President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, Oct 22, 2026 that goes after three home loan costs. It asks for a pilot that cancels mortgage insurance once you reach an equity level, makes a refinance title waiver permanent and tells VA and USDA to lower rates on loans they make directly. Nothing changes on your loan today.
The order is called "Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People," and its mortgage insurance pilot covers only loans made after the pilot is set up that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac own or back. The details are up to the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator over both companies, and he creates the pilot only if he decides it's in their best interest and the public's. So if you pay mortgage insurance now, your way off it still runs through rules that already exist.
Paying PMI on a Conventional Loan Now
Private mortgage insurance, or PMI, is the monthly charge a conventional lender adds when you borrow more than 80% of the home's value. It covers the lender if the loan goes bad, and you can already get rid of it under rules that have nothing to do with this order. Our guide to how PMI works and how to remove it walks through the basics.
If Fannie Mae owns your loan and the home is a one-unit place you live in, Fannie Mae's rules for ending mortgage insurance give you two ways out based on what the home was worth when you bought it. You can ask your servicer to drop PMI once your balance reaches 80% of that original value. You'll need a clean record for that, meaning no payment 30 days late in the past 12 months and none 60 days late in the past 24. If you never ask, PMI is supposed to drop on its own when your scheduled balance hits 78% and you're current that month.
If your home's value has gone up, there's a third option that uses what the home is worth today. Once your loan is at least two years old, you can ask for removal based on a new appraisal or a broker's estimate of value. Between years two and five your balance has to be at or under 75% of today's value, and after year five it's 80%, with the same clean payment record. Freddie Mac loans follow Freddie Mac's own guide, so ask your servicer which company owns your loan before you pay for a valuation.
That route only helps if your value has climbed, and in Florida that's been truer for houses than condos lately. The statewide single-family median was $415,000 in September, up 1.2% from a year earlier, while the condo and townhouse median fell nearly 2% to $293,500, according to Florida Realtors. A statewide median won't tell you what your own home is worth, so if you bought a condo recently, look at recent sales in your building before you pay for a valuation.
FHA Loans Aren't Part of the Pilot
The pilot runs through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and FHA loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which is part of HUD. The order doesn't mention FHA mortgage insurance at all, so nothing about your FHA premium changes because of it.
FHA insurance follows its own rules, and depending on when you closed and how much you put down, it can last for years or for the life of the loan. Our post on how long FHA mortgage insurance lasts breaks it down. The usual way out is refinancing into a conventional loan once you have enough equity to skip PMI. If you'd rather stay with FHA and just lower your rate, read how an FHA rate and term refinance works.
FHA loans are a big part of our work. Jordan has been closing mortgages since 1998, and Scotsman Guide ranked him No. 35 nationally among FHA volume producers for 2024, with 123 FHA loans closed that year. Because we're a broker, we can compare more than one lender when you're ready to refinance off FHA insurance, and we'll run that against your current loan first.
Should You Wait to Buy for the Pilot?
We wouldn't build a purchase around it. There's no launch date, no equity level and no payment rules published yet, and the pilot only starts if the FHFA director decides to set it up. Even then it cancels insurance once you reach the equity level, so you'd still pay PMI until your payments or your home's value got you there.
If you're renting, every month you wait is another rent check, and prices and rates can move in either direction in the meantime. A loan you take out today already comes with the 80%, 78% and current-value options above. A refinance creates a new loan, so a later refinance might fall under a pilot someday. The order doesn't say, and we wouldn't plan around a program that hasn't been set up.
Refinancing and the Title Insurance Waiver
When you refinance, the new lender usually requires a lender's title policy, which protects the lender if a problem with the home's title turns up later. The FHFA's title acceptance pilot lets an automated title review stand in for that policy on some refinances. The order tells the FHFA to make it a permanent program across the country and to pass any savings through to you.
For now the pilot caps out at 80% of the home's value and only runs in certain areas. The order asks the FHFA to consider raising that limit and removing the area limits, but neither has happened yet, and we haven't seen confirmation that Florida is included. The waiver only covers the lender's policy, and a refinance doesn't touch the owner's policy from your purchase, as NU World Title Tampa explains. Our own post on owner's and lender's title policies in Florida covers how the two differ.
In Florida, the state sets title insurance premiums by rule. A refinance can qualify for a lower reissue rate when the home already has an owner's policy insuring you, which is worth asking your title company about while the waiver is still limited to certain areas.
VA and USDA Loan Rates
The order tells the VA and the Department of Agriculture to lower the interest rates on single-family home loans they make directly, as far as the law and their budgets allow. No new rates, amounts or dates have been announced.
VA's direct home loan program is the Native American Direct Loan, for Native American veterans living on federal trust land, and USDA's is the Section 502 Direct loan for low-income buyers. The VA and USDA loans you'd get through a broker like us are made by private lenders and backed by those agencies, so as written, this part of the order doesn't change their rates. Our guides to VA loan benefits for Florida veterans and USDA loans in Florida cover how those programs work.
What to Do This Week
None of these steps needs the pilot, and you can do every one of them with nothing more than your last mortgage statement.
- Find the mortgage insurance line on your monthly statement so you know exactly what it costs you each month.
- Divide your loan balance by the original value your servicer has on file, and if you're at or under 80%, ask your servicer in writing to drop PMI.
- If your home's value has gone up and your loan is at least two years old, ask your servicer about removal based on current value, what kind of valuation they'll order and what it costs you.
- If you're on FHA or your rate is well above today's rates, run a refinance break-even before you decide to refinance.
If the math is close, we're glad to look at it with you. Bring your latest statement when you book a call with us, and we'll walk through which option fits your loan, or if a refinance even pencils out.
Questions About the Mortgage Insurance Order
Does the executive order cancel my PMI?
No, not on any loan that exists today. The order asks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create a pilot that cancels mortgage insurance on loans made after the pilot starts, once you reach an equity level that hasn't been announced. The ways you can remove PMI now still apply.
Does the order change FHA mortgage insurance?
No. The order doesn't mention FHA mortgage insurance, which HUD sets, and the pilot runs through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Refinancing into a conventional loan once you have the equity is still the usual way off FHA insurance.
When does the mortgage insurance pilot start?
No start date has been announced. The order leaves it to the FHFA director, who sets up the pilot if he decides it's in the best interest of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the public.
Will VA and USDA loan rates go down?
The order asks both departments to lower rates on home loans they make directly, and no numbers have been announced. Regular VA and USDA loans come from private lenders, so as written this part doesn't change their rates.
Is Florida part of the title insurance waiver?
We haven't seen confirmation either way. The current pilot only runs in certain areas, and the order asks the FHFA to consider removing those limits.
This post describes the executive order as written on October 22, 2026, and the agencies haven't published program details yet. It isn't legal or tax advice. 14 Days To Close, NMLS #75243.
