PMI removal calculator guide

The PMI calculator runs an amortization schedule on the inputs you provide and finds the first month where the remaining balance crosses 80% and 78% of the original home value. Those are the two thresholds at which conventional PMI is most commonly cancellable on request (80%) or required to terminate automatically (78%) under federal law.

The federal-law thresholds are based on original value — the lower of your purchase price or the appraisal at origination — not current market value. The calculator follows that convention by default. If your home has appreciated, many servicers will let you cancel earlier based on a new appraisal showing current LTV at or below 80%, sometimes 75% if you've owned the home less than 2–5 years. To model that case, lower the "home value" input to your current appraised value and re-run.

• Conventional loans follow the calculator's 80/78 framework.
• FHA loans use mortgage insurance premium (MIP), not PMI. MIP generally lasts the life of the loan unless you refinance into a conventional loan. Don't use the PMI calculator's milestones for an FHA loan.
• VA loans charge a one-time funding fee instead of monthly insurance.
• USDA loans follow USDA-specific annual-fee rules.

Extra principal payments lower your balance faster, which moves both the 80% and 78% milestones earlier. The calculator's extra-payment fields let you model this directly. As a rough guide, on a 30-year loan with a 95% start, even $100–$200/month often moves the auto-termination date forward by 1–2 years.

• Your servicer's exact policies (some require a clean payment history for the past 12–24 months).
• Whether a new appraisal will support the value you need for early cancellation.
• The effect of late payments or loan modifications on eligibility.
• Lender-paid PMI (LPMI), which doesn't cancel because it's baked into rate).