After the ink dries: Removing Private Mortgage Insurance - 2005-01-06
If you obtained a home loan with less than a 20 percent down payment, chances are your lender required you to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI) to cover their exposure in case you default.

Once your equity position in the home hits 20 percent, however, you will want to take steps to remove PMI from your mortgage (unless you have an FHA loan, which requires premium payments to the government for the life of the loan).
Read the full story at Bankrate.com

A cure for the mortgage-servicing blues - 2005-01-06
The "fun" starts after the mortgage loan is closed. A servicing file opens when the origination file closes, and the borrower embarks on a long, and at times aggravating, journey with a servicing agent he didn't select.

The servicing agent is the firm that takes in the mortgage payment, keeps the payment records, provides borrowers with account statements, imposes late charges when the payment is late, pursues delinquent borrowers and forecloses when they default.
Read the full story at Bankrate.com