PMI Calculator
Loans & MortgagesYour mortgage insurance cost and exit point.
Home, down payment & loan
Enter your home price to estimate PMI.
Advanced options
Enter your home price to estimate PMI.
How this is calculated
- 1Down payment = $0 × 0.0% = $0, so the loan is $0 — an LTV of 0.0%. At 80% or below, no PMI is charged.
Formulas & your numbers
| Metric | Formula | Your value |
|---|---|---|
| Loan-to-value | loan ÷ home price × 100 | 0.0% |
| Monthly PMI | loan × PMI rate ÷ 12 | $0 |
| Annual PMI | monthly PMI × 12 | $0 |
| Pay down to drop PMI | max(0, loan − 0.80 × price) | $0 |
| Total PMI | monthly PMI × months to 80% | $0 |
Your inputs
| Input | Meaning | Your value |
|---|---|---|
| Home price | Purchase price or appraised value | $0 |
| Down payment | Cash down as a share of the price | 0.0% · $0 |
| Mortgage rate | First-mortgage interest rate | 0.00% |
| Loan term | Repayment length of the loan | 0 yrs |
| Credit score | Estimates the PMI rate you'd be quoted | 0 |
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General model; U.S.-specific rules are identified on the relevant tool
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. A lender may use different compounding, day-count, eligibility, tax, insurance, escrow, fee, or rounding rules.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the home price and your down payment — anything under 20% triggers PMI.
- 02
Open Advanced to set your mortgage rate, term and credit score (or type a manual PMI rate).
- 03
Read your monthly PMI, the LTV it's based on, when it drops off, and how more down or FHA compares.
Formula
Monthly PMI = loan × annual PMI rate ÷ 12, where loan = home price − down payment. PMI applies while LTV (loan ÷ price) is above 80%. To remove it, the balance must fall to 80% of the original price, so the pay-down needed = max(0, loan − 0.80 × price). The rate itself rises with LTV and falls with your credit score.
Example
Put 10% down on a 400,000 home: a 40,000 down payment and a 360,000 loan, which is a 90% LTV. With a 740 credit score the estimated PMI rate is about 0.30% a year, so monthly PMI is 360,000 × 0.30% ÷ 12 ≈ 90 (about 1,080 a year). To reach 80% LTV you must pay the balance down to 320,000 — a 40,000 reduction — which on a 6.5%, 30-year loan happens around month 95 (just under 8 years), for roughly 8,550 of PMI before you request removal. Wait for automatic termination at 78% and you'd pay closer to 9,810.
Definitions
- PMI
- Private mortgage insurance — a premium on conventional loans with under 20% down. It protects the lender if you default; it does not protect you.
- LTV (loan-to-value)
- The loan divided by the home's value, as a percent. PMI is required while LTV is above 80%.
- Down payment
- Cash you put toward the price. A 20% down payment (80% LTV) avoids PMI on a conventional loan entirely.
- Borrower-requested cancellation
- Your right to ask, in writing, to drop PMI once the balance reaches 80% of the original value, with a good payment history.
- Automatic termination
- By law, the servicer must cancel PMI when the scheduled balance reaches 78% of the original value, or at the loan's midpoint — whichever comes first.
- FHA MIP
- FHA's mortgage insurance premium: 1.75% upfront plus a monthly premium that, with under 10% down, lasts the life of the loan.
Good to know
What private mortgage insurance really is
Private mortgage insurance, or PMI, is a policy that protects your lender — not you — if you stop paying and the home is sold for less than you owe. It exists because a small down payment leaves the lender exposed: if you put 5% down and the market dips 10%, a foreclosure sale would not cover the loan. PMI closes that gap, and the borrower pays for it. That single fact reframes the whole cost: PMI is not a benefit you are buying, it is the price of borrowing with little equity. The flip side is that it lets you buy years sooner than you could if you waited to save a full 20% down. Most borrowers pay PMI as a monthly premium bundled into the mortgage payment (called borrower-paid PMI, or BPMI), which is the case this calculator models. PMI is specific to conventional loans — those backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Government loans use their own programs: FHA loans carry MIP, VA loans charge a one-time funding fee, and USDA loans use a guarantee fee. The mechanics and, crucially, the rules for getting rid of them differ, which is why a like-for-like comparison matters before you choose a loan type.
