When you buy a home with an FHA loan and don’t have at least 20 percent to put down, mortgage lenders require you to pay an FHA mortgage insurance premium, or MIP, which protects them from loss if you can’t repay the loan.

An individual borrower’s MIP can vary from less than $60 to several hundred dollars per month, depending on the borrower’s loan amount, loan term and down payment percentage.

Depending on your down payment, and when you first took out the loan, FHA MIP usually lasts 11 years or the life of the loan. MIP will not fall off automatically. To remove it, you’ll have to refinance into a conventional loan once you have enough equity.

Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) is paid by homeowners who take out loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). FHA-backed lenders use MIPs to protect themselves against higher-risk borrowers who are more likely to default on loans. FHA mortgages require every borrower to have mortgage insurance.

FHA requires a monthly fee that is a lot like private mortgage insurance (PMI). This fee, called FHA Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP), is a type of insurance that protect lenders against loss in case of a foreclosure. FHA charges an upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) equal to 1.75% of the loan amount.

Borrowers will typically be required to pay for mortgage insurance on an FHA or USDA mortgage. These policies will vary among insurance companies, but generally the death benefit will be an amount that will pay off the mortgage in the event of the borrower’s death. …

How much is FHA mortgage insurance? The upfront mortgage insurance premium costs 1.75% of your loan amount and is due at closing. If you’re borrowing $250,000, for example, your upfront MIP will be $4,375 ($250,000 x 1.75% = $4,375).

FHA loans often come with higher interest rates than other loans, simply because they’re riskier. Since their credit score requirements are lower, there’s a bigger chance the borrower will default on the loan. To protect themselves from this added risk, lenders will charge a higher interest rate.

The cost of MIP depends on the term of your mortgage, the amount of your base loan amount, and your loan-to-value ratio (LTV). While the cost of the annual premium can vary from borrower to borrower, the annual cost of MIP generally runs between 0.45% and 1.05% of the loan amount.

There are instances in which the MIP can be dropped. This depends on the amount you put down on the house, when the loan was originated, and your loan-to-value ratio. The upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) also needs to be paid at the time of closing. This is normally 1.75% of the loan amount.

The MIP protects the lender, but this fee is also what allows buyers to put as low as 3.5% down on a home. Essentially, an MIP puts homeownership in reach for many who wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise.

That means if you buy a house that costs $250,000, you have to pay an upfront premium of $4,375. Conventional loans do not have upfront mortgage insurance premiums. Another important difference between MIP and PMI are the monthly insurance premiums. Every person who buys a house with an FHA loan must also pay monthly insurance premiums (MIP).