When PMI comes off: 80% and 78%
On most conventional loans, federal law lets you ask to cancel borrower-paid PMI at 80% of the original value and ends it at 78% even if you never ask.
Private mortgage insurance protects the lender when the loan is large relative to the home’s value. The borrower pays the premium. The Homeowners Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. § 4902, sets two different endings for borrower-paid PMI on a loan the statute covers. One is a request you make. The other happens on the original schedule if you are current. FHA mortgage insurance is a different premium under a different rule. The PMI removal calculator finds the months. This page explains which date is which.
Original value, not today’s value
Both percentages use the original value: generally the lesser of the contract sales price and the appraised value at the time the loan was consummated. A later rise in the market value does not, by itself, move the 78 percent date. A later drop does not extend it either. The statute’s automatic date follows the amortization schedule from closing, not a new appraisal. A borrower who wants the insurance removed early because the home is worth more is asking for a different review, and the servicer can require an appraisal. That path is outside the automatic schedule this calculator draws.
The loan-to-value ratio at the start is the loan amount divided by that original value. PMI is the usual requirement when that ratio is above 80 percent, which is another way of saying the down payment was under 20 percent. A loan that starts at or below 80 percent is not in the calculator’s “PMI is charged” case.
80 percent: you have to ask
You may request cancellation on the date the principal balance is first scheduled to reach 80 percent of the original value, based on the initial amortization schedule. You can also request it earlier if extra payments have actually brought the balance to 80 percent. The request has to be in writing. The statute allows the servicer to require a good payment history and, when the request is based on the actual balance rather than the original schedule, evidence that the value has not declined. Cancellation on request is not the same event as the automatic end. If you never write, the 80 percent date can pass and the premium can continue.
78 percent: it ends without a request
The servicer must end borrower-paid PMI on the date the principal balance is first scheduled to reach 78 percent of the original value, again from the initial amortization schedule, if you are current. Extra payments do not move this date forward. The statute ties it to the schedule from closing, not to the balance you produced by paying ahead. Paying extra can get you to an 80 percent request sooner. It does not rewrite the 78 percent month.
If PMI is still in place at the midpoint of the amortization period, the statute requires a final termination then, provided you are current. On a 30-year loan the midpoint is around year 15. Loans that reach 78 percent on schedule get there first, so the midpoint is the backstop, not the ordinary date.
FHA is not this rule
FHA mortgage insurance is not private mortgage insurance, and the Homeowners Protection Act’s 78 percent cancellation is not the FHA rule. FHA’s annual premium lasts 11 years or the life of the loan, depending on the loan-to-value ratio when the loan starts and on the term. The FHA MIP calculator applies HUD’s table. A borrower who expects FHA insurance to fall off at 78 percent is applying the conventional statute to a program that does not use it.
Worked example
Original value $400,000. Loan $360,000 at 6% for 30 years. The premium in this example is $150 a month. The first payment is November 2026. All of the months come from the PMI calculator’s schedule.
- Starting loan-to-value ratio: $360,000 ÷ $400,000 = 90%. That is above 80 percent, so the loan is in the PMI case.
- 80 percent of the original value is $320,000. The scheduled balance reaches it at month 89 (year 8), which is March 2034 if payments start in November 2026. That is when a written cancellation request is available on the original schedule.
- 78 percent of the original value is $312,000, reached at month 103 (year 9), May 2035. If the loan is current, PMI ends then without a request. Premiums through that month are $15,450 at $150 a month.
- The midpoint termination is month 181 (year 16), November 2041. It is later than the 78 percent month, so on this loan the 78 percent date is the one that matters.
Add $200 of extra principal every month. The 80 percent balance arrives at month 62 (year 6), 2 years 3 months sooner, which is when a cancellation request based on the actual balance can go in. The automatic 78 percent month stays at month 103 (year 9), because that date follows the original schedule. The calculator’s result for the extra-payment case is a request date, not a new automatic date.
What the statute does not promise
Lender-paid mortgage insurance is outside the borrower-paid cancellation this page describes. Loans the Homeowners Protection Act does not cover, including many government-insured loans, follow their own programs. A servicer can require the loan to be current. A second mortgage or a decline in value can complicate a request that relies on a new appraisal. The calculator assumes one fixed-rate first lien and the original value you enter. Your note and the servicer’s cancellation letter are the documents for your loan.