Marc's Musings Reality from Marc's point of view!

As you may or may not know I refinanced my home recently. Even before the deal closed (you’ll recall it was delayed a few times) I began receiving solicitations for mortgage insurance.

To date I have received over 20 such solicitations. Heck, 2 more arrived just today.

I take issue, not so much with the idea of mortgage insurance itself – although if you are properly insured it really is not necessary – but rather the way that these solicitations present themselves.

Since I eventually just stopped opening the solicitations, many went straight to the recycling pile without further scrutiny, I cannot claim that those others were identical to EVERY ONE that I did open. But of those that I *did* take the time to read, they all presented themselves in such a manner as to try to make you think that this communication is from your bank and is somehow integrally involved in your mortgage dealings.

The one in front of me right now has a header that reads:

Urgent Notice – Complete and Return

And prominently in the portion that would normally contain a return address if it were a business letter it lists my lender as “SUNTRUST MTG INC.” in upper case and bolded.
It’s not until about halfway through the letter that they indicate the name of the actual insurer in normal font. And, except for the mice-type at the bottom where they list some additional riders and disclaimers they do not mention their name again.
They do not even mention the name of the insurer on the postage paid envelope. The address simply reads “Customer Service Department”.

I think it’s dirty pool, I’ve written about this before in reference to Budget Rent-a-car and others teaming up with Elite Excursions to trick folks into signing up for programs by sending folks checks with agreements printed on them in fine print.

I’m still gobsmacked at how many of these vultures come out of the woodwork to take advantage of an already terribly confusing process to prey on the unwary, the elderly and perhaps the just plain overwhelmed.

Shame on them all.

The following images I include as they are representative of what I have been receiving. I don’t mean to single out these companies any more than I would single out any of these other bottom feeders.

The only good thing I can say is that you at least you are not committed to actually paying premiums based on this solicitation.

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Posted under General, Opinions, Retail Experiences