Primary Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

I put a little over $3,000 down on my $102,000 house. I was approved for a FHA loan. Because I put less than 20% down on the home I had to have Primary Mortgage Insurance or PMI. My home is now worth $123,996(according to http://www.zillow.com/) and I owe $99,000. Since I owe less than 80% of my home's value, I should be able to cancel the $40 a month PMI. So, I went to the following websites to see how I could cancel my PMI:

1. http://www.frbsf.org/publications/consumer/pmi.html#cancel
2. http://moneygirl.qdnow.com/2007/07/03/how-to-get-rid-of-pmi.aspx

According to Money Girl (#2), I can't cancel PMI for a FHA loan:

These rules for canceling PMI do not apply to FHA or VA loans, high-risk
loans, or loans with lender-paid PMI

According to #1:

Under HPA, mortgage lenders or servicers must automatically cancel PMI
coverage on most loans, once you pay down your mortgage to 78 percent of the
value if you are current on your loan. If the loan is delinquent on the date of
automatic termination, the lender must terminate the coverage as soon thereafter
as the loan becomes current. Lenders must terminate the coverage within 30 days
of cancellation or the automatic termination date, and are not permitted to
require PMI premiums after this date. Any unearned premiums must be returned to you within 45 days of the cancellation or termination date.

For high risk loans, mortgage lenders or servicers are required to automatically cancel PMI coverage once the mortgage is paid down to 77 percent of the original value of the property, provided you are current on your loan.

I'm not sure if my FHA loan is a high risk loan, so I'll look over my paper work and see if there is anything about PMI termination and then call my mortgage company.

As a side note: Money Girl has a great podcast and website.