Washington Mutual Home Loans will not remove my PMI even though it is less than 80% Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Your report is a common complaint. allow me to elaborate. the Homeowner's protection act states that PMI *CAN* be removed at the homeowner's request when the principal balance reaches 80% of the ORIGINAL value of the home (That is, the value of your home at the time of closing, which itself is the lesser of either the purchase price or the ORIGINAL appraised value.) and it MUST be removed when the loan-to-original-value reached 78%.

What you are attempting to do is to use your CURRENT value for PMI removal. Essentially, a mortgage company can set whatever criteria they want for removing PMI using the current value. Washington Mutual typically follows FNMA guidelines (most companies do, in fact) which is that for a single-family, owner-occupied property:

If the loan is less than 2 years old- 75% loan to value ratio *BUT* The increase in the value of the home *MUST* be due to STRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS.

If the loan is more than 2 years but less than 5 years old- 75% loan to value ratio. At this point, you can use market value fluctuation to establish increased value of the home

More than 5 years old- 80% LTV and as above, market value fluctuation may be used.

Of course, for the benefit of others who may read this, if you have been 30 days late within the last 12 months or 60 days within the last 24, these guidelines go bye-bye.

I hope this clear things up.