<prompt> Human: Hi Reddit,My current 4 30 year mortgage balance is 135k which has a monthly PMI payment of 70. The lender says I need to get my mortgage balance down to 120k to remove the PMI. Monthly payment is 1310 230 principal; 450 interest; 630 escrow for taxes and insurance. This leaves about 5.5 years of paying PMI or about 4,560 in total PMI payments.I have the 15k required to get my balance down to 120k today. But, Ive set aside that money as a down payment on my next house purchase in about 3-5yrs. Based on some online mortgage calculators, Id save an estimated 200mo on my next mortgage payment if I have that additional 15k as part of a down payment. Excel Present Value calculator tells me that a savings of 200mo at 4 over 360 mo is 5,000 today.So, am I saving more money my nuking the PMI today and removing 5.5 years of PMI? Or am I saving more money by having that 15k as additional down payment on my next house which will theoretically save me principal and interest on the next mortgage? Based on my math above, it pays to save but what am I missing?Let me know if you need more information to solve.Edit1: For those that are asking, here is the escrow breakdownWere in a village in upstate New York. Here is the annual escrow breakdown:PMI - 826.56School - 2294.57Village - 1437.64Hazard Insurance - 647County - 938.05Cushion Selected by Servicer - 886.22Total: 7030.04...585.84 per month.  <response>: The PMI at 70mth makes the interest rate on the 15k that you would need to pay in mortgage principle, have a real interest rate of 9.6. 5.6 on the pmi, plus 4 on the underlying mortgage.As PMI is constant, the weird thing about it is that the closer you come to getting rid of it, the higher the interest rate becomes.You should get rid of the pmi. You wont get a risk free 9.6 return many other places, so, pay off enough principle to get rid of the pmi.Good luck. 