July 25, 2024 by Insurdinary Editorial Team | Fact Checked by Rhonda Gary -->
Many people rent because buying a house tends to be more expensive during the first three to four years of monthly payments. However, homeownership still has several benefits many Americans want to experience. You can renovate your home as you please, decorate your yard, and install different amenities on your property.
The homeownership process often takes more time and energy with additional stipulations for mortgage approval. For example, some lenders may require you to have mortgage insurance before they approve your application. What is mortgage insurance, and how does it help you obtain and maintain your house?
Read more to learn the ins and outs of mortgage insurance and why some lenders may require you to have it.
Most federal mortgage assistance programs come with mortgage protection measures, but conventional loans do not. Therefore, if you fail to meet standard down payment requirements, a conventional loan provider may require you to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI).
This type of insurance adds a low amount to your monthly payments to protect the lending company from issues if you default on your loan. Unlike homeowners’ or renters’ insurance, mortgage insurance protects the lender without protecting you. If you fail to continue paying your mortgage, you may lower your credit score, or a bank could foreclose your property.
In most cases, lenders expect that you will be able to put at least a 20% down payment on your home. However, economic stressors cause many people to be unable to meet those expectations. Those economically closer to the poverty line tend to rent, but some still aim to purchase property due to the benefits of homeownership.
Lenders expect people who pay less than 20% on a home down payment to have PMI for home loan approval. Then, those who cannot put down standard down payments can still obtain financing authorization from various mortgage lenders. In many cases, the lender adds the expense for PMI to your mortgage amount to summarize monthly payments.
Conventional loans, as the name implies, are the types of mortgages most people will try to pursue. Some lenders may work with a private company in order to set up your PMI.
You can apply through the FHA if you don't apply for a mortgage through conventional private loan providers. The FHA handles both the mortgage itself and the insurance required for all FHA mortgage loans. The insurance includes a down payment as part of the closing costs and a monthly premium.
Despite differences in people's credit scores, FHA loans and mortgage insurance costs don't vary much, if at all. However, those who pay less than 5% of their down payment for the property may have a slight increase in premiums. You can also roll your loan and upfront insurance payment into one, increasing the cost of the loan but summarizing payments.
USDA mortgages come automatically with mortgage insurance, just like FHA loans. However, they typically cost less since these loans generally apply to farmland and agricultural property ownership. Otherwise, the same rules applying to FHA loans apply to USDA, from the credit score rulings to summarizing payment amounts.
VA-backed mortgage loans work differently from other loans due to the VA guarantee. The VA’s backing replaces the need for mortgage insurance, eliminating monthly insurance premiums for mortgage approval. However, to get a VA loan, you must be a service member, a veteran, or a member of their immediate family.
Instead of paying monthly insurance fees, you only pay an upfront funding fee based on several factors:
While you can roll your mortgage insurance down payment into FHA and USDA loan premiums, you don’t do that here. Instead, you can put the upfront funding fee into your premiums.
When a lender provides mortgage consent, they do so under the assumption you can pay the full amount back. They go through the process with you to protect their investment in your home and prevent economic losses for their company.
With mortgage insurance, the insurance company pays the lender part of the principal, or the amount you borrowed to purchase your home. This part of the agreement activates if you fail to make mortgage payments for any reason, including disability or a lack of funds. The payment the lender receives generally doesn’t cover accumulated interest, and you still need to catch back up on your mortgage as soon as possible.
No, PMI and other mortgage insurance plans differ from mortgage life insurance or mortgage disability insurance. PMI remains active from the first day you pay to have your policy until you cease payments or you no longer need the insurance.
Mortgage life insurance should cover your mortgage payments in case those paying the mortgage die. This type of insurance generally only applies if the insured person passes away and not if you cannot make monthly mortgage payments. Moreover, you cannot list beneficiaries other than the lender who provided mortgage consent.
Mortgage disability insurance, or mortgage payment protection insurance, covers some or all your mortgage payments in case you file for temporary or permanent disability. You would need to file a claim with evidence detailing your disability before the policy pays out to your lending company. However, you may receive better assistance from general disability insurance instead of a policy specifically designed to only help with mortgage payments.
Many people make mortgage payments for 10, 20, or 30 years. What about adding expenses for mortgage insurance as well? Thankfully, you can rest easy if you are worried that you will have to pay mortgage insurance for your entire mortgage acceptance term.
The Homeowner’s Protection Act (HPA) allows American borrowers to request PMI cancellation after their mortgage reaches 20% equity. Mortgage equity refers to the value of your home minus the remaining debts from your mortgage. So, if you pay off more than 20% of your mortgage, you can request PMI cancellation before mortgage loan clearance.
Also, by law, the insurance company must cancel your PMI if you have a Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio of 78% or more. LTV comes from dividing your mortgage amount by the appraised value of your home. Although some exceptions to these rules exist, particularly for failure to keep up with payments, you can generally expect to relieve yourself of the extra expense.
While you pay for it, however, your PMI premium could qualify as a tax-deductible expense, just as interest payments on your mortgage come tax deductible. Double-check your options with a tax specialist to ensure you receive the full benefits for paying your PMI premiums.
Commercial lenders may offer an alternative to mortgage insurance, often called a “piggyback” mortgage. This “piggyback” is a second loan.
Your main mortgage would pay for about 80% of your home, considering the standard down payment for purchasing property. Instead of getting mortgage insurance, the piggyback loan pays for at least 5% of the 20% down payment you need to buy the property.
Insurance companies may refer to this as an 80-5-15 loan. Configurations can also vary to be 80-10-10 or 80-15-5, in which the last number is your down payment percentage, and the middle is the piggyback coverage.
The commercial lender may advertise a piggyback mortgage loan as less expensive for mortgage approval. However, you should carefully consider monthly premiums, closing costs, and other factors related to setting up and solidifying your loans. Compare the costs between different insurance providers and mortgage lenders before you decide if mortgage insurance or piggybacking will work best for you.
Different mortgage lenders have varying requirements when it comes to the mortgage insurance you choose. Many of them have different amounts of coverage for the cost, and searching between each company can be too much for a single person.
Insurdinary allows you to search mortgage insurance companies and their policies from a single location, including coverage amounts and application stipulations. To start, you can put in your demographic information and customize your coverage options for mortgage insurance. Then, you can leave the rest to our trustworthy system to find the best insurance companies that meet as many of your needs as possible.
Use Insurdinary to find a mortgage insurance policy that improves mortgage approval chances, or visit our contact page for hands-on assistance today. Reach out to us today to discover more about what we do.