Can my lender request my home insurance be equal to the loan amout.?

Question

While in the proccess of re-financing my home the lender is requiring that the home insurance be equal to the loan amount instead of the value of the home. My insuance agent says that's illegal. The lender say this is a proper request. Whos right??

Answer 1

It is to your advantage, weather happens, fire happens, and every thing else that may happen that effect your ability to repay your loan

Answer 2

Yes, the lender can ask. Here goes how it works, if your house value is more than the loan amount, your insurance should be equal to the value of your house; if your house value is less than the loan amount (bad in many reasons probably you won't get a loan) you will need insurance to protect the lender in case of loss of the house.
So, your insurance should be at least enough to cover the cost of the loan.

see http://homeinsurance.nightbirdssolutions.com or http://homeinsurance.nightbirdssolutions.com/quotes.html, fill your info and you get a true price.












RE:
Can my lender request my home insurance be equal to the loan amout.?
While in the proccess of re-financing my home the lender is requiring that the home insurance be equal to the loan amount instead of the value of the home. My insuance agent says that's illegal. The lender say this is a proper request. Whos right??

Answer 3

Yes, the lender can ask. Here goes how it works, if your house value is more than the loan amount, your insurance should be equal to the value of your house; if your house value is less than the loan amount (bad in many reasons probably you won't get a loan) you will need insurance to protect the lender in case of loss of the house.
So, your insurance should be at least enough to cover the cost of the loan.

here you get a price in 10 minutes: http://homeinsurance.nightbirdssolutions.com or http://homeinsurance.nightbirdssolutions.com/quotes.html












RE:
Can my lender request my home insurance be equal to the loan amout.?
While in the proccess of re-financing my home the lender is requiring that the home insurance be equal to the loan amount instead of the value of the home. My insuance agent says that's illegal. The lender say this is a proper request. Whos right??

Answer 4

Yes, the lender can ask. Here goes how it works, if your house value is more than the loan amount, your insurance should be equal to the value of your house; if your house value is less than the loan amount (bad in many reasons probably you won't get a loan) you will need insurance to protect the lender in case of loss of the house.
So, your insurance should be at least enough to cover the cost of the loan.

here they get you a price in 5 minutes: http://homeinsurance.nightbirdssolutions.com or http://homeinsurance.nightbirdssolutions.com/quotes.html

RE:
Can my lender request my home insurance be equal to the loan amout.?
While in the proccess of re-financing my home the lender is requiring that the home insurance be equal to the loan amount instead of the value of the home. My insuance agent says that's illegal. The l...

Answer 5

There's nothing stopping you from insuring your home for 110% of it's replacement cost, or even 150% or 200%. However if there's a claim the insurer, as per the insuring agreement, is responsible for the amount of the loss, minus your deductible (if applicable), subject to the limit of your policy and your percentage financial interest in the object insured, that is it. If it will cost $100 000 to rebuild your house, and you insure your home for $150 000 because that is the amount of your mortgage, if the house were to burn down to the ground, and you choose not to rebuild, the insurer is responsible for the actual cash value of the house ($100 000 - easiest to use replacement cost) on the date of the incident, minus the deductible. If you or the mortgagee wish to claim the $150 000, the two of you will have to prove that the house would have cost $150 000 to replace. Since the mortgagee has over a 100% financial interest in the property insured (meaning the policyholder would have 0%), they would get the entire $100 000 minus the deductible, however they would not get $150 000, and if your lender thinks they will they obviously do not know how insurance works. This is just focusing on the building, the contents and aditional living expenses (if covered) would not be included in the above since the mortgagee has no financial interest in them.
It is unethical for an insurance broker/agent to sell more insurance than is necessary (a broker/agent can be reprimanded or lose their licence for doing so), so this may be a reason why your agent is a little upset for being put in this situation (life insurance is different). However the rule exists to prevent agents from selling more than what the client needs in order to gain more comission. IMHO there would be no ethical conflict since the insured, knowing full well all that I have explained here, still wishes to purchase a higher limit.

Answer 6

Your home insurance should reflect the replacement cost (less foundation and land) of the home. If your lender is a federal bank they can not require more than the replacment cost. However is some States, State chartered banks do not have this rule. In most cases the loan will be more than the replacment cost since a significant amont of the value is in the land, as previously mentioned. Regardless of the limit the most the insurance company will pay is the replacment cost so over insuring is just a waste of money.

Answer 7

Yes they can request it but whether it is legal is up to your state laws. In Minnesota there are a lot of $500,000 old mobilehomes sitting on lake lots!! Minnesota changed the laws to state that a lender can not require more than the replacement cost of the house because the land is so valuable. Unfortunately, the lenders are getting around this by denying the loans!!

Check with your state and see if there are laws against this.

Answer 8

Depending upon the FHA limits in your area your loan should go FHA easily if you have a 2 year employment history and your non traditional credit is OK. Wells Fargo has a program that does not require credit scores and also the FNMA MyCommuntiy allows for that as well. Sounds like to me your debt to income ratio is off. If all of your bills, including your new house payment and taxes and insurance is over 45%, that maybe where the problem is. A solution is to put less down an pay off any bills you have with the money you were going to use to put down. What was the reason for the turn down?

Answer 9

Your insurance should atleast be enough to cover the cost of the loan. If your home is worth more than the amount of the loan, you insurance should be for the value of the home. If your loan value is greater than the value of the home (which is bad for many reasons) you would need insurance to protect the lender in the case of loss of the home.

Answer 10

You only need to insure your home to the replacement cost - your lender should accept coverage equaling the appraised value of your home EXCLUDING LAND - remember, when you are insuring your home you aren't insuring the land. So your insurance amount is typically your loan minus your land value, unless you got a great deal on your purchase price and your home is worth more. You can't be required to overinsure your home.

Answer 11

Your lender is going by the "instruction manual" that he has. The insurance guy is probably right, however, that doesn't matter ONE BIT if you can't get the mortgage company to agree with it.

You need to talk to the lending supervisor - they SHOULD accept a policy covering the house, at 100% the cost to rebuild. It's stupid for them to require you to insure the value of the land, as it can't burn down, and can't be stolen. ;

You might want to ask your agent to call the lender, to have HIM negotiate this deal - that's part of their job!!