What Is Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)?
When it comes to buying a home, whether it is your first time or your fifth, it is always important to know all the facts. With the large number of mortgage programs available that allow buyers to purchase homes with down payments below 20%, you can never have too much information about Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) . What is PMI? Freddie Mac defines PMI as: An Insurance policy that protects the lender if you are unable to pay your mortgage. Its a monthly fee, rolled into your mortgage payment, that is required for all conforming, conventional loans that have down payments less than 20%. Once you have builtequity of 20% in your home, you can cancel your PMI and remove that expense from your mortgage payment. As the borrowe, you pay the monthly premiums for the insurance policy, and the lender is the beneficiary, Freddie Mac goes on to explain that: The cost of PMI varies based on your loan-to-value ratio-- the amount you owe on your mortga