If you bought your home in Twin Hickory, Wyndham, or anywhere in Henrico County with less than 20% down, there’s a good chance you’re paying private mortgage insurance every single month. That PMI line item quietly adds real money to your payment each month — money that protects your lender, not you. The frustrating part is that many Glen Allen homeowners don’t realize they may already qualify to remove it.
The good news: you don’t have to pay it forever. As Duane Buziak, Glen Allen Mortgage Broker of the Year 2025 and Innsbrook Business of the Year 2022 and 2024, I’ve walked hundreds of Henrico County homeowners through exactly this process. The path to canceling PMI is more straightforward than most people realize — but it does require knowing which steps apply to your specific loan type and situation.
This guide walks you through every step, from identifying your PMI type to calculating your current equity position, submitting a formal cancellation request, and exploring a refinance if direct cancellation isn’t available. Whether your home’s value has climbed with the Short Pump and West Broad Village market appreciation, or you’ve been making extra principal payments, there’s likely a route available to you right now.
We’ll also cover the federal Homeowners Protection Act — the law that governs your rights — so you know exactly what your servicer is legally required to do. By the end of this guide, you’ll know precisely which path fits your situation and what to do next.
Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647 | Coast2Coast Mortgage LLC, NMLS #376205 | 804-212-8663
Step 1: Identify Your PMI Type and Loan Type
Before you contact your servicer or calculate a single number, you need to know what kind of mortgage insurance you’re actually dealing with. Not all mortgage insurance is created equal, and the removal process is completely different depending on your loan type.
Borrower-Paid PMI (BPMI): This is the most common type for conventional loans. It shows up as a separate line item on your monthly mortgage statement. The good news: BPMI is fully cancellable once you reach the right equity threshold. This is the type most Glen Allen homeowners have, and it’s what the rest of this guide primarily addresses.
Lender-Paid PMI (LPMI): This type is baked into your interest rate rather than charged as a separate monthly fee. It sounds appealing upfront, but there’s a significant catch: you cannot cancel LPMI separately. The only way to eliminate it is to refinance into a new loan entirely. If you’re unsure which type you have, check your original loan documents or call your servicer and ask directly.
FHA Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP): FHA loans carry MIP rather than PMI, and the rules are fundamentally different. According to HUD.gov, FHA loans originated after June 3, 2013 with less than 10% down carry MIP for the life of the loan. There is no cancellation path — removal requires refinancing into a conventional product. If you put 10% or more down on an FHA loan, MIP lasts 11 years. If you have an FHA loan and are paying MIP, jump ahead to Step 6 now — that’s your primary path. You can also learn more about FHA loan options in Virginia here.
VA Loans: If you’re a veteran or active-duty service member in Glen Allen, VA-backed loans carry no PMI at all, regardless of your down payment. According to VA.gov, this is one of the most significant financial benefits of VA loan eligibility. If you haven’t explored this option, it’s a conversation worth having. Learn more about VA home loan benefits here.
To confirm your PMI type and monthly cost, locate your original loan documents or call your servicer directly. Ask them to confirm: (1) whether you have BPMI or LPMI, (2) the exact monthly PMI amount, and (3) the scheduled PMI termination date on your amortization schedule.
Success indicator: Before moving to Step 2, you can name your PMI type, your monthly PMI cost, and your loan type (conventional, FHA, or VA).
Step 2: Calculate Your Current Loan-to-Value Ratio
Your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is the single most important number in the PMI removal process. It tells you — and your servicer — how much equity you have relative to your home’s value. Here’s the formula:
LTV = (Current Loan Balance ÷ Current Home Value) × 100
You need an LTV at or below 80% to qualify for borrower-requested PMI cancellation. At 78% LTV, your servicer is legally required to cancel it automatically under the Homeowners Protection Act — more on that in Step 3.
Getting your current loan balance: Log into your servicer’s online portal or check your most recent mortgage statement. This number is your outstanding principal balance, not your original loan amount.
Estimating your current home value: This is where Glen Allen and Henrico County homeowners have a real advantage right now. According to Virginia REALTORS market data, Henrico County has seen consistent appreciation in recent years. Using your original purchase price to estimate current value likely undersells your equity position significantly — especially if you purchased in 2020, 2021, or 2022 when Short Pump, Innsbrook, and West Broad Village saw strong demand. Pull recent comparable sales in your specific neighborhood to get a realistic current value estimate before running your LTV calculation.
