For most buyers the choice between these three isn’t really a choice. Two numbers decide it: how much you’re borrowing and what your credit and deposit look like. Everything else is detail.
The one-line version
Conventional. The default. Best pricing for strong credit and a reasonable deposit. Private mortgage insurance applies below a certain equity level and can be removed once you cross it.
FHA. Government-insured, designed for buyers who don’t clear conventional requirements. Lower credit scores and smaller deposits are accepted. The trade is mortgage insurance that is harder to shed.
Jumbo. Any loan above the conforming limit for your area. Not a different kind of product so much as a different risk category for the lender, and underwritten accordingly.
What decides which one you’re in
Loan amount. Above the conforming limit, you’re in jumbo territory whether you like it or not. The limit is set annually and varies by county — check the current figure for the specific area rather than a national number.
Credit score. Conventional pricing is banded by score, and jumbo generally expects the strongest profile of the three. FHA is the most accommodating.
Deposit. Larger deposits open better conventional pricing and can remove mortgage insurance entirely. Jumbo typically expects a substantial one.
Debt-to-income. Often the binding constraint rather than the score, and frequently the reason an application that “should” work doesn’t.
The mortgage insurance difference
This is the part that costs the most money and gets the least attention.
Conventional PMI applies while your equity is below a threshold and can be removed once you cross it. It’s a temporary cost on a path with an end.
FHA mortgage insurance includes an upfront premium and an annual one, and depending on the loan’s terms it can last the life of the loan rather than dropping away with equity.
So an FHA loan that looks cheaper monthly at the start can cost considerably more over ten years. That’s the standard reason people refinance from FHA to conventional once their equity and credit allow. Plan for it at the outset rather than discovering it later.
Where rates sit for context
| Loan type | Average rate |
|---|---|
| 30-year fixed | 6.67% |
| 15-year fixed | 5.96% |
Those are conventional conforming averages. FHA and jumbo price differently and move with the same market, so treat the survey as the tide rather than as your quote.
One counterintuitive note: jumbo rates are not automatically higher. Jumbo pricing floats relative to conforming and has at times been comparable or better, because the borrowers tend to be strong. What’s reliably tougher with jumbo is the requirements — deposit, reserves, documentation — rather than the rate.
The 15-year version of each
Every one of these comes in a shorter-term variant, and the shorter term is cheaper on rate and heavier on payment. The 15-year averaged 5.96% against the 30-year’s 6.67% in mid-August 2026, a 71 basis point gap, with a payment roughly 30 to 40% higher.
That trade works the same way across all three categories, and whether it suits you depends on cash flow rather than on which number is smaller.
What to do before applying
Find the conforming limit for the county, so you know which conversation you’re in.
Check your credit early. Score bands are worth thousands on a loan this size, and there is a specific playbook for the ninety days before applying.
Get quotes across categories if you’re near a boundary. A slightly larger deposit that brings you under the conforming limit can change the product, the insurance and the price at once.
Ask specifically about mortgage insurance — how much, for how long, and what removes it.
Category first, then the shopping. Once you know which one you’re in, today’s mortgage rates tell you what a real quote should look like, and the mortgage guide is there if a term you hit along the way needs unpacking.