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What it calculates: Monthly PMI, Total PMI Paid, Months Until Removal, Annual PMI.
Updated 5 June 2026 · Transparent assumptions
$157.50 a month, and about 95 months before it can come off
A $350,000 purchase with 10% down leaves a $315,000 loan at 90% LTV. PMI at 0.6% of the loan is $1,890 a year, or $157.50 a month. Paying down at a 6.5% rate over 30 years, the balance reaches the level where PMI can be cancelled after roughly 95 months — just under eight years — by which point about $14,963 has been paid in premiums.
That total is the number worth holding onto. Nearly $15,000 buys no equity, no protection for you, and nothing recoverable. It is the price of buying eight years earlier than a 20% deposit would have allowed, which for many households is a trade genuinely worth making — but it should be made knowingly.
Two thresholds, and only one of them requires the lender to act
US rules distinguish two points. At 80% LTV based on the original value, a borrower may request cancellation in writing, usually subject to a good payment history. At 78% the servicer must cancel automatically. The difference is roughly a year of premiums on a typical loan, and it is entirely on the borrower to ask.
Appreciation can get you there sooner, but usually requires a new appraisal at your own cost and is at the lender\u2019s discretion. Extra principal payments reach the threshold faster and are within your control — putting the PMI premium itself toward principal each month accelerates its own removal.
A piggyback loan, a lender-paid premium, or simply a bigger deposit
A second loan covering part of the deposit — the classic 80/10/10 — avoids PMI by keeping the first mortgage at 80%, at the cost of a second loan usually at a higher rate. Lender-paid PMI folds the cost into a higher interest rate instead, which is not cheaper but is tax-treated differently and never cancels.
Each option trades a removable cost for a permanent one. PMI ends; a higher rate for the life of the loan does not. For a borrower expecting to reach 78% within a few years, ordinary PMI is usually the cheapest of the three, which is the opposite of how it is often presented.
One rate, a fixed schedule, and no change in value
PMI rates vary with credit score, LTV and loan type, typically from about 0.3% to 1.5% — a fivefold range that the single rate entered here cannot capture. The removal month assumes the scheduled amortisation with no extra payments and no change in property value.
Government-backed loans work differently again. FHA mortgage insurance has its own structure and, for most loans since 2013, lasts the life of the loan regardless of equity, which makes the calculation here inapplicable to them.
Sources & References
Figures on this page are checked against primary, authoritative sources. Links open in a new tab.
Results are estimates based on the figures you enter and standard formulas. Rates, fees, taxes, and lender terms vary and change over time, so confirm important numbers with your lender or a qualified professional. This is educational information, not financial advice.
Published the calculator with its formula, worked example, assumptions, limitations and a bespoke guide, and added an automated formula test suite covering it.
Verified that the removal month is where the amortising balance first reaches the cancellation threshold, and that total PMI paid reconciles to the monthly premium over those months.
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