Key takeaways

  • The ability to remove FHA mortgage insurance depends on your loan origination date and size of your down payment.
  • If you got your FHA loan after the year 2000, you might be able to cancel FHA mortgage insurance in certain cases. If you got your loan before 2000, you'll continue to pay the premiums in most cases.
  • You can cancel FHA MIP by either meeting the eligibility criteria or refinancing.

If you have an FHA loan, you might be wondering how to get rid of the FHA mortgage insurance premiums (MIP). Unlike conventional loans, FHA loans require you to pay mortgage insurance premiums regardless of the amount of your down payment. Canceling these premiums can be challenging, but not impossible. Here’s how to get rid of FHA mortgage insurance premiums (and when you can’t).

Step-by-step guide to removing FHA mortgage insurance

1. Check your eligibility

“There are a number of factors that come into play when determining whether or not the FHA mortgage insurance can be canceled,” says Alan Aldinger, vice president of Media Relations for PNC Bank. “The biggest factor is when the case number was assigned for a borrower’s current FHA loan.”

Here’s how eligibility for FHA mortgage insurance removal breaks down by loan origination date:

  • If your origination date was between July 1991 and December 2000, you can’t cancel your FHA mortgage insurance premiums. You'll need to keep paying them for the life of the loan, unless you refinance.
  • If your origination date was between January 2001 and June 3, 2013, your MIP will be canceled when you reach a loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of 78 percent.
  • If your origination date was after June 3, 2013 and you made a down payment of at least 10 percent, your MIP will be canceled after 11 years. For down payments of less than 10 percent, you'll pay MIPs for the life of the loan, unless you refinance.

2. Understand your options

There are two primary ways to eliminate mortgage insurance from an FHA loan:

FHA mortgage insurance removal

If you meet the eligibility requirements to remove MIP from an FHA loan, your mortgage servicer should automatically cancel the premiums once you meet the criteria, assuming you’re in good standing with a record of on-time mortgage payments. If the premiums haven’t been canceled, contact your servicer.

Refinance to a conventional loan

If you qualify and can get a lower interest rate, you might consider refinancing your FHA loan to a conventional loan. Here are a few key considerations:

  • Credit score: What does your credit look like now versus what it looked like when you took out your FHA loan? If you’ve improved it, you might qualify for a conventional loan with a better rate and no private mortgage insurance (PMI) if your LTV ratio is 80 percent or less.
  • Interest rates: Are current refinance rates lower now than they were when you got your FHA loan? In general, it might make sense to refinance if you can take off half to three-quarters of a percentage point in rate.
  • LTV ratio: In addition to how much you’ve paid on your FHA loan, take stock of the value of your home. Is it worth more today due to rising property values or a major renovation?
  • Refinance closing costs: You’ll need to pay closing costs to refinance, so do the math: Will the upfront cost of refinancing be worth the savings in the long run? Our mortgage refinance calculator can help you decide.

3. Contact your servicer

If your loan isn’t eligible for MIP cancellation, it’s worth contacting your servicer anyway, especially if you’re having trouble making payments. Your servicer can help you explore a loan modification or other options.

What happens after removing mortgage insurance?

The most noticeable impact of removing mortgage insurance is a lower monthly mortgage payment.

Taking this step could also help shore up your finances. For instance, you could put those insurance savings toward emergency savings or another savings goal. If you want to put those savings back into your home, you might opt to pay down the principal on your mortgage. This’ll help reduce your total interest and pay off your loan faster.

Should you remove MIP from an FHA loan?

If you’re eligible to remove MIP based on the loan’s origination date, down payment and/or equity criteria, your servicer should automatically cancel the premiums.

However, if you’re considering refinancing just to remove MIP, bear in mind you might still need to pay mortgage insurance on the new loan. With a conventional loan, you’ll need to pay PMI if your LTV ratio is 80 percent or less — and that PMI could be pricier than your FHA MIP.

On the other hand, if refinancing reduces your monthly payments and total interest, that could more than make up for the premiums. Plus, PMI is easier to get rid of. You can request to cancel PMI on a conventional loan after you reach 20 percent equity.

The Homeowners Protection Act mandates that your mortgage lender or servicer automatically terminate PMI when your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio reaches 78 percent.

FAQ

  • Possibly. You might be able to reduce FHA MIP by refinancing to another FHA loan at a lower LTV ratio. If not, know that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees FHA loans, lowered FHA mortgage insurance premiums in 2023. This reduction applies to 30-year FHA loans originated, but not yet closed, on or after Jan. 26, 2015. If you obtained your FHA loan before then, contact your servicer to learn your options.
  • It depends on what type of loan you refinance to and the resulting LTV ratio. In general, removing FHA mortgage insurance hinges on when you got your loan, how much you put down and your LTV ratio.
  • That depends on how much equity you have. If you have 20 percent equity or more, you won’t need to pay PMI.