You do not pick the mortgage insurer and also you can't work out the premiums. To put it simply, when re-financing a house or buying with a standard mortgage, if the loan-to-value (LTV) is more than 80% (or equivalently, the equity position is less than 20%), the borrower will likely be required to carry personal home loan insurance policy. It sounds unAmerican, but that's what occurs when you obtain a home loan that surpasses 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV).