Mortgage
insurance.
What PMI costs and how it comes off

It's insurance on a conventional loan that protects the lender if you stop paying. You may need to buy it if you put down less than 20%. It doesn't protect you.

Freddie Mac estimates about $30 to $70 a month for every $100,000 you borrow. Your cost depends on your down payment and credit score. You can pay monthly, pay one upfront premium at closing, or do both.

Send your servicer a written request when your balance reaches 80% of the home's original value, on schedule or sooner with extra payments. Original value is usually the lower of your purchase price or the appraised value when you bought. You need a good payment history and must be current. Your servicer can ask you to show that the value hasn't dropped and that there's no second loan on the home.

Your servicer must end it on the date your balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the original value, if you're current. Your original payment schedule sets that date. Extra payments don't change it. If you still have PMI at the midpoint of your loan term, it ends then, as long as you're current. These federal rules cover borrower-paid PMI on single-family primary homes financed since July 29, 1999.

Sometimes. It depends on your loan investor's rules. For a Fannie Mae loan on a one-unit primary or second home, your loan must be at least 2 years old. Your balance must be 75% or less of the current value if the loan is 2 to 5 years old, or 80% or less after 5 years. Substantial improvements that add value can qualify at 80% without the 2-year wait. Ask your servicer how it handles these requests.

No. With less than 10% down, FHA's annual premium lasts for the life of the loan. With 10% or more down, it ends after 11 years. If you refinance into a conventional loan, it ends. That loan may need PMI if your equity is under 20%.

You have options, each with a trade-off. Lender-paid mortgage insurance usually means a higher rate, and you can't cancel it. It ends only when you refinance or pay off the loan. A piggyback second loan can keep your first loan at 80%, but the second usually has a higher, often adjustable rate. The 40-year interest-only loan I offer has no mortgage insurance with as little as 15% down.

It wasn't for 2025, according to IRS Publication 936. A 2025 federal law treats qualified mortgage insurance premiums as deductible mortgage interest again for tax years starting in 2026, if you itemize. The phase-out begins above $100,000 of adjusted gross income. Ask a tax advisor about your return.