Mortgage Insurance Vultures

I refinanced my 30 year mortgage into a 15 year mortgage earlier this month. This week I received 7 offers for a “Revolutionary New Mortgage Protection Plan.” All of them used similar urgent language warning me of my potential death, terminal illness, chronic disease, disability, etc. All name dropped the company I refinanced through as if this were a required form/service. Only with a magnifying glass at the bottom of these fear inducing documents did it note that there was no affiliation to the mortgage broker, and that everything had been pulled from public records. They’ve all be shredded.

One of my main reasons for refinancing was to drop the mortgage insurance payment that wasn’t scheduled to be removed from my 30 year loan until 2022.

I had a few goals related to refinancing:

• not having to make mortgage payments into my mid-70’s. Success – I should have this one paid off before I turn 65.
• dropping the interest rate; Success – down a full percentage point.
• no mortgage insurance; Success – gone.

I surprised some people when I bought my town home in the first place a few years ago. I still don’t know if this is my forever home. The layout is a bit quirky. I don’t know at what age all of the stairs will become an issue. But today, I like the idea of having it fully paid off and owning it outright. When I consider the balance of cost, location, features, commute time – it works, and it should continue to work into the foreseeable future.