 TITLE: Do I Need Mortgage Insurance? CONTENT: What Is Mortgage Insurance?\n---------------------------\nMortgage insurance protects your lender in case you can't afford to pay your mortgage in the future. Don't confuse it with homeowners insurance, which protects you in case something happens to your home.\nMortgage insurance can come in several forms depending on the type of mortgage you get:\n*   **Private mortgage insurance (PMI)** may be required when you put down less than 20% on a conventional mortgage loan.\n*   A **mortgage insurance premium (MIP)** is what you'll need to pay if you get a mortgage through a Federal Housing Authority (FHA) program.\n*   U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)\\-backed mortgages have a similar requirement to FHA loans, but refer to the cost as a **guarantee fee**.\n*   If you get a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)\\-backed home loan, you may have to pay VA funding fees, but the loans don't require mortgage insurance.\nIf you have a conventional mortgage and are paying for PMI, you may be able to get rid of the insurance and stop making payments once you've established 20% equity in your home (in other words, when your remaining loan balance drops to less than 80% of the home's value). For government-backed FHA and USDA loans, you may have to pay mortgage insurance for the entirety of the loan. END