aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
Thanks to everyone who responded.
For the record, I am going to pay to have the appraisal done to get rid of the PMI. I'm pretty salty about this, and I truly believe the bank's actions here are predatory and against the spirit of the law.
It's actually not as much about the cost of the appraisal and loss of several months of PMI that I will not get refunded, as the invasion of privacy of having a home appraisal forced upon me.
Right from the beginning, I was up front with the bank that I planned to have the PMI removed within the first year by overpaying. I verified there was no prepayment penalty, and was even told that it would automatically get removed once I hit 78% LTV. Granted, this was told to me verbally (so I don't have a leg to stand on there to fight this), and by the folks from the mortgage department, not the PMI department, who I assume probably thought the same thing I did.
Regardless, I had no reason to expect them to fight me on this.
Funny thing was that I was very happy with the mortgage application process and really like their online service, which is why I chose them a second time for this mortgage (along with competitive rates, of course). I have told several people of my good experiences with the bank up until this point. My coworker is actually in the process of buying his first home, and, of course, I recommended Huntington bank to him. I'll be updating him on my experience with this bank...
One thing to remember about banks.....none of them are your friend.