The first real step in canceling PMI is a phone call — not to request cancellation (that should happen in writing), but to learn your servicer's exact requirements. Every servicer has its own process: some want an appraisal, some accept a broker price opinion, some have a dedicated form or upload portal. One good call gets you all of it.
Before You Dial
- Have your loan number handy — it's at the top of your mortgage statement.
- Have your most recent statement in front of you.
- Call the customer service number on the statement and ask for the PMI or mortgage insurance department.
- Have a pen ready. You'll want every answer written down.
The Opener
"Hi, I'm calling about my mortgage — loan number [your loan number]. I'd like to cancel the private mortgage insurance on my loan, and I want to confirm exactly what your process requires."
The Seven Answers You Need
There are seven things worth walking away with. Each one decides something about your next move, so none of them is small talk:
- The LTV you have to hit — and whether it's measured against your home's original value or what it's worth today. This single answer decides whether you qualify now or in three years.
- Whether current market value counts. Most conventional loans allow it, but the servicer sets the seasoning rules — and they're the difference between cancelling this month and waiting for the balance to grind down.
- Appraisal or broker price opinion — who orders it, who pays, and what it costs. This is the one number that turns "free" DIY into a few hundred dollars out of pocket.
- Exactly where the written request goes. A request mailed to general customer service instead of the PMI department is the single most common reason a cancellation quietly dies.
- Anything that blocks you right now — payment history, a second lien, the loan type. Better to hear it on a five-minute call than six weeks into the process.
- Who your mortgage insurance company is, and your PMI certificate number. Your servicer isn't the insurer, and the policy terms belong to whoever is.
- Whether your PMI was monthly or a single premium paid at closing. Read the next paragraph before you skip this one.
That last one is the question nobody asks — and it can be worth thousands. If you paid your PMI as a single premium at closing instead of monthly, cancelling can trigger a refund of the unearned portion, and it shrinks every month you wait. Even if they tell you your premium was "non-refundable," federal law still requires a refund of unearned premium when PMI is cancelled under the Homeowners Protection Act. Get that answer in writing.
The word-for-word version — every question phrased so a rep can't sidestep it, with a place to log each answer as you go — lives in the free DIY checklist. It takes about two minutes to set up, and it remembers what your servicer told you so the letter builder can use it later.
Get the word-for-word script and log your servicer's answers as you call.
Start my free DIY checklist →The Closer
"Can I get your name and a reference number for this call? And can you send me the requirements you just described in writing?"
Log every call: the date, the rep's name, the reference number, and what they told you. If your servicer later slow-walks your request, that log is your leverage — and it's exactly what a CFPB complaint wants to see.
After the Call
Now send your request in writing. A dated letter creates the paper trail that puts your request on the official clock — and the free letter builder in your checklist fills in a proven template with your details, your servicer, and the right legal basis in about a minute.
Your call notes, the letter, and every follow-up — tracked in one free account.
Open my free DIY checklist →The Bottom Line
One call, seven answers, everything written down. You'll know your servicer's rules better than most of their own phone reps — and your written request won't bounce on a technicality.
And if you'd rather not spend your afternoons on hold with your servicer, PMI Ninja makes the calls, files the paperwork, and follows up until PMI is confirmed removed — you pay nothing unless it works.