How to Get Rid of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

1. Wait for Automatic Cancellation

Your lender is required by the federal Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 (also called the PMI Cancellation Act) to automatically cancel your private mortgage insurance in these two cases:

• When you reach 22% equity in your home. Your lender must cancel your PMI on the date you reach the milestone of having 22% equity in your home. You may also see this written as the scheduled date when the principal balance is 78% of the home's original value.
• When you're halfway through paying off your mortgage. Loan servicers must cancel your PMI the month after you're scheduled to be halfway through paying off the loan—15 years into a 30-year mortgage, for instance. The final termination occurs even if you don't have 22% equity. Generally, this would only happen if you took out an interest-only mortgage, a mortgage with a balloon payment or your mortgage was in forbearance.

Waiting for either of these automatic cancellation triggers to happen on their own may be a good option. But, if you're able to get rid of PMI sooner, you could save more money.

Tip: You must be current on your mortgage payments to qualify for automatic PMI cancellation through either of the options above.

2. Request Early PMI Cancellation

You can also ask your loan servicer to cancel your PMI once you have 20% equity based on the home's original value instead of waiting until you have 22%. The original value is the lesser of the home's original sale price or the appraised value at the time of the sale, or most-recent refinancing.

To qualify, you must have an acceptable payment history and can't currently be behind on your payments. You also might not be able to have a second mortgage—such as a home equity loan or line of credit. Additionally, the lender can require you to get an appraisal and may deny your request if the home's value has decreased since you bought it.

Learn more: Ways to Save Money on Your Mortgage

3. Make Extra Mortgage Payments

You might be able to accrue 20% equity in your home sooner than scheduled if you can afford to pay down your mortgage early. Some people do this by slowly building their savings and then making one large payment. But there's also the biweekly mortgage payment approach, which might align your payments with your paychecks and lead to making two extra payments each year.

Learn more: How to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early

4. Increase Your Home's Value and Get an Appraisal

As your home's value rises, the principal balance stays the same and your equity increases. If you've noticed rising prices in your area or have completed home improvement projects, you could have over 20% equity even if you haven't been making extra mortgage payments.

Contact your loan servicer if you think this may be the case. Lenders might be willing to cancel your PMI if you have 20% equity based on the home's current value. However, you may need to pay for a home appraisal first.

Learn more: How to Increase Your Home's Appraisal Value

5. Refinance Your Mortgage

Another option may be to refinance your mortgage. Whether you'll need to pay for PMI on the new loan will depend on your home's current value and the principal balance of the new mortgage.

You can likely get rid of PMI if your equity has increased to at least 20% and you don't use a cash-out refinance. Or, even if it hasn't, you may be able to avoid PMI with an 80-10-10 loan, also known as a piggyback loan. If you prepaid your entire PMI premium, you also might be able to get a refund for part of the premiums when you refinance.

Some lenders also offer PMI-free mortgages to borrowers who put less than 20% down. But these have lender-paid private mortgage insurance (LPMI), and the loans often have a higher interest rate.

Learn more: When Should You Refinance Your Mortgage?

Frequently Asked Questions

Check Your Credit and Be Prepared

Getting rid of PMI is one way to lower your monthly costs. And once it's gone, you may still be able to tap the equity in your home (without reinstating PMI) with a home equity loan or line of credit. Along with your income, current debts and the home's value, your credit history and scores can impact your options.

Check your Experian credit report for free, which comes with free credit monitoring that can alert you to unusual activity. You can also check and monitor your FICO^® Score^☉ based on your Experian credit report, which may help you estimate the interest rate you could get if you refinance or open a home equity loan or line of credit.