Mortgage insurance protects the investor or noteholder if the borrower defaults on the loan. It lowers the investor’s risk when funding a home loan.

In most cases, if you pay at least 20% down on your home, you’re not required to carry mortgage insurance.

• If you are required to carry mortgage insurance, removal of the insurance may occur when the equity in your home reaches a certain percentage.
  Note: Depending on the type of loan you have, your mortgage insurance may go by different names. It can be called Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) or Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP).

  What is mortgage insurance?

  

If you’re required to carry PMI, we’ll cancel it automatically on the date your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is scheduled to reach 78%.

Based on the original property value and the loan terms, we’ll project the date when your LTV will reach 78%, and we’ll plan to cancel your PMI on that date.

However, you can submit a request for early cancellation of PMI before the automatic termination date.

• Your property must reach at least 20% equity—or 80% LTV—to be eligible for an early cancellation.
• Also, other conditions may apply to early cancellation depending on the loan investor. Here are the main ones:
  
  • Your loan must be current.
  • In the last 12 months, you can’t have been more than 30 days late on any payment.
  • In the last 24 months, you can’t have been more than 60 days late on any payment.
  • If you have not reached an LTV of 80%, we may be able to order an official appraisal of your property to verify if the current value has reached the 20% equity requirement.
    Note: The appraisal needs to happen within 90 days of your PMI cancellation request, and you will be responsible for the appraisal cost.

To discuss your specific requirements for requesting PMI cancellation, please contact us.

The requirements to remove MIP are complex and depend upon multiple factors and scenarios which are too numerous to list here, but please contact us to review your options for cancelling MIP.