Your lender already knows the exact month your PMI will go away. It’s printed in your closing documents, buried in the amortization schedule: the payment where your balance hits 78% of your home’s original price. On a typical 30-year loan with 10% down at today’s rates, that’s almost ten years away, and about $15,700 of PMI later.
But that date is the latest PMI can last, not the earliest. Federal law gives you the right to ask for cancellation sooner, and two other routes can get you there years earlier: paying a little extra each month, or using your home’s rising value. This guide answers when does PMI go away on each route, with real numbers, and a calculator for your own loan.
Table of Contents
When Does PMI Go Away? Two Dates, Not One
On a conventional loan, PMI ends at the first of these three points:
- You ask, at 80%. When your loan balance reaches 80% of the home’s original value, you can request cancellation in writing.
- Automatically, at 78%. When the balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the original value, the lender must cancel PMI on its own, as long as you’re current on payments.
- At the halfway point. If neither has happened, PMI ends at the midpoint of the loan term: after payment 181 on a 30-year loan.
Those rules come from the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau summarizes them. On top of that, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac let servicers remove PMI based on your home’s current value, which is often the fastest route of all.
The Real Timeline on a Typical Loan
Take a $293,000 home bought with 10% down: a $263,700 loan at 7.28% for 30 years, with a principal and interest payment of $1,804 and PMI at 0.6% of the loan, or $132 a month. Here’s the answer to “when does PMI go away” on each route:
| Route | PMI ends at payment | Time | PMI you pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic (78%) | 119 | 9 years, 11 months | about $15,690 |
| Request on schedule (80%) | 104 | 8 years, 8 months | about $13,710 |
| Request with $100 extra a month | 77 | 6 years, 5 months | about $10,150 |
| Request with $200 extra a month | 61 | 5 years, 1 month | about $8,040 |
| New appraisal, home gains 3% a year | 54 | 4 years, 6 months | about $7,120 |
The difference between doing nothing and acting is about $5,500 to $8,600 on this loan. And because PMI is a cost that buys you nothing, every month it ends early is $132 back in your budget for good.
Rates matter too. At 6%, the same loan reaches 80% at payment 89 and 78% at payment 103, more than a year sooner, because more of each payment goes to principal. A smaller down payment pushes the date out: with 5% down, automatic cancellation doesn’t come until payment 145, more than 12 years in.
Three Ways to Get Rid of PMI Early
1. Pay Down to 80% With Extra Principal
The 80% request is based on your actual balance, so extra principal payments count. The 78% automatic date is not: it follows the original schedule, no matter how much extra you pay. That’s the single most misunderstood rule about PMI. If you prepay and wait for the automatic cancellation, you get no benefit; you have to ask.
On the example loan, $100 a month extra moves the 80% date from payment 104 to 77, saving about $3,560 compared with an on-schedule request and $5,540 compared with waiting for the automatic date. A biweekly payment plan, which adds the equivalent of one extra payment a year, gets there at payment 68, about five years and eight months in. The extra money isn’t lost either: it’s principal you’d owe anyway, and it cuts your interest.
2. Use Your Home’s Current Value
If prices in your area have risen, your loan may already be below 80% of what the home is worth today. Under Fannie Mae’s guidelines, a servicer can remove PMI based on a new valuation if the loan is at least two years old and the balance is no more than 75% of the current value (for loans two to five years old) or 80% (after five years). You’ll usually pay for an appraisal, often a few hundred dollars, and you need a clean payment record.
| Home value growth per year | Earliest appraisal removal |
|---|---|
| 2% | Payment 60 (5 years) |
| 3% | Payment 54 (4 years, 6 months) |
| 4% | Payment 44 (3 years, 8 months) |
| 5% | Payment 37 (3 years, 1 month) |
Remodeling counts too. If you’ve made substantial improvements, such as adding a bedroom or finishing a basement, Fannie Mae allows removal at 80% of the new value without the two-year wait. Check your own servicer’s rules first; Freddie Mac loans follow similar standards, and servicers can add their own requirements.
3. Refinance, Only If the Rate Makes Sense
A refinance with at least 20% equity drops PMI too, but closing costs often run thousands of dollars. With rates above 7% this fall, refinancing just to drop PMI rarely pays unless your current rate is higher than today’s.
PMI Removal Calculator
Enter the price you paid, your down payment and how many payments you’ve already made. The calculator shows when does PMI go away on all three routes and how much PMI each one saves.
