A guide to the FHA MIP refund chart

When you get an FHA loan, you take on various upfront costs, including taxes, insurance, and a down payment. One often overlooked cost is the upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) due when you close your loan. It helps mitigate the lender’s losses if you default on the loan.

An even lesser-known fact is that if you refinance ¹ your home soon after you buy it, you may get some of your UFMIP back in the form of a credit. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) FHA MIP refund chart defines how much of a refund you can get.

What is an FHA MIP refund?

If you are relying on an FHA loan to finance the purchase of a home, you’ll have to pay two types of mortgage insurance premiums.

One of these is your annual MIP. On most FHA loans, you’ll pay an annual MIP fee equal to 0.55% of your loan amount. If you borrow $200,000, that comes out to $1,100 a year or about $92 a month.

You also pay a one-time upfront MIP. That fee is 1.75% of your loan amount. On that $200,000 loan, then, you’d pay $3,500.

You may qualify for a partial refund of your upfront MIP payment, though, if you refinance your FHA loan to another FHA loan within 3 years of obtaining your mortgage. How much you get back, though, depends on how quickly you refinance. The sooner you refinance, the more you’ll get back. And if you don’t refinance within 3 years, you won’t receive any refund of your upfront MIP.

How an FHA MIP refund works

You won’t receive your refund as a cash payment. Instead, your refund will be applied to the upfront MIP payment you need to make when you refinance to a new FHA loan. The refund, then, reduces the size of your new MIP upfront payment. The FHA does not allow borrowers to ever receive an MIP refund as cash.

The percentage you are refunded – and the amount by which you can reduce the upfront MIP payment on your new FHA loan – drops steadily the more months you wait to refinance. Don’t let the lure of a partial MIP refund persuade you to refinance before you’re ready. If your interest rate is already low, and you are happy with your loan’s term and monthly payment, it might not make sense to refinance, no matter how much of an MIP refund you might receive.

FHA MIP refund chart 2026

HUD outlines the MIP refund schedule in its handbook.

The handbook says, “If the Borrower is refinancing their current FHA-insured mortgage to another FHA-insured mortgage within 3 years, a refund credit is applied to reduce the amount of the Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP) paid on the refinanced Mortgage, according to the refund schedule shown in the table below:”

Eligibility requirements for FHA MIP refunds

Not everyone qualifies for an FHA MIP refund. If you’re refinancing an FHA loan, here’s what you need to get your refund:

• You must have closed on your FHA loan less than 3 years ago.
• You must be current on your mortgage payments.
• You can’t have any foreclosures listed on your credit report.
• You can’t refinance your existing FHA loan into any other type of loan. You can only get an MIP refund if you refinance your loan into another FHA mortgage.

How to request an FHA MIP refund

You can’t request a refund of your upfront MIP payment on your own. Instead, your lender handles this process.

Typically, your refund will automatically be applied to the upfront MIP payment due when you refinance to your new FHA loan. However, you may want to check with your mortgage broker to be sure. The HUD website also has a tool you can use to look up a refund if you’re owed one.

When you’re due an MIP refund, your lender will request one on your behalf by submitting documentation to support the refund on the HUD website.

How to calculate your FHA MIP refund

Want to know how much of an FHA MIP refund you might get? Try this formula:

Original MIP x refund percentage = MIP refund

Imagine you took out an FHA loan for $200,000. Your original upfront MIP will be 1.75% of that amount, or $3,500:

$200,000 x 0.0175 = $3,500

If you subsequently close on a refinance loan 25 months after closing on your original FHA loan, you’ll qualify for a refund of 32% of your MIP upfront payment, per the MIP refund chart.

By multiplying your $3,500 of upfront MIP payment by 32%, you get $1,120:

$3,500 x 0.32 = $1,120

This is the refund that will be applied to the upfront MIP payment of your new FHA loan.

The bottom line: A UFMIP refund can help you save on your next loan

If you refinance your FHA loan to another FHA loan within three years, you may recover a portion of your upfront MIP, per HUD’s MIP refund schedule. This partial refund is automatically applied to your new loan’s upfront MIP.

To qualify, however, you must remain current on payments and have no foreclosures on your credit report. Also, keep in mind that the size of the refund shrinks each month you wait to refinance.

If you’re considering an FHA refinance and want to understand your potential MIP refund, you can apply for a refinance with Rocket Mortgage today.

¹ Refinancing may increase finance charges over the life of the loan.