You can get lower monthly payments in some cases by getting a home loan with mortgage insurance rather than a piggyback loan. Don't assume that your loan officer or mortgage broker knows this.

"Our message to consumers is look at all the options," said Sal Miosi, vice president of marketing for mortgage insurer MGIC. "In many cases, it's a more compelling offer."

First, short-term interest rates rose during the Federal Reserve's two-year rate hike campaign. That raised rates on the home equity loans and lines of credit that piggyback mortgages use. Second, mortgage insurance companies started pushing single-premium policies that could be financed as part of the loan.

The smaller your down payment on a house, the more likely you are to default on the mortgage and, thereby, cost the lender money and strife. The loan is considered quite risky if the down payment is less than 20 percent. One solution is mortgage insurance.

Piggybacks are described with three numbers that add up to 100. An 80-15-5 piggyback is one where you get a mortgage for 80 percent of the price, borrow 15 percent as an equity loan or credit line, and make a 5 percent down payment.

"Mortgage insurance is a really good alternative now for consumers," said Janet Parker, senior vice president of PMI Group, one of the largest mortgage insurers. "What we're trying to do is ensure that brokers and Realtors understand what the options are."

To summarize one scenario, someone putting 10 percent down on a $250,000 house would end up paying $1,452 a month in principal and interest for a 6.5 percent mortgage in which the $4,725 premium is added to the loan amount. The monthly payment would be the same for a piggyback with a $25,000 home equity line of credit at 9 percent. That HELOC payment could go up or down, depending on what the Fed does to interest rates.

The best known such product is MGIC's SingleFile, which adds a quarter-point to half-point to the mortgage interest rate. This type of insurance has the virtue of being tax-deductible, unlike other mortgage insurance premiums.

Competitive monthly payments plus the ability to cancel a policy are compelling reasons to consider single-premium mortgage insurance. But the word hasn't got through to all loan officers and brokers, many of whom have been in the business for just five or six years - and during most of that time, piggybacks clearly were the better option.

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