Worked dollar example: Let’s say you purchased a home in Wyndham for $420,000 with 5% down ($21,000). Your original loan balance was $399,000. After approximately four years of payments on a 30-year fixed mortgage, your current balance is roughly $375,000 (verify this on your actual amortization schedule). If comparable sales in your neighborhood now support a current value of $480,000, your LTV calculation looks like this:
$375,000 ÷ $480,000 = 0.781, or 78.1% LTV
That’s below the 80% threshold, meaning borrower-requested cancellation is potentially available to you today — even though you haven’t hit your original amortization milestone for automatic termination. Your PMI cost is shown on your monthly statement; multiply that monthly figure by 12 to understand your annual savings from removal.
The critical distinction to understand: An LTV at or below 80% gives you the right to request cancellation. An LTV at or below 78% based on your original amortization schedule triggers automatic cancellation by law. These are two different thresholds with two different processes — and knowing which one you’re dealing with changes your next step.
Common pitfall: Many homeowners run this calculation using their original purchase price instead of the current market value. In a rising market like Glen Allen, that mistake can make it look like you don’t qualify when you actually do.
Success indicator: You have a written LTV calculation using a realistic current value estimate, and you know whether you’re at 80%, below 80%, or below 78%.
Step 3: Know Your Rights Under the Homeowners Protection Act
Here’s something your servicer may not volunteer: federal law is on your side. The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 (12 U.S.C. § 4901 et seq.) gives conventional loan borrowers specific, enforceable rights around PMI cancellation. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), there are three key HPA triggers you need to know.
Trigger 1 — Borrower-Requested Cancellation at 80% LTV: You can submit a written request to cancel PMI once your LTV reaches 80% of the home’s original value based on the original amortization schedule. Importantly, some servicers will also allow cancellation at 80% based on current appraised value — this is where Glen Allen’s market appreciation becomes a real advantage. Ask your servicer specifically whether they accept current appraised value for this calculation.
Trigger 2 — Automatic Cancellation at 78% LTV: When your loan balance reaches 78% of the original purchase price based on your scheduled amortization, your servicer is legally required to cancel PMI automatically — no request needed. This is a hard legal obligation, not a courtesy.
Trigger 3 — Final Termination at Loan Midpoint: Even if neither of the above thresholds is triggered, your servicer must terminate PMI at the midpoint of your loan’s amortization schedule. For a 30-year loan, that’s year 15. This is the last-resort protection for borrowers who haven’t reached 80% LTV by that point.
Additional HPA requirements worth knowing: your servicer must provide a written PMI disclosure annually, and they must respond to a cancellation request in writing. If they don’t, you have recourse.
One important limitation: the HPA does not apply to FHA MIP, VA loans, or lender-paid PMI. Those follow separate rules, which is why identifying your loan and PMI type in Step 1 is so critical.
Success indicator: You can identify which of the three HPA triggers applies to your current situation before you pick up the phone or write a letter to your servicer.
Step 4: Submit a Written Cancellation Request to Your Servicer
This is where many homeowners stall — they call their servicer, have a conversation, and assume something is happening. It isn’t. Phone calls don’t create a paper trail, and without documentation, you have no recourse if the process drags on or goes sideways.
Send your request in writing. Use certified mail with return receipt, or submit through your servicer’s secure online portal if they offer one. Either method creates a timestamped record of your request.
What your written request should include:
1. Your full name and loan account number
2. Your estimated current LTV, with a brief explanation of how you calculated it
3. A statement explicitly invoking your rights under the Homeowners Protection Act
4. A request for their specific requirements to process the cancellation
Keep this letter concise and factual. You’re not asking for a favor — you’re asserting a legal right.
What servicers typically require for cancellation:
Good payment history: Most servicers require no 30-day late payments in the past 12 months, and no 60-day late payments in the past 24 months. If your payment history has a blemish, address this before submitting your request.
No subordinate liens: If you have a home equity loan or HELOC, your servicer will confirm no additional liens exist that would affect their lien position.
Appraisal (if requesting based on current value): If your LTV at 80% is based on your original purchase price and original amortization schedule, the servicer cannot require a new appraisal — they must use the original value. However, if you’re requesting early cancellation based on appreciated value (as in the worked example in Step 2), the servicer can and typically will require a formal appraisal. Budget approximately $400–$600 for an appraisal in the Henrico County market, and factor that cost against your monthly PMI savings to confirm it makes financial sense.
Timeline: Under the HPA, servicers have 30 days to respond to a written cancellation request. Mark your calendar and follow up in writing if you haven’t received a response.
If your servicer is unresponsive: File a complaint through the CFPB’s complaint portal at consumerfinance.gov. Servicers take CFPB complaints seriously, and this creates a formal record of the issue.
Success indicator: You receive written confirmation from your servicer that your PMI cancellation request is under review, along with their specific requirements to complete the process.
