PMI Calculator

Almost every PMI calculator online tells you the monthly premium and stops. The premium is the easy part. The expensive part is how long you keep paying it — and that is governed by federal law, not by your lender's goodwill.

This calculator gives you three dates that most borrowers never learn:

• The request date — when you gain the legal right to ask for cancellation at 80% loan-to-value.
• The automatic date — when your servicer must cancel without you asking, at 78% LTV.
• The midpoint backstop — the date PMI ends regardless of LTV, halfway through the amortization period.

The gap between the first and second date is real money. On the default scenario here — a $400,000 home with $40,000 down — the difference between requesting cancellation and passively waiting is several thousand dollars, and nobody sends you a reminder.

This page covers conventional PMI only. FHA loans use a different product called MIP, with different rules and often no cancellation at all — use the FHA loan calculator for those.

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The premium formula is straightforward:

The detail that catches people out: PMI is charged on the original loan amount, not your current balance. Your premium does not shrink as you pay down the loan. It stays flat until the day it disappears entirely.

Worked example, matching this calculator's defaults:

• Home price $400,000, down payment $40,000 → loan of $360,000, or 90% LTV
• Credit band 740–759 → annual PMI rate of 0.60%
• $360,000 × 0.60% = $2,160 per year → $180 per month

Rate bands come from the Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center, which puts typical annual PMI between 0.46% and 1.50% of the original loan amount. Credit score is the single largest driver — the spread between the top and bottom band is more than triple.

This is an estimate for planning, not an insurance quote. Actual pricing is set by the insurer or, in promulgated-rate states, by the state regulator.

The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 (12 U.S.C. § 4902) gives you three separate protections. They are statutory rights, not lender policy:

Two things about this table matter more than the rest of the page.

First: extra principal payments move the request date, but not the automatic date. The statute ties automatic termination to the original amortization schedule. You can throw money at the loan and reach 78% actual LTV years early, and your servicer still is not obliged to act until the original schedule says so. Which means paying extra only helps if you also make the request.

Second: appreciation does nothing to either date. Both statutory triggers use the original property value. If your home has gained value, cancelling early is a separate, discretionary route — you ask the servicer, you pay for a new appraisal, and investor guidelines apply. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac typically want 75% LTV between two and five years of seasoning, or 80% after five years.

Conditions attach to the request: you must be current on payments, and there must be no second lien on the property.

1. Enter the home price and down payment. If your down payment is 20% or more, the calculator will tell you PMI does not apply at all.
2. Pick your rate source. Estimating from credit score uses the Urban Institute bands. If you have a Loan Estimate in front of you, switch to manual and enter the mortgage insurance line — that figure beats any estimate.
3. Add extra monthly principal if you plan to pay ahead. Watch the request date move while the automatic date stays put.
4. Note the request date and set a calendar reminder. This is the entire point of the page. Servicers are not required to remind you, and most borrowers simply never ask.

The chart shows your loan-to-value ratio falling over time, so you can see both thresholds approaching.