The term Mortgage insurance may in some contexts refer to Private mortgage insurance (PMI), also known as Lenders mortgage insurance. Private mortgage insurance protects the lender instead of the borrower, although its premiums are payable by the borrower. This type of insurance is compulsory in certain jurisdictions for mortgages started with low down payments.
In the United States, subject to Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, a borrower who provides less than 20% down payment up front may be required to pay for private mortgage insurance until the outstanding mortgage is less than 80% of the value of the property.
Read more about this topic: Mortgage Life Insurance
Famous quotes containing the words private, mortgage and/or insurance:
“Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale body is all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces which expose the whole movement.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The mortgage is still in our name but, increasingly, the house is theirs. One diaper, one vote.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“In taking out an insurance policy one pays for it in dollars and cents, always at liberty to discontinue payments. If, however, woman’s premium is a husband, she pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life, “until death doth part.””
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)