When PMI kicks in — the 80% line
The trigger is your loan-to-value ratio (LTV): the loan amount divided by the home's value. Put 20% down and your loan is 80% of the price, an 80% LTV, and conventional lenders do not require PMI. Put less than 20% down and your LTV climbs above 80%, and PMI applies until you bring it back down. That is the entire test. A 400,000 home with 10% (40,000) down means a 360,000 loan and a 90% LTV — squarely in PMI territory. The same home with 3% down is a 97% LTV, the practical ceiling for most conventional loans and the most expensive PMI band. Because LTV is the lever, every dollar of down payment helps in two ways at once: it shrinks the loan you insure, and it lowers the rate the insurer charges. The down-payment comparison in this tool makes that visible — watch the monthly premium fall from 3% down to 15% down, then disappear entirely at 20%. If you are close to the line, finding a little more cash can be worth far more than its face value over the life of the loan.
How your monthly premium is calculated
The arithmetic is simple: monthly PMI equals your loan balance times the annual PMI rate, divided by 12. A 360,000 loan at a 0.30% annual rate is 360,000 × 0.003 = 1,080 a year, or about 90 a month. Lenders quote the premium against the original loan amount and hold it level, so the headline figure stays the same month to month even as your balance falls. What changes is how long you pay it. PMI is temporary by design — it comes off once you have built enough equity — so the number that really matters is the total: monthly premium times the number of months until removal. In the 400,000-home example, requesting cancellation at 80% LTV around year eight costs roughly 8,550 in total PMI; letting it run to automatic termination instead costs closer to 9,810. That difference is money you keep simply by acting at the right moment, which is why this calculator surfaces both the monthly cost and the removal timeline rather than a single number.
What sets your PMI rate
Two factors dominate: your LTV and your credit score. Higher LTV means a thinner equity cushion and a higher rate; a lower credit score signals more default risk and pushes the rate up further. The combination can swing the premium dramatically — a strong-credit borrower at 90% LTV might pay around 0.30% a year, while a weaker-credit borrower at 97% LTV could face well over 2%. On the same loan, that is the difference between a modest add-on and a payment-defining cost. This tool estimates your rate from an illustrative LTV-by-credit-score grid so you can see how the two interact, but several other factors fine-tune the real quote: the loan type (fixed versus adjustable), the term, whether it is a primary residence or an investment property, the number of borrowers, your debt-to-income ratio, and whether you buy reduced coverage. Because the insurer, not the lender, sets the price, two lenders can quote different PMI for the same profile. If you have a strong file, ask each lender to shop the mortgage insurers — and if your own rate looks high in this tool, raise the credit-score input to see how much a better score would save.
Your legal right to cancel: the Homeowners Protection Act
Federal law (the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998) gives you concrete, enforceable rights to shed PMI, and it sets three checkpoints. First, borrower-requested cancellation: once your balance is scheduled to reach 80% of the home's original value, you may submit a written request to cancel, provided you have a good payment history and the lender's conditions are met. Second, automatic termination: the servicer must cancel PMI on its own when the scheduled balance reaches 78% of the original value — no request required, as long as you are current. Third, a final backstop: if neither has happened, PMI must end the month after you reach the midpoint of the loan's amortization schedule (for a 30-year loan, after the 15-year mark), even if you are still above 78%. The key practical takeaway is that the 80% request and the 78% automatic point are based on the original value and your scheduled amortization — not on a fresh appraisal — so you can predict the dates from day one. They are exactly the dates this calculator computes. Do not leave money on the table by waiting for automatic termination: requesting at 80% can save you a year or more of premiums.
