Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is an extra monthly fee that you pay on a conventional mortgage if you put less than 20 percent down. PMI must be terminated at a certain point in your loan term or ...

For example, a borrower with a FICO score above 740 might pay PMI closer to the low end of the range. On a $300,000 mortgage, ...

When purchasing a home with a conventional loan, you might be required to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI). This is generally the case if your down payment doesn’t meet a certain threshold of ...

Dreaming of buying a home? If you don’t have a 20% down payment on the home’s purchase price, lenders will require you to get private mortgage insurance. Private mortgage insurance protects the lender ...

Refinancing to remove PMI can lower your payment—but not always. See when rising equity, rates, and costs make a refi to drop PMI worth it.

The conventional wisdom about private mortgage insurance has long been that borrowers should try to avoid it. PMI is a requirement for conventional mortgage borrowers who put down less than 20% on a ...

The real estate industry has a trade-off between consumers and lenders. Consumers can get a mortgage with a small down payment, but lenders are then protected with buyer-paid mortgage insurance that ...

That’s why it’s critical to understand your documentation and know how much each monthly mortgage payment is impacting your ...

Federal law requires a lender to cancel private mortgage insurance (PMI) on conventional loans when a mortgage term is at its halfway point, or when the mortgage balance drops to 78 percent of the ...

Christy Bieber is a full-time personal finance and legal writer with more than a decade of experience. She has a JD from UCLA as well as a degree in English, Media and Communications with a ...

David McMillin writes about credit cards, mortgages, banking, taxes and travel. Based in Chicago, he writes with one objective in mind: Help readers figure out how to save more and stress less. He is ...

Buying a home usually has a monster obstacle — coming up with a sufficient down payment. You can put less than the traditional 20% down payment but the lender will likely require you to buy mortgage ...