How Long Do You Have to Pay Private Mortgage Insurance?

On a conventional loan, how long you have to pay private mortgage insurance depends on which of three federal off-ramps you hit first: you can request cancellation once your balance reaches 80% of the home’s original value, your servicer must cancel automatically at 78%, and PMI has to end no later than the midpoint of your loan term. For a typical 30-year loan with a small down payment, the automatic cancellation usually lands somewhere around year 10 to 12. Bigger down payments, extra principal payments, or a strong appraisal can pull that date in significantly.

The Three Federal Off-Ramps

The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 stops lenders from charging PMI indefinitely on a conventional mortgage secured by a single-family primary residence.¹ The law builds in three separate points where PMI comes off:

At 80% loan-to-value, you can request cancellation in writing.
At 78% loan-to-value, your servicer must cancel automatically.
At the midpoint of your loan term, PMI ends no matter what your balance is.

Which one matters most for you depends on how actively you want to pursue removal and how your home’s value has moved since closing.

Requesting Cancellation at 80% LTV

The earliest you can move is when your loan balance drops to 80% of the home’s original value. At that point you have the right to send your servicer a written request to cancel PMI.¹ “Original value” means the purchase price or the appraised value at closing, whichever is lower. Neighborhood price appreciation does not count toward this threshold unless you take the appraisal route described below.

The written request is only the trigger. You also have to meet these conditions:

No mortgage payment 30 or more days late in the past 12 months, and no payment 60 or more days late in the 24 months before that.²
Your account is current at the time of the request.
Your lender can require evidence that the home is still worth at least what it was at closing.¹
You certify there is no second mortgage or HELOC on the property.³

If your servicer denies the request, they must tell you in writing and explain the reason. If an appraisal factored into the decision, you are entitled to see the results.⁴

Automatic Cancellation at 78% LTV

Even if you never write a letter, your servicer has to cancel PMI automatically once your balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the original value based on your amortization schedule.³ The phrase “scheduled to reach” is important. This date follows the original payment plan, not your actual balance, so extra payments do not move it up.

On a 30-year conventional loan with a small down payment, the amortization schedule typically reaches 78% somewhere around 10 to 12 years in, though the exact timing swings with your interest rate. Larger down payments and shorter loan terms get you there sooner. Your servicer tracks the date and cancels without any action from you. One catch: you have to be current on payments. If you are behind, the clock pauses until you catch up.¹

The Midpoint Backstop

This is the safety net most borrowers never hear about. PMI can never be required past the halfway point of your loan’s amortization period, even if your balance has not reached 78% of the original value.³ For a 30-year mortgage, that is year 15. For a 15-year loan, it is the 7.5-year mark. The only requirement is being current on payments when that date arrives.¹

Getting PMI Off Sooner

If a decade sounds like a long time to pay for insurance that protects the lender, there are two ways to shorten the timeline: pay down principal faster, or use a new appraisal to reset the equity math.

Extra Principal Payments

Every dollar you put toward principal moves you closer to the 80% threshold where you can request cancellation. Because that milestone is measured against your home’s original value, you can calculate exactly how much you need to pay down. On a $400,000 purchase, the loan balance has to fall to $320,000 to hit 80%.

Worth knowing: extra payments only speed up the borrower-requested cancellation at 80%. They do not move the automatic 78% termination date, which is locked to the original amortization schedule. If you want credit for prepaying, you have to actively request cancellation rather than wait for the automatic trigger.

Appraisal-Based Removal

If your home has gained value since you bought it, you may be able to cancel PMI based on the current appraised value instead of the original purchase price. This path has stricter rules, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each set their own on top of the federal minimum.

Fannie Mae’s guidelines, which govern most conventional loans, use different equity thresholds depending on how long you have had the loan:⁵

Two to five years of loan seasoning: current LTV of 75% or less on a primary residence or second home.
More than five years of seasoning: 80% or less.
Home improvements that drove the equity gain: Fannie Mae may waive the two-year seasoning requirement, but you still need 80% or less LTV.
Investment properties and multi-unit homes: 70% or less, with at least two years of seasoning.

You pay for the appraisal yourself. Appraisal fees for a single-family home usually run from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars depending on location and complexity. Run the numbers before ordering one: the fee is worth it only if the monthly PMI savings clearly beat the cost. The same payment-history standard applies here as for 80% cancellation: no 30-day lates in the past year, no 60-day lates in the past two.⁵

If Your Loan Was Classified as High-Risk

The Homeowners Protection Act carves out an exception for loans classified as high-risk at origination, with the definition set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for conforming loans. For those loans, the 80% borrower-requested cancellation and the 78% automatic termination do not apply. Your lender may require PMI to stay until a lower threshold or for a set number of years depending on the investor guidelines. For non-conforming high-risk mortgages, the statute sets termination at 77% of the original property value based on the amortization schedule.¹

The midpoint rule still applies. Even on a high-risk loan, PMI has to end at the halfway mark of the loan term if you are current on payments. Your lender is required to tell you at closing whether your loan falls under the high-risk exception and what different rules apply.⁶

FHA Loans Do Not Follow These Rules

Everything above applies to conventional loans. If you have an FHA loan, the Homeowners Protection Act does not govern your mortgage insurance premium, and the rules are considerably less generous. For FHA loans originated after June 3, 2013:

Less than 10% down: MIP stays for the life of the loan. The only way out is refinancing into a conventional loan.
10% or more down: MIP drops off after 11 years.

FHA borrowers who hear about the 80% and 78% PMI rules often assume they apply. They do not. Put down 3.5% on an FHA loan and you will pay MIP for 30 years unless you refinance.

Lender-Paid PMI Cannot Be Canceled

Some borrowers choose lender-paid mortgage insurance, where the lender covers the PMI cost in exchange for a higher interest rate. There is no separate monthly PMI charge, but the trade-off is that lender-paid PMI stays for the life of the loan. Because the cost is built into your interest rate rather than billed as a premium, there is nothing to cancel. Refinancing is the only exit, and that comes with its own closing costs and qualification hurdles.

What PMI Is Costing You in the Meantime

PMI typically runs between about 0.5% and 1.5% of the original loan amount per year, added to your monthly mortgage payment. On a $350,000 loan, that is roughly $145 to $440 a month. Credit score, down payment size, and the insurer your lender uses all move the number. Stronger credit profiles land closer to the low end.

Those payments add up. A borrower paying $250 per month who removes PMI two years early saves $6,000. That is why tracking your loan balance, watching home values in your area, and submitting the cancellation request the moment you qualify usually beats waiting for automatic termination.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 US Code 4902 – Termination of Private Mortgage Insurance
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 US Code Chapter 49 – Homeowners Protection
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. When Can I Remove Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) From My Loan
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Homeowners Protection Act (HPA) PMI Cancellation Procedures
5
Fannie Mae. Termination of Conventional Mortgage Insurance
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 US Code 4903 – Disclosure Requirements