Removing PMI early when your home gains value
The HPA dates assume your home is worth what you paid. If it has appreciated, you may be able to cancel sooner — but this path runs through your loan investor's rules rather than the original schedule, and it requires a new appraisal you typically pay for. Under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, you can cancel based on current value once your LTV reaches 75% if the loan is two to five years old, or 80% if it is more than five years old. There is usually a two-year seasoning minimum, though that can be waived if the higher value comes from improvements you made. In a rising market the effect is powerful: in the worked example, 3% annual appreciation lets a new appraisal clear PMI around year four instead of year eight. The trade-off is the appraisal fee and the paperwork, so weigh the cost against the premiums you would save. Turn on the appreciation input in this tool to see whether — and roughly when — the appraisal route beats simply paying the loan down.
Conventional PMI versus FHA MIP
If your down payment is small, you are often choosing between a conventional loan with PMI and an FHA loan with MIP, and the difference is larger than the monthly number suggests. FHA charges an upfront premium of 1.75% of the loan (usually financed into the balance) plus an annual MIP, billed monthly, of about 0.50% to 0.55% on a typical 30-year loan. The decisive detail is duration: with less than 10% down, FHA MIP lasts the entire life of the loan — it never cancels at an equity threshold the way PMI does. Put 10% or more down on FHA and MIP drops after 11 years. Conventional PMI, by contrast, has no upfront charge and ends at 80% LTV, so for a borrower with decent credit it is frequently cheaper over time even when the monthly figure looks similar. FHA still wins for borrowers with lower credit scores, who would face steep PMI rates or might not qualify for conventional at all. The comparison panel in this tool runs both at your down payment so you can see the total insurance cost side by side — including FHA's upfront premium, which is easy to forget. (VA loans, for eligible veterans, skip monthly mortgage insurance entirely in exchange for a one-time funding fee.)
The flavors of PMI: BPMI, LPMI, single-premium and split
Borrower-paid monthly PMI (BPMI) is the default and the version this calculator models: a level monthly premium that you can cancel once you hit the equity thresholds. But there are alternatives, and each shifts the trade-off. Lender-paid PMI (LPMI) folds the insurance into a higher interest rate, so there is no separate PMI line — but because it is baked into the rate, it does not cancel at 80% LTV; you only escape it by refinancing. Single-premium PMI is paid once upfront (in cash or financed), which can lower the monthly payment but risks wasting money if you move or refinance early. Split-premium PMI blends a smaller upfront payment with a reduced monthly one. The right choice depends on how long you will keep the loan and how soon you expect to reach 20% equity: if you plan to pay down quickly or expect strong appreciation, cancelable BPMI usually wins; if you want the lowest possible payment and will hold the loan a long time, LPMI or a single premium can make sense. Always ask the lender to quote BPMI alongside any alternative so you can compare the lifetime cost, not just the monthly one.
Smart ways to avoid PMI altogether
The cleanest way to skip PMI is a 20% down payment, but that is not the only route. A piggyback structure — often called 80/10/10 — pairs an 80% first mortgage with a 10% second loan (a HELOC or fixed second) and a 10% down payment, keeping the first loan at 80% LTV so no PMI is charged; the catch is that the second loan usually carries a higher rate, so run the combined cost before assuming it is cheaper. Lender-paid PMI removes the separate premium by raising your rate, which can pay off if you will hold the loan only a few years. Some buyers use gift funds or down-payment-assistance programs to cross the 20% line. And if you are just short, even a modest increase in cash down can both eliminate PMI and lower your rate — the single highest-return use of an extra few thousand dollars in many purchases. Compare these against simply paying PMI for a few years and canceling at 80%: for many borrowers, accepting cancelable PMI and buying now beats waiting years to save a full 20% while prices and rents climb.
Is paying PMI actually worth it?
