PMI Drops off after 78% LTV??

[Neil Blalock]

Hi BP community, I was hoping to get the answer here for this question. My lender has approved me for my loan and said I can do 15% down instead of 20% and the PMI will drop automatically after 78% LTV. My dad who has bought multiple properties says PMI does not drop unless you do a refi on the property after having enough equity in it. Thanks for the help.

[Nathan Grabau]

With FHA loans, you will hold PMI forever/ until you refi into a conventional at sub 80 LTV. With conventional PMI drops automatically after 78%.

You also can have PMI drop sooner if you are willing to pay for an appraisal and the new value gets the loan below 80% LTV(with a conventional loan, does not apply to FHA).