Thread by @GabriellaCKelly

Went to pay mortgage, but the amount was weirdly less than usual. Called. For 9 years we paid an additional 131.93 per month for mortgage insurance, required because we had a HUD RISK-BASED loan. No longer have to pay it. So our monthly payment went down. #ExpensiveToBePoor #Hud

I never questioned it, because insurance on my biggest investment sounded like a good idea. I looked at my statements, I saw it, it gave me peace of mind. Oh good, if anything happens, I’m insured. Nope. That’s something different.

Banker I spoke to explained the insurance I had been paying, “not everyone has to pay this, usually it’s a condition of the loan” “Because I was a risky borrower?” “Well…I don’t know why, but the good news is you don’t have to pay it now!” “Oh…cool.” “You don’t sound excited…”

She was just the messenger, and my mind was still racing. She was really excited -more than me. She said something like, “I never get to tell people good news!” Aw. So I rallied and tried to sound excited too. But I was shook. I felt sick. After I got off the call I did the math.

$131.93 X 12 months = $1583.16
$1583.16 X 9 years = $14,248.44

I paid an extra $14K in insurance that never went towards my principal, interest or even would’ve helped if my house had burned down. The insurance was for the bank, in case I couldn’t pay, so THEY don’t lose money.

9 yrs ago, we’d been saving to buy a house, but we weren’t exactly ready. We’d been paying rent, but our landlord wasn’t paying their mortgage. Wasn’t until we got foreclosure n auction notices for the house we were renting that we tried. We were scared. We had little kids.

I suggested we “get denied for a home loan” to see how close we were. Was shocked we qualified. I thought it was a mistake. Kept waiting for them to tell us they made an error and we wouldn’t be able to move in. Even our 1st night, I waited for a knock on the door.

At the time I was so scared of our rental literally being auctioned off as we watched out the windows with our kids. I didn’t know the terminology then. I didn’t know the bank was betting against us. But I know now and I’m sad and I’m really REALLY angry.

It’s expensive to be poor. Even when you finally begin making a living wage, you’re still impacted by poverty. You have higher interest rates, there’s literally additional fees. Homeownership is a privilege, but it’s been a struggle. Heartbroken to know it was designed that way.