Mortgage Insurance Cost Calculator

This mortgage insurance calculator is a free tool that estimates monthly PMI on a conventional loan or MIP on an FHA loan from your loan size, loan-to-value and credit score, using 2026 rate cards. It shows the monthly cost, the total you pay before the insurance drops off, and what a higher credit score would save.

PMI vs MIP — Key Differences in 2026

PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) is for conventional loans with less than 20% down. It's provided by private insurers (MGIC, Radian, Genworth, etc.) and removes automatically when LTV reaches 78%, or by borrower request at 80%. PMI rates depend on credit score and LTV — better credit gets you much cheaper PMI.

MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium) is FHA's version. It has two parts: 1.75% upfront (paid at closing or rolled into the loan) plus 0.50-0.55% annually. The catch: with less than 10% down, FHA MIP cannot be removed for the life of the loan — you must refinance to conventional to get rid of it. Source: HUD Mortgagee Letter 2024-23, MGIC rate cards. Last updated: May 2026.

2026 Conventional PMI Rate Table

These are typical 2026 BPMI (Borrower-Paid Monthly Insurance) rates. Single-premium PMI (paid upfront) and lender-paid PMI (LPMI, baked into rate) offer alternatives.

How to Eliminate PMI Faster

Conventional PMI auto-cancels when amortization reaches 78% LTV (federal Homeowners Protection Act of 1998). You can request manual cancellation at 80% LTV — but the lender will require an appraisal at your cost ($400-$600). If home values have risen significantly in your area, an appraisal can put you below 80% well before scheduled — saving years of PMI payments. Source: 12 CFR §1024.

Cancelling PMI Early on a Rising Home Value

The Homeowners Protection Act only guarantees cancellation against your original value: automatic termination at 78% LTV, and a right to request it at 80%. But if prices in your area have risen, the loan investor's own guidelines usually let you cancel far sooner using a current appraised value — and this is the route almost nobody asks about.

• Owned 2–5 years: typically you need to be at 75% LTV or lower on a new appraisal.
• Owned more than 5 years: the threshold usually relaxes to 80% LTV.
• Substantial improvements — an addition, a finished basement, a gut renovation — can qualify you for a value-based cancellation earlier than either timeline, because they raise value independently of the market.

The process: call the servicer, ask for their PMI cancellation requirements in writing, then order the appraisal they specify (usually $400–$600, ordered through their vendor — an appraisal you commission yourself is normally rejected). You must be current on payments, have no second lien, and in most cases have a clean 12–24 month payment history. On a $350,000 loan paying 0.62% PMI, dropping it a year early saves about $2,170 — roughly four times the appraisal fee. Cancellation rights are set out by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Single-Premium PMI vs Monthly

Single-premium PMI is paid upfront in a lump sum (typically 1.5-3% of loan amount) and eliminates monthly PMI for the life of the loan. The math: on a $300,000 loan, monthly PMI at 0.50% costs $1,500/year. Single-premium would cost about $5,400 once. Break-even is 3.6 years. If you'll keep the loan past 4 years (which most borrowers do), single-premium wins — and from tax year 2026 the premium is again deductible as qualified residence interest if you itemise — see the section below before relying on that.

Is Mortgage Insurance Tax Deductible in 2026?

Yes — and this changed recently enough that most pages still get it wrong. The mortgage insurance premium deduction lapsed after tax year 2021 and stayed dead through 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Section 70108 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21, signed 4 July 2025) restored it and made it permanent, treating qualified mortgage insurance premiums as deductible qualified residence interest for tax years beginning after 31 December 2025. In practice: premiums you pay during 2026 are deductible on the 2026 return you file in 2027.

Three conditions still apply. You must itemise — the deduction is worth nothing if you take the standard deduction, which is where most borrowers land. The insurance must be on acquisition indebtedness for a qualified residence. And an income phase-out applies at higher adjusted gross incomes, so high earners get a reduced deduction or none. It covers conventional PMI, FHA MIP, VA funding fees and USDA guarantee fees alike. Check the current-year rules and the phase-out threshold in IRS Publication 936 before counting it in your break-even maths, and treat the single-premium comparison above as a pre-tax figure.

Loans With No Mortgage Insurance: VA and USDA

Two loan types sidestep monthly mortgage insurance entirely, and the calculator above will overstate your cost if you assume conventional or FHA terms apply. A VA loan carries no monthly mortgage insurance at any loan-to-value, including 100% financing; instead there is a one-time funding fee that varies with down payment, first-versus-subsequent use, and service category, and it is waived outright for veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability. A USDA guaranteed loan does charge an annual fee, but it is materially lower than FHA MIP and, unlike FHA with under 10% down, the loan is eligible for refinancing out.

There is also lender-paid PMI (LPMI), which deserves a warning rather than a recommendation. The insurer is paid by the lender out of a permanently higher interest rate, so your monthly payment looks cleaner with no PMI line item — but that rate premium never falls off. Conventional borrower-paid PMI terminates automatically at 78% LTV under the Homeowners Protection Act; LPMI does not terminate at any equity level, and the only exit is a full refinance. Over a 30-year hold, LPMI usually costs more than the BPMI it replaced.