Homeowners can realize savings in the thousands with new feature
Michigan-based United Wholesale Mortgage has announced its popular MI Buster product now includes rate/term refinances as an added option for borrowers.
The upshot: Current homeowners with a loan to value (LTV) between 80.01% and 89.99%, and loan amounts of at least $200,000, can lower their monthly payments by dropping their existing MI when they refinance with MI Buster. In doing so, the company said, homeowners can potentially achieve savings in the thousands of dollars.
The new rate/term refinances option comes a mere month after United Wholesale Mortgage launched the MI buster as an exclusive purchase product, eliminating mortgage insurance for borrowers who put as little as 10.01% down. This enables borrowers to put less down without having to pay mortgage insurance to “…help some get more home for their money,” company officials said in unveiling the new product option.
“It’s an exclusive product for UWM,” Mat Ishbia, the mortgage lender’s president and CEO, told Mortgage Professional America in a telephone conversation. “Nobody else in the country has this. So UWM has a product that we can provide to our mortgage brokers that no-one else in the country has, so they have a leg up in competing with other mortgage lenders, and, at the same time, they can go into real estate shops and talk about a program that legitimately has no mortgage insurance – not lender pay, not borrower pay, not a cheaper payment. It’s actually no mortgage insurance and a cheaper all-in payment for the consumer.”
Ishbia said the first iteration of the MI (mortgage insurance) buster proved such a hit that people quickly began to ask for the added features introduced this week. “So, we decided to turn on for rates and terms as well,” he said, noting the demand accelerated the feature that was planned for launch right before or after the new year.
“We’ve had so many people using the program and asking about it,” Ishbia said. “It’s creating such a buzz because mortgage brokers are the only ones who have it. It’s creating a lot of buzz from loan officers that aren’t our brokers saying ‘how do you guys have this product? Where’s it from? Can we have access to it?’ And the answer is ‘you gotta be a mortgage broker signed up with UWM’.”
The popularity of the product is rooted in consumers’ aversion to mortgage insurance when putting down less than a 20% down payment on a home, Ishbia explained.
“It’s a differentiator,” he said. “So, for people buying homes it’s always been kind of a tough thing to tell them you have to pay mortgage insurance when you’re putting down less than 20%, and people don’t like that. So, the opportunity to put down 10.01%, basically 10%, and not have mortgage insurance, is a really exciting thing for homeowners. It’s getting people off the fence to go buy a house. Also, on the refinancing side of it, people that already have mortgage insurance now can refinance without mortgage insurance - once again without having to have that 20% equity in their home.”
Soaring home values are sure to cool in the months ahead, Ishbia suggested, making the product even more ideal. “With housing values continuing to go up, it’s easier to get 20% equity on their home,” he said. “However, we don’t expect housing values to go up 18% every year. So, the reality of this program is that it will be a great program for 2022, 2023 and beyond. We’re excited about it.”
MI Buster is available for purchases and rate/term refinances for loans starting at $200,000 on primary or second homes, according to company literature. The product is the company’s latest advancement following Prime Jumbo ARMS, Appraisal Direct and BOLT.
