I purchased a house this year using a HUD 203k loan...
My FHA loan requires 5 years of PMI payments, even if the LTV drops below 80%. It was still worth it for other reasons, but that clause irked me when I learned about it.
Yeah, mine, too. I only JUST found that out. My mortgage officer didn't know, either, I got the letter in the mail Monday or Tuesday, after spending a lot of money (that wouldn't have gone anywhere else, likely) paying down the principal.
One more thing I found out and this isn't much, is that for me, I had to get my loan below 78%, not 80%. The 80% LTV was for a conventional loan, but removal of PMI is 78% LTV.
Weird thing is, in their reply to me about my rejection (because my loan is not 4 years, yet), they gave me my 78% as being higher than that percentage of my sale or appraisal price by about $1000. Just funny to me.
So it's an FHA thing, not just the lender, that demands 5 years of on-time payments? Thanks for that info.
edit to add: My mortgage broker told me one of the last times I spoke with her, that any new FHA loans can't remove PMI early. She implied for the life of the loan, but I believe it's for the life of the PMI of the loan. Not that I've looked into that. So be aware of that, too.