Minnesota Mortgage Blog

Have you ever looked into cancelling your FHA monthly mortgage insurance? 

The FHA insurance payments include 2 parts: the upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) and the annual premium remitted on a monthly basis - the mutual mortgage insurance (MMI). The UFMIP is an obligatory payment, which can either be made in cash at closing or financed into the loan, so that you really pay it over the life of the loan. It adds a certain amount to your monthly payments, but this is not PMI, nor is it the MMI. When a homeowner purchases a home utilizing an FHA loan, they will pay monthly mortgage insurance for a period of five years or until the loan is paid down to 78% of the appraised value - whichever comes later. The MMI premiums come on top of that for all FHA Purchase Money Mortgages, Full-Qualifying Refinances, and Streamline Refinances, (except for < 15-year FHA mortgages with loan-to-value ratio (LTV) < 90).

When we talk about canceling the FHA insurance, we talk only about the MMI part of it. Unlike other forms of conventional financed mortgage insurance, the UFMIP on an FHA loan is prorated over a five year period, meaning should the homeowner refinance or sell during the first five years of the loan, they are entitled to a partial refund of the UFMIP paid at loan inception. If you have financed the UFMIP into the loan, you cannot cancel this part. The insurance premiums on a 30-year FHA loan must have been paid for at least 5 years. The MMI premium gets terminated automatically once the unpaid principal balance, excluding the upfront premium, reaches 78% of the lower of the initial sales price or appraised value.

A 15-year FHA mortgage annual insurance premium will be cancelled at 78% loan-to-value ratio regardless of how long the premiums have been paid. The FHA’s 78% is based on the initial amortization schedule, and does not take any extra payments or new appraisals into account. This is the big difference between PMI and FHA insurance: the termination of FHA premiums can hardly be accelerated.

Borrowers who do make additional payments towards an FHA mortgage principal, may take the initiative through their lender to have the insurance terminated using the 78% rule, but not sooner than after 5 years of regular payments for 30-year loans. PMI termination, however, can be accelerated through extra payments or a new appraisal if the house has appreciated in value.