Well I have to say that GE Financial is probably amoung the most common one for people to work with. First off yes a pool is considered an "improvement" as it will increase the value of your home. Usually you can finance up to 125% with a second mortgage if it's for improvement type loan, hard to get this if you are going to pull cash our or consolidate debt.

What I would watch out for is interest rates. GE is pretty competitve but it can also be good to shop around, don't just get one rate quote. I would suggest going to a few other sources such as a local credit union or some other major loan companies such as Countrywide or eLoan.

Unfortuantely not much you can do about the PMI unless you refinance your entire first mortgage and the first is 80% or lower from the current appraisal price of your home.

Anyways thats just the info I have from my own experience.

Good luck,
Eric