Step 5: Order a Home Appraisal If Your Servicer Requires One
If your servicer requires an appraisal to confirm current value — typically the case when you’re requesting cancellation based on appreciated market value rather than the original amortization schedule — the process has a few specific rules worth knowing upfront.
Use the servicer’s approved appraiser list. Your servicer will provide a list of approved appraisers. You generally cannot hire any appraiser you find independently and submit that report. Ask your servicer for their list before scheduling anything.
Request a local appraiser if possible. In the Glen Allen, Short Pump, and West Broad Village market, an appraiser who regularly works Henrico County will have the most accurate read on comparable sales and neighborhood-specific value drivers. When you call to schedule, ask whether you can request a local appraiser from their approved list who has recent experience in your specific neighborhood.
Prepare your home before the appraisal. Appraisers assess condition as part of their valuation. Clean and declutter every room, address any obvious deferred maintenance (leaky faucets, broken fixtures, peeling paint), and make sure the exterior presents well. You don’t need to renovate — you need the home to show its best current condition.
Bring documentation of improvements. Prepare a written list of any upgrades you’ve made since purchase: kitchen or bathroom updates, roof replacement, HVAC system, new flooring, added square footage. Hand this list to the appraiser at the start of the visit. Also pull three to five recent comparable sales in your immediate neighborhood that support your estimated value — your real estate agent or Duane Buziak can help you identify strong comps.
If the appraisal comes in lower than expected: You can dispute the appraisal by submitting documented comparable sales that the appraiser may have overlooked. However, you cannot simply order a second appraisal from a different company and submit that report instead. Work within the dispute process your servicer provides.
The cost-benefit math: If your PMI is $150 per month and the appraisal costs $500, you recover that cost in roughly three to four months of eliminated PMI — and then you’re saving that amount every month going forward. For most Glen Allen homeowners, this is an easy calculation.
Once the appraisal confirms your LTV is at or below 80%, submit the full report to your servicer along with a formal follow-up cancellation request referencing your original written request.
Success indicator: You have the appraisal report in hand confirming LTV at or below 80%, and you’ve submitted it to your servicer with a written follow-up.
Step 6: Explore a Refinance When Direct Cancellation Isn’t an Option
For some Glen Allen homeowners, direct PMI cancellation simply isn’t available — and that’s not a dead end. It’s just a different path.
Two situations call for a refinance rather than direct cancellation: (1) you have an FHA loan with permanent MIP, and (2) you have lender-paid PMI baked into your interest rate. In both cases, refinancing into a conventional loan is the primary way to eliminate mortgage insurance entirely.
When a refinance makes financial sense:
1. Your new conventional rate plus payment is lower than your current rate plus MIP or PMI combined
2. Your equity is at or above 20% of your home’s current value — meaning you can enter the new conventional loan without triggering new PMI
3. You plan to stay in the home long enough to recoup the closing costs on the new loan
If rates have risen since your original loan, a refinance may not pencil out purely for MIP removal. Run the full math before deciding. Our refinance-to-lower-payment guide walks through the numbers in detail, and our when-to-refinance guide helps you identify the right timing.
How to explore this without affecting your credit: This is where Duane Buziak’s NoTouch Credit process makes a real difference. A soft credit pull mortgage pre-qualification through Glen Allen Mortgage lets you see current rates and run a real side-by-side comparison — refinance vs. keeping your current loan — without any impact to your credit score. This is a no hard inquiry mortgage pre-approval that gives you actual numbers before you commit to anything.
Understanding your Vantage Score 4.0 and how it factors into your refinance options is also part of this conversation. Learn more at our Vantage Score mortgage approval page, and see how your credit profile affects rate options at our credit score guide. For a full explanation of how the soft-pull process works, visit our soft credit mortgage screening page.
When comparing a refinance to direct cancellation, ask your servicer or broker to produce a written side-by-side showing: monthly payment before and after, total cost of the refinance (closing costs), monthly savings from eliminating MIP or PMI, and break-even timeline. Never make this decision based on a verbal estimate alone.
Success indicator: You have a written comparison of refinance vs. direct cancellation with real numbers before making any decision.
