Hi,
A couple of years ago a obtained a 50% refund on my $8,000 LMI from Westpac Bank.
I bought at a great price through a friends auntie, but the bank said that the sale price was the true market value.
So after I completed some minor reno's on the kitchen, plastered up the cracks and painted the whole house, I argued that due to the reno's AND my buying under market value, the house was now valued higher and therefore was now under the 85% LVR threshold (Westpac used to offer 85% with no LMI - now back to 80%).
I argued, argued and argued with the Westpac guy over emails, and he eventually wrote back and told me that he was "delighted to report that he is able to give me a 50% refund".
I only thought it was worthwhile trying to get a refund after reading about someone else doing the same in the API magazine.
A couple of hours saved me a few grand...