With under 20% down, conventional loans add private mortgage insurance. See the monthly cost and how many years until you reach 20% equity and it falls away.
How this is calculated Embed on your siteUpdated October 2026
Private mortgage insurance, or PMI, is a monthly charge most lenders add to a conventional mortgage when you put down less than 20%. It protects the lender, not you, if you stop paying. This calculator estimates what PMI will cost each month, when you can ask to cancel it, and when it ends on its own. With the defaults, a $350,000 home with 10% down and a 0.5% PMI rate costs about $131 a month in PMI. You can request cancellation after about 7 years 11 months, and it drops off automatically around month 109.
PMI is quoted as a yearly percentage of the loan amount, then split into monthly payments. Rates commonly fall somewhere between about 0.3% and 1.5% a year. Two things drive yours more than anything else:
The 0.5% default is a placeholder. Ask your lender for an actual quote and enter it, since the difference between 0.3% and 1% on a $315,000 loan is more than $150 a month.
Under the federal Homeowners Protection Act, PMI on a conventional loan has two exit points, both based on the original purchase price:
With a 30-year loan at 6.5%, here is how long that takes from scheduled payments alone:
| Down payment | Can request removal | Ends automatically |
|---|---|---|
| 3% | month 133 (about 11 years) | month 144 |
| 5% | month 124 (about 10 years) | month 135 |
| 10% | month 95 (about 8 years) | month 109 |
| 15% | month 56 (about 4½ years) | month 75 |
Early in a 30-year loan most of each payment goes to interest, which is why reaching 80% takes so long with a small down payment.
Often, yes. Waiting years to save a full 20% can cost more than PMI if home prices or rents rise in the meantime. In the default example, total PMI comes to about $12,500 over eight years. If waiting to save another $35,000 would take several years of paying rent, buying sooner with PMI can still come out ahead. Run both paths through the rent vs buy calculator to compare.
PMI applies to conventional loans. FHA loans charge their own mortgage insurance premium (MIP), with an upfront fee and an annual charge, and with less than 10% down it typically lasts for the life of the loan unless you refinance. The FHA loan calculator includes MIP. VA loans have no monthly mortgage insurance, only a one-time funding fee; see the VA loan calculator.
It is a yearly percentage of the loan split into monthly payments. At 0.5% on a $315,000 loan, that is about $131 a month. Your rate depends mainly on your down payment and credit score.
You can ask to cancel it once your loan balance reaches 80% of the original home price, and it must end automatically at 78% based on your scheduled payments.
Often yes. Many lenders will remove PMI based on a new appraisal once your loan is about 75% to 80% of the current value, usually after you have had the loan for two to five years.
Starting with the 2026 tax year, yes, for some homeowners. The 2025 tax law made mortgage insurance premiums deductible again as mortgage interest, but only if you itemize, and the deduction phases out between $100,000 and $110,000 of adjusted gross income. Most buyers take the standard deduction and get no benefit.
On a conventional loan, yes. Some lenders offer lender-paid PMI built into a higher rate, and VA loans have no monthly mortgage insurance at all.
PMI cancellation and termination rules come from the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 as described by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The 2026 deduction comes from Section 70108 of Public Law 119-21. Formula is on our methodology page.