Stop paying for insurance that only protects your lender. Learn the exact 2026 rules for using your home's equity to cancel PMI and drop FHA MIP.
Last Updated: February 2026 | By Jerry Robinson
If you bought a home in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, or anywhere in the Treasure Valley over the last few years with less than 20% down, you are likely paying for mortgage insurance every single month.
The good news? You don’t have to pay it forever.
With Idaho home values maintaining steady appreciation entering 2026, many homeowners are sitting on enough equity to cancel their Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) right now - they just don’t know how to ask their lender to do it.
As a local mortgage broker with over 30 years of experience helping Idaho families save money, here is your definitive 2026 guide to removing PMI on a Conventional loan or ditching MIP on an FHA loan.
If you have a Conventional loan (usually backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac), you are paying Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). There are three main ways to get rid of it:
If you bought a home in Kuna or Caldwell three years ago, your home is likely worth much more today than what you originally paid for it. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow you to use your home’s current appraised value to drop PMI, but there are strict seasoning rules in 2026:
To use the Fast Track method, you will need to contact your mortgage servicer, formally request cancellation based on current value, and pay for an appraisal (usually $400 – $600) ordered by the lender.
I see Idaho homeowners make this mistake all the time: They hire a local appraiser, pay $500 out of pocket, and mail the appraisal to their big-box mortgage servicer to prove they have 20% equity.
The lender will reject it. By law, the mortgage servicer gets to choose the appraiser or order a BPO (Broker Price Opinion). Before you spend a dime, call your servicer’s customer service line, tell them you want to cancel PMI based on “current market value,” and follow their exact property valuation process.
If you used an FHA loan to buy your home, you are paying a Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP). Unfortunately, the rules for FHA loans are much stricter than Conventional loans.
For 90% of FHA buyers who put down the minimum 3.5%, there is only one way to get rid of the monthly MIP fee: You must refinance into a Conventional Loan.
Once you have built up 20% equity in your home (either by paying down the balance or through Idaho’s rising property values), we can refinance your permanent FHA loan into a new Conventional loan with NO mortgage insurance. Even if the interest rate is slightly different, removing that $100 - $300 monthly MIP fee often results in massive monthly savings.
Ready to stop throwing money away on insurance that only protects the lender?
Under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules, if you want to remove PMI based purely on home appreciation, you generally must own the home for at least two years. If you have owned it for 2 to 5 years, your loan balance must be 75% or less of the current appraised value. If you have owned it for more than 5 years, the requirement relaxes to 80%.
Yes. If you make substantial structural improvements to your home (like adding a bedroom, bathroom, or fully remodeling a kitchen), lenders will often waive the two-year waiting period. You will still need an appraisal to prove your loan balance is now 80% or less of the new, post-renovation value.
If your FHA loan was originated after June 2013 and you made a down payment of less than 10%, you cannot remove the MIP without refinancing. The premium is mandated for the life of the loan. Refinancing into a conventional loan once you reach 20% equity is the best strategy.
Jerry Robinson is the Broker/CEO of 1st Choice Mortgage in Meridian, Idaho.
With over 30 years of experience originating and refinancing loans in the Treasure Valley, Jerry provides honest, math-based advice to help Idahoans build wealth through real estate and eliminate unnecessary mortgage fees.
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