Automatic cancellation follows the original amortization schedule, so extra payments don’t move it. A borrower request at 80% counts extra payments but is measured against the original value. The appraisal route uses Fannie Mae’s common standard: at least two years of payments, a loan at or under 75% of the current value if the loan is two to five years old, or 80% after five years; your servicer’s rules may differ, and you’ll usually pay for the appraisal. All routes require a good payment history. Conventional loans only; FHA mortgage insurance follows different rules. Estimates only. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
When Does PMI Go Away on an FHA Loan?
FHA loans don't have PMI. They have their own mortgage insurance premium (MIP), and the rules are much less forgiving. For FHA loans taken out since June 2013, MIP lasts 11 years if you put down at least 10%, and for the life of the loan if you put down less. The annual premium for most new FHA loans is 0.55% of the loan. The 78% and 80% rules don't apply. The only way out early is to refinance into a conventional loan once you have 20% equity.
That's a big reason to compare carefully before choosing FHA. If your credit score qualifies you for a conventional loan, conventional PMI usually ends years sooner. Our guide to the credit score you need to buy a house shows which loans each score opens up.
How to Request PMI Cancellation
Knowing the answer to "when does PMI go away" is half the job. The other half is asking, because only the automatic date happens without you:
- Find your dates. Your PMI disclosure from closing lists the 78% and 80% dates. Your servicer must also send an annual notice of your right to cancel.
- Call or log in to your servicer and ask for its PMI cancellation requirements, especially for removal based on current value.
- Make the request in writing. Include your loan number and the route you're using.
- Expect the conditions: a good payment history (typically no payment 30 days late in the past year and none 60 days late in the past two), no second mortgage or HELOC on the home, and sometimes proof the value hasn't dropped.
- Check your next statement. Once PMI is canceled, it should disappear from your monthly payment.
Why You Can't Do This in Australia or Korea
In Australia, mortgage insurance is paid once and never comes back. Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) applies when you borrow more than 80% of the price, but it's usually charged as a one-off premium at settlement, often added to the loan. There's nothing to cancel later: if your home's value doubles the next year, the LMI is already spent. American PMI is unusual in that it's a monthly cost you can get rid of.
Korea mostly avoids the problem by limiting the loan instead. Regulators cap the loan-to-value ratio, so buyers generally can't borrow 90% or 95% of the price in the first place. The trade-off is that Korean buyers need far more cash up front, while U.S. buyers can buy sooner and pay PMI for a while. If you're in the U.S., the advantage is only real if you take the steps to end PMI early.
Should You Avoid PMI by Waiting to Buy?
Not necessarily. Saving the extra 10% for a 20% down payment on a $293,000 home means about $29,300 more in cash, which can take years. If you can afford the payment with PMI and you have a plan to end it, buying sooner can make sense. Our $100K affordability guide shows how going from 10% to 20% down changes your budget, and the rent vs buy calculator compares buying now with renting while you save.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does PMI go away automatically?
On a conventional loan, PMI goes away automatically when your balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the home's original value, based on the original amortization schedule, as long as you're current on payments. If that hasn't happened by the midpoint of the loan term, it ends then. On a 30-year loan at 7.28% with 10% down, the 78% point is payment 119, almost 10 years in.
Can I get rid of PMI before I have 20% equity?
You can request cancellation once your balance reaches 80% of the original value, which is 20% equity based on the purchase price. With a new appraisal, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans can also qualify based on today's value, but the loan generally has to be at least two years old and at 75% of the current value or less until year five.
Do extra payments make PMI go away sooner?
Only if you ask. Extra principal payments bring your balance to 80% of the original value sooner, and you can then request cancellation in writing. The automatic 78% cancellation follows the original schedule, so extra payments don't move that date.
When does PMI go away on an FHA loan?
FHA loans have mortgage insurance premiums (MIP), not PMI. For FHA loans taken out since June 2013, MIP lasts 11 years with at least 10% down and for the life of the loan with less. The only way to end it sooner is to refinance into a conventional loan.
How much does PMI cost?
PMI usually costs roughly 0.3% to 1.5% of the loan amount per year, depending on your credit score and down payment. At 0.6%, PMI on a $263,700 loan is about $132 a month, or about $1,580 a year.
When does PMI go away? Later than it should for most people, because the automatic date is the one everyone waits for. Find your 80% date, check whether your home's value has grown, and put a reminder on your calendar to ask. On a typical loan, that one letter is worth several thousand dollars.
Related guides
Updated October 8, 2026. Written by Jun, who is not a licensed financial advisor. Examples assume a 30-year fixed loan at 7.28% (Freddie Mac average, October 1, 2026), PMI of 0.6% of the original loan per year and no change in the PMI rate. Your PMI rate, servicer rules and appraisal results will differ. Calculator results are estimates for planning only.
Sources: Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Fannie Mae, mortgage insurance removal guidelines · U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA mortgage insurance premiums · Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey
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