PMI Removal Calculator
When your balance reaches 80% LTV, what PMI is costing you in the meantime, and how much sooner extra principal gets you there.
Usually 0.5% to 1.5% of the loan, set by your credit score and down payment.
Leave at zero to see the schedule you're on today.
When your balance reaches 80% of the original purchase price. Cancellation becomes automatic at 78%.
What you will hand the insurer before the balance reaches the threshold on its own.
These dates run off the original purchase price, which is what the law entitles you to. If the home has appreciated, your servicer may cancel earlier on current value — ask for their requirements in writing before paying for an appraisal.
The two thresholds that matter
Private mortgage insurance exists because you put down less than 20%, and it protects the lender, not you. The Homeowners Protection Act gives you two dates to work with, both measured against your original purchase price and the original payment schedule.
At 80% LTV you can request cancellation in writing. At 78% the servicer must cancel it automatically, whether you ask or not. The calculator shows when the schedule gets you there — on a typical 30-year loan with 10% down, that’s somewhere between year eight and year eleven.
The faster route the schedule doesn’t show
Those dates assume your home is still worth what you paid. If it has appreciated, your real LTV is already lower, and most servicers will cancel on current value — typically once the loan is at least two years old and an appraisal puts you under 80%, sometimes 75%.
That route costs $400 to $600 for the appraisal, so get the servicer’s requirements in writing before you order one. Paying for a valuation and then discovering you don’t meet their minimum loan age is a common and avoidable waste.
Why extra principal pays off here specifically
In the early years of a mortgage almost every dollar goes to interest, so the balance barely moves and the 80% date sits a long way out. Extra principal attacks that directly. Put a figure in the calculator and you’ll usually find that a few thousand dollars pulls cancellation forward by many months, and the premiums you stop paying often exceed the extra payment itself.
For the full process — what to say to your servicer, when an appraisal is worth it, and how FHA loans differ — read how to remove PMI and lower your monthly payment.