Your current ‘lender’ probably doesn’t own your loan, they just service it.
An old loan gets paid off and a refi is an entirely new loan that will be sold into a new mortgage backed security.
You usually do not get the best rate by staying with your current servicer and they cannot overlook any guidelines because of your current loan status.
It’s usually incorrect to think that you get any preferential treatment.
Qualifying is crazier than ever. If you can save .25% or more on a reasonable loan amount and it is at zero cost (or zero + a credit) there is no reason not to refi.
Realize that PMI is almost a complete waste of money and may not be tax deductible depending on your income.
If you can bring cash in to eliminate PMI it is a huge return on the investment.
If you don’t/can’t refi, at 78% of the original appraised value, PMI should be removed without a fight.
At 80% it can a bit tricky to get it removed.
*HLS
