Calculate private mortgage insurance (PMI) costs.
Estimate monthly PMI payments and when you can remove PMI.
Free PMI calculator.
PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) protects the lender if you default on your loan.
Required for conventional loans with less than 20% down payment (LTV > 80%).
Cost: 0.5-1.5% of loan amount annually.
Example: 300,000 loan at 1% PMI =3,000/year = $250/month.
PMI does NOT protect you — only the lender.
PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) protects the lender if you default on your loan.
Required for conventional loans with less than 20% down payment (LTV > 80%).
Cost: 0.5-1.5% of loan amount annually.
Example: 300,000 loan at 1% PMI =3,000/year = $250/month.
PMI does NOT protect you — only the lender.
PMI is required when LTV > 80% on conventional loans.
LTV 81-90%: Moderate PMI rates (0.5-1.0%).
LTV 91-95%: Higher PMI rates (0.8-1.2%).
LTV 95%+: Highest PMI rates (1.0-1.5%).
Your credit score also affects PMI rates — higher credit score = lower PMI.
VA loans never require PMI.
Automatic removal: PMI cancels automatically at 78% LTV (based on original value).
Request removal: You can request removal at 80% LTV (may require appraisal, $300-500 cost).
Refi to remove: Refinance when home value increases enough to reach 80% LTV.
Pay extra principal to reach 80% faster.
Good payment history required (no late payments in past 12 months).
Conventional PMI: Removable at 78-80% LTV, 0.5-1.5% rate, based on LTV and credit score.
FHA MIP: Lifetime MIP if <10% down, 0.55% rate (most common), upfront MIP 1.75% + annual.
FHA MIP is much harder to remove — often requires refinance to conventional loan.
PMI is better if you can qualify for conventional loan.
Example: 300,000 loan at 1% PMI =3,000/year.
If it takes 5 years to reach 80% LTV, you'll pay 15,000 total in PMI.
If it takes 10 years,30,000!
This is why 20% down is recommended — avoiding PMI saves thousands.
Every extra principal payment speeds up PMI removal.
Put 20% down to avoid PMI entirely.
Piggyback loan (80-10-10): 80% first mortgage + 10% second mortgage + 10% down = no PMI.
Lender-paid PMI: Higher rate instead of monthly PMI (can't remove later).
Pay extra toward principal from day one to reach 80% faster.
Use gift money to increase down payment to 20%.
PMI is generally NOT tax deductible as of 2025 (deduction expired Dec 31, 2021).
It was temporarily deductible in some years, but that provision has not been renewed.
FHA MIP is also not deductible.
Interest on your mortgage IS deductible (if you itemize), but PMI is not.
Another reason to eliminate PMI ASAP.
If your home value increases, your LTV decreases even without paying down principal!
Example: Buy for $350K with $315K loan (90% LTV).
After 3 years, home worth 400K.
New LTV:315K / $400K = 78.75%.
You can request PMI removal!
Get a new appraisal ($300-500) to prove increased value.
This is how many homeowners eliminate PMI early.
PMI Calculator - Calculate Private Mortgage Insurance Cost is most useful when you need a quick, repeatable check before moving numbers into a quote, spreadsheet, estimate, or comparison.
Start with the fields the tool asks for - Home Value / Purchase Price, Loan Amount, PMI Rate (Annual) - then review Current LTV Ratio, Monthly PMI Payment, Annual PMI Cost, Equity Needed to Reach 80% LTV, Home Value Needed (if paying down principal) before copying the answer into a larger workflow.
This makes the page useful as a planning aid, a second-opinion check, and a way to catch obvious input mistakes before they become spreadsheet or paperwork errors.
Example: enter a realistic sample value first, confirm that the output is in the expected range, then replace it with your real value.
If the calculator includes fields such as Home Value / Purchase Price, Loan Amount, PMI Rate (Annual), change one input at a time and watch how Current LTV Ratio, Monthly PMI Payment, Annual PMI Cost, Equity Needed to Reach 80% LTV, Home Value Needed (if paying down principal) responds.
A useful workflow is to run a low case, expected case, and high case.
That gives you a range instead of a single fragile answer and makes it easier to explain the result to someone reviewing the numbers later.
Checklist before relying on the result:
- Confirm that every source value is in the expected unit, period, currency, or percentage format.
- Check whether any input was rounded before you entered it.
- Keep enough decimal places for follow-up math, then round only in the final report.
- Save the assumptions next to the result so another person can review the same scenario.
- If the value affects a contract, invoice, engineering decision, tax filing, loan, insurance decision, or financial plan, verify it against the source that controls your specific case.
The calculator is designed as a working aid rather than a permanent record.
Avoid putting sensitive identifiers, account numbers, customer names, addresses, or proprietary project details into screenshots, notes, or shareable URLs.
Keep the original source value next to the converted or calculated result so the work can be reviewed later.
For comparison workflows, related tools such as /tools/housing-real-estate/mortgage-points-calculator/, /tools/housing-real-estate/closing-costs-calculator/, /tools/housing-real-estate/fha-loan-calculator/ can help validate whether the result is reasonable from another angle.
Common mistakes include mixing monthly and annual figures, entering a percentage as a whole number when the tool expects a percent, copying a rounded result into another calculation, and comparing outputs that were created from different assumptions.
If the result looks too high or too low, reset to a simple test case, confirm the source fields (Home Value / Purchase Price, Loan Amount, PMI Rate (Annual)), and rerun the scenario before changing formulas or overwriting saved work.
Understand the essential concepts behind this calculator
Common questions about the Pmi Calculator - Free Online Tool
Continue your financial journey with these related calculators
Estimate the right dwelling coverage (Coverage A) for your homeowners policy based on rebuild cost, not market value, using square footage and construction type.
Calculate loan-to-value ratio for mortgages and refinancing. Check if you meet lender LTV requirements. Free LTV calculator.
See exactly how much cash you need to buy a home and how your down payment shapes your monthly cost.
Calculate adjustable rate mortgage payments. Compare ARM vs fixed rate mortgages. Free ARM calculator with rate adjustment scenarios.
Estimate your FHA mortgage payment including upfront and annual mortgage insurance, then compare it against a conventional loan.
Calculate your usda loan details with our free tool. Get accurate estimates for better financial planning.