PMI gets a bad reputation as money down the drain, but the honest answer is: it depends on what waiting would cost you. The real comparison is not PMI versus nothing — it is buying now with PMI versus buying later with 20% down. If home prices and rents are rising faster than you can save, a few years of PMI can be far cheaper than the appreciation and rent you would pay while accumulating the larger down payment. PMI also has a natural exit: it is temporary, it cancels at a known equity point, and you can accelerate that with extra principal payments or a strong market. The case against it is strongest when your PMI rate is high (low credit score, very low down payment), when you might move before reaching 80% equity, or when stretching to buy leaves no financial cushion. Use the total-PMI figure and the removal timeline here as the decision inputs: if the lifetime cost is a small fraction of the equity you would build, PMI is usually a reasonable price for getting into the home sooner.
PMI and your taxes
For several years, homeowners could deduct mortgage insurance premiums as part of the mortgage-interest deduction, subject to income limits. That provision was always temporary, renewed by Congress year to year, and it expired after the 2021 tax year. As of the most recent filing seasons it is not available, so you should not count on a PMI deduction when budgeting unless lawmakers reinstate it — and even then it phased out at higher incomes and only helped taxpayers who itemized. Treat any tax benefit as a bonus to confirm with a tax professional, not a reason to prefer PMI. The financial case for or against PMI should stand on the premium itself and how quickly you can cancel it, which is what this tool is built to show.
A removal checklist and common mistakes
To get the most out of PMI, treat its removal as a task with a date, not a someday. Note your 80% LTV month from this calculator and put a reminder on it; when it arrives, send a written cancellation request and ask the servicer for its exact requirements. Keep your payments current in the run-up — a single late payment can reset the good-history clock. If your area is appreciating, get a value estimate before paying for a formal appraisal, then pursue the appraisal route only if it clears the 75% or 80% investor threshold sooner than your scheduled payments would. The most common mistakes are passive ones: waiting for automatic termination at 78% instead of requesting at 80% (and paying an extra year of premiums), forgetting that appreciation could have ended PMI early, or assuming a refinance is the only option when a free request would do. And if you chose LPMI or an FHA loan with under 10% down, remember there is no equity-based cancellation at all — your only exit is a refinance, so plan that into your timeline rather than expecting the premium to simply fall away.
Frequently asked questions
When is PMI required?
On a conventional loan, PMI applies when your loan-to-value is above 80% — a down payment under 20%. At 80% LTV or below it usually isn't required at all.
How much is PMI per month?
Monthly PMI = loan × annual PMI rate ÷ 12. The rate typically runs from about 0.2% to over 2% a year depending on your LTV and credit score. On a 360,000 loan at 0.30%, that's about 90 a month.
How do I get rid of PMI?
Four ways: request cancellation in writing once you reach 80% LTV; let it terminate automatically at 78%; refinance into a loan without PMI; or, if your home has appreciated, get a new appraisal so a higher value drops your LTV below the threshold.
What's the difference between the 80% and 78% LTV thresholds?
At 80% you can request cancellation (you have to ask, with a good payment record). At 78% the servicer must cancel it automatically — no request needed. There's also a backstop at the loan's midpoint.
Can a rising home value remove PMI early?
Yes. With a new appraisal, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow cancellation at 75% LTV if your loan is two to five years old, or 80% after five years. Appreciation can get you there years sooner than scheduled payments alone.
Is conventional PMI the same as FHA MIP?
No. FHA charges a 1.75% upfront premium plus monthly MIP, and with less than 10% down that MIP lasts the entire loan. Conventional PMI has no upfront charge and ends at 80% LTV, so it's often cheaper over time for strong-credit borrowers.
Does a bigger down payment lower PMI?
Yes — twice over. A lower LTV means a lower PMI rate, and reaching 20% down removes PMI from day one. The down-payment comparison in this tool shows the savings at 3%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%.
Is PMI tax-deductible?
The mortgage-insurance-premium deduction expired after the 2021 tax year and is not in effect for current returns unless Congress renews it. Treat any PMI deduction as unavailable until you confirm current law.
Is PMI the same as homeowners insurance?
No. PMI protects the lender against default; homeowners insurance protects your property against damage. They are separate, unrelated costs.