Putting It All Together: Your PMI Removal Checklist and Next Steps
Let’s bring this into a clear action sequence. Here’s the complete checklist for removing PMI from your Glen Allen mortgage:
1. Identify your PMI type (BPMI, LPMI, or FHA MIP) and confirm your loan type
2. Calculate your current LTV using a realistic current home value — not your original purchase price
3. Confirm which HPA trigger applies: 80% borrower-requested, 78% automatic, or loan midpoint
4. Submit a written cancellation request to your servicer via certified mail or secure portal
5. Order an appraisal if your servicer requires one to confirm current value
6. Follow up in writing within 30 days if you haven’t received a response
7. Explore a refinance if direct cancellation isn’t available for your loan type
Glen Allen homeowners in Twin Hickory, Wyndham, and Innsbrook who purchased in 2020 through 2022 may find their LTV has dropped substantially due to local appreciation, according to Virginia REALTORS market data. It’s worth running the calculation now, even if you haven’t hit your original amortization milestone for automatic termination.
PMI Removal Method Comparison
Automatic Termination at 78% LTV | Best for borrowers who prefer no action | Reaches scheduled date per amortization | No cost | Servicer must cancel automatically per HPA; no request needed
Borrower-Requested Cancellation (Original Value) | Best for borrowers at 80% LTV on original amortization | 30–60 days after written request | Minimal to no cost | No appraisal required when using original purchase price
Borrower-Requested Cancellation (Appraised Value) | Best for homeowners with significant appreciation | 60–90 days | Appraisal cost approximately $400–$600 | Servicer must approve; appraisal required; strong option in Henrico County’s appreciating market
Refinance to Conventional | Best for FHA MIP borrowers or LPMI borrowers | 30–45 days typical close | Closing costs apply | Eliminates MIP permanently; full rate comparison required; local brokers like Duane Buziak can shop hundreds of lenders simultaneously
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What is the difference between PMI and FHA MIP? PMI (private mortgage insurance) applies to conventional loans and can be canceled once you reach 80% LTV. FHA MIP (mortgage insurance premium) applies to FHA loans and, for loans originated after June 3, 2013 with less than 10% down, lasts for the life of the loan — removal requires refinancing into a conventional product. (Source: HUD.gov)
Q2: What LTV do I need to remove PMI on a conventional loan? You need an LTV at or below 80% to submit a borrower-requested cancellation. At 78% LTV based on your original amortization schedule, your servicer is legally required to cancel PMI automatically under the Homeowners Protection Act.
Q3: Does my servicer require an appraisal to cancel PMI? If you’re requesting cancellation based on your original purchase price and original amortization schedule at 80% LTV, no appraisal is required. If you’re requesting early cancellation based on current appraised value — for example, because your home has appreciated in Henrico County — your servicer can require a formal appraisal, typically costing $400–$600 in this market.
Q4: How long does the PMI cancellation process take? Under the Homeowners Protection Act, servicers have 30 days to respond to a written cancellation request. If an appraisal is required, add two to four weeks for scheduling and report delivery. The full process typically takes 30 to 90 days from initial written request to confirmed cancellation.
Q5: Can making extra principal payments help me remove PMI faster? Yes. Extra principal payments reduce your loan balance faster than the scheduled amortization, which lowers your LTV more quickly. If your goal is to reach 80% LTV sooner, applying extra payments directly to principal is an effective strategy — just confirm with your servicer that extra payments are applied to principal and not to future interest.
Q6: What if my servicer ignores my PMI cancellation request? Document everything. If your servicer fails to respond within 30 days to a written request, file a complaint through the CFPB’s complaint portal at consumerfinance.gov. The HPA gives you enforceable rights, and CFPB complaints create a formal record that servicers take seriously.
Q7: Do VA loans require PMI? No. VA-backed loans do not require private mortgage insurance regardless of your down payment amount. This is one of the most significant financial benefits of VA loan eligibility. If you’re a veteran or active-duty service member in Glen Allen and haven’t explored a VA loan, visit our VA home loan benefits page for details. (Source: VA.gov)
Q8: Can I check my PMI removal eligibility without a hard credit pull? Yes. If exploring a refinance as your path to eliminating MIP or LPMI, Duane Buziak’s NoTouch Credit process uses a soft pull mortgage broker approach — a no credit hit mortgage application that lets you see real rate options and run the full refinance math without any impact to your credit score. Call 804-212-8663 or learn more at our soft credit mortgage screening page.
If you’re a Glen Allen homeowner who has been paying PMI for a few years — especially if you purchased during the 2020 to 2022 period when appreciation has been meaningful across Henrico County — the numbers may already be working in your favor. The process is manageable, your rights are protected by federal law, and the monthly savings from eliminating PMI can be significant over the remaining life of your loan.
Whether your path is a direct cancellation request, an appraisal to confirm appreciated value, or a refinance to eliminate permanent FHA MIP, Duane Buziak is available to walk through the specifics of your situation with you — at no cost and with no impact to your credit. Get your free mortgage consultation today and find out exactly where you stand.
