To find out if you have PMI on your mortgage, check two documents: the Projected Payments table on the first page of your Closing Disclosure, and the escrow breakdown on your most recent monthly statement. If either shows a line labeled “Mortgage Insurance,” “PMI,” or “MI” with a dollar amount, private mortgage insurance is part of your payment. PMI is generally required on conventional loans when the down payment is less than 20 percent, and it typically costs between 0.46 and 1.50 percent of the loan amount per year.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Private Mortgage Insurance
Start With Your Closing Disclosure
The Closing Disclosure is the most authoritative document because it reflects the final terms you signed. Federal rules require lenders to give every borrower this standardized form before closing, along with an earlier Loan Estimate. Both contain a “Projected Payments” table on the first page with a dedicated row for “Mortgage Insurance.”2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Guide to the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure Forms A dollar amount in that row means your loan was written with PMI attached.
If the Projected Payments table shows several columns covering different periods of the loan, look at whether the mortgage insurance amount drops to zero in a later column. That’s the date the lender projected PMI would end based on your original amortization schedule. Can’t find your closing paperwork? Your servicer is required to send you copies on request.
Read Your Monthly Mortgage Statement
Your monthly statement tells you where PMI stands right now, not just at closing. Federal regulations require servicers to send a periodic statement each billing cycle and to itemize the components of your payment.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1026 Regulation Z – 1026.41 Periodic Statements for Residential Mortgage Loans Find the escrow section, which lists the taxes and insurance the servicer pays on your behalf. A line labeled “Mortgage Insurance,” “PMI,” or “MI” confirms you’re still paying it.
If the escrow breakdown lists only property taxes and homeowners insurance, one of three things is happening: you don’t have borrower-paid PMI, it was already canceled, or you have one of the less obvious types described in the next section. Most servicers show the same breakdown, often with more detail, in their online portal.
When PMI Won’t Show Up as a Line Item
Two arrangements can hide mortgage insurance from your statement entirely. If your down payment was under 20 percent and you still don’t see a PMI line, one of these is likely the reason.
Lender-Paid Mortgage Insurance
With lender-paid mortgage insurance (LPMI), the lender pays the insurance premium and charges you a higher interest rate in exchange. There’s no separate PMI charge on your statement because there isn’t one to charge. The cost is built into every interest payment for the life of the loan. Federal law required your lender to disclose this arrangement in writing no later than the loan commitment date, along with notice that LPMI usually results in a higher interest rate and cannot be canceled the way borrower-paid PMI can.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 4905 – Disclosure Requirements for Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance If you put down less than 20 percent, see no PMI on your statement, and remember your rate being slightly higher than the market at the time, check your original loan commitment letter for an LPMI disclosure.
The standard cancellation rules under the Homeowners Protection Act do not apply to LPMI.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 4905 – Disclosure Requirements for Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance The only way to stop paying the embedded cost is to refinance or pay off the loan.
Single-Premium PMI
Some borrowers pay the entire PMI cost as a one-time lump sum at closing. That shows up on the Closing Disclosure as a closing cost, not as a recurring charge, so nothing appears on any monthly statement afterward. To confirm this applies to you, look through the closing costs section of your Closing Disclosure for a one-time mortgage insurance charge.
Call Your Servicer or Look for the Annual Notice
If your documents aren’t handy and you want a definitive answer, call your servicer using the customer service number on your most recent statement. Ask whether your loan currently carries mortgage insurance, what type it is, and when it’s scheduled to end. You can also request an amortization schedule with the projected PMI termination date.
You may not even need to call. Federal law requires your servicer to send an annual written statement explaining your right to cancel or terminate PMI, along with a phone number and address to reach them about it.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 4903 – Disclosure Requirements If those notices have been arriving, PMI is active on your loan. If your loan is several years old and you’ve never received one, that points to either no borrower-paid PMI or LPMI, which doesn’t trigger the same annual notice.
Check Your Loan-to-Value Ratio
Simple math can tell you whether PMI is even likely to still be attached. Divide your current loan balance by the original purchase price or appraised value (whichever was lower at purchase). Multiply by 100. Above 80 percent, and PMI is almost certainly still there. Below 78 percent, the law probably already required your servicer to remove it automatically.
The Homeowners Protection Act sets two thresholds. You can request cancellation once your balance drops to 80 percent of the original value, provided you meet the eligibility requirements. Your servicer must automatically terminate PMI once the balance is scheduled to reach 78 percent of the original value, as long as you’re current on payments.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 4902 – Termination of Private Mortgage Insurance Both thresholds use the original value, not today’s market value. That distinction trips up many homeowners who assume rising home prices have already knocked PMI off their loan.
Appreciation can still shorten the timeline, but through a different process. Fannie Mae, for example, requires a property inspection and applies stricter LTV limits for younger loans: 75 percent or less for loans between two and five years old, and 80 percent or less for loans older than five years.7Fannie Mae. Termination of Conventional Mortgage Insurance You pay for the appraisal, which typically runs several hundred dollars.
FHA Loans Use MIP, Not PMI
If you have an FHA loan rather than a conventional mortgage, what you’re paying is a mortgage insurance premium (MIP), not PMI. The Homeowners Protection Act’s cancellation and automatic termination rules do not apply to FHA loans.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 4902 – Termination of Private Mortgage Insurance FHA borrowers pay an upfront premium of 1.75 percent of the loan amount, usually rolled into the balance, plus an annual premium of 0.55 percent for most loan types, paid monthly.
For FHA loans with terms longer than 15 years, MIP lasts the entire life of the loan if you put down less than 10 percent. Put down 10 percent or more, and MIP drops off after 11 years. The only way to eliminate FHA mortgage insurance before those deadlines is to refinance into a conventional loan once you have enough equity. If you’re not sure which loan type you have, the first page of your Closing Disclosure identifies it, and your monthly statement or servicer portal will as well.