Finger pointing is a hobby few admit but many enjoy. The current mortgage mess-debacle-scandal-crisis is no exception. I've previously listed culprits by the yard. But today I changed my mind.

I have decided the mortgage lenders, and no one else, are fully and completely to blame for all the unpaid mortgages, unsaleable homes and collapse of lending institutions. What should have been the largest insurance collapse of all time has, instead, become a real estate nightmare.

Lenders are required, by law, to make you, the buyer, pay for mortgage insurance if you're deemed a risky buyer–and by risky I mean not making a down payment on the home of at least 20%. A $225,000 home, near today's median U.S. price, should require a $50,000 down payment. That's a lot of money.

The other day I had a conversation with a person who was surprised when I suggested it might take 10 years to save to buy a house. She thought 2-3 years should be adequate. And it could be, if you want to tack a couple hundred a month onto the mortgage payment–for private mortgage insurance–because you haven't saved 20% down.

If a young family is able to set aside $200 a month for a home of their own, they'll save $50,000 in about 20 years–14 years if it's in a good compounding account at around 5%. (To achieve that in three years, you'll have to save $1284.00 a month. Even with a 10% return, you'll need to invest $1186 a month to save $50,000 in three years.)

To woo borrowers, lenders suggested 100% financing–the good old 80/20: 80% is a first mortgage, and 20% is a second mortgage. The buyer pays on two loans at once and voila, private mortgage insurance is avoided. Or 80/15/5–a first and second mortgage, plus you scraped up a 5% down payment.

Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade says this is a no-no:

PMI hits every first trust deed above 80% of the value of the property. Period. It's in the federal banking regulations. Some lenders will hide it in the note rate, but you're still paying it if you're in this situation.

I was working on an article this morning to advise homebuyers who do have private mortgage insurance how to get rid of it when the time is right. That's when I realized 147 major lenders might not have gone out of business if their borrowers were all paying for mortgage insurance. (There's a lot more to the insurance thing. Read Dan Melson's whole blog about rate increases.)

Write to me if you need to know more to get rid of your PMI. I'll email you a free report.