With 20% down on a conventional loan you don't pay PMI at all; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac only require mortgage insurance above 80% loan-to-value. FHA is the case that surprises people. It carries its own mortgage insurance that applies even with a down payment. With 10% or more down (for FHA case numbers assigned since mid-2013), the annual premium is collected for 11 years and then terminates automatically. Most borrowers won't hold the same loan that long anyway, because they sell or refinance first. On rates, FHA genuinely can price better than conventional, and the gap tends to widen as credit scores drop. For lower-credit-score borrowers there's often no scenario where conventional beats FHA. Part of what drives that: conventional loan-level pricing adjustments raise costs for lower scores and smaller down payments, which pushes many low-down-payment buyers toward FHA. The right answer is borrower-specific. The only way to know whether FHA or conventional wins for you is a side-by-side with both priced out, which is exactly what we do on the free Roadmap conversation: about 20 minutes where we run your real numbers and show you the all-in comparison.