Uninsured mortgage

With 20% or more down, no default insurance is required, so the lender carries the full credit risk. To compensate, uninsured (conventional) rates are usually a touch higher than insured rates for the same borrower — the opposite of what many buyers expect.

Uninsured files also unlock options insured rules don't allow: amortizations the lender sets (commonly up to 30 years, for any buyer), non-owner-occupied rentals, properties of $1.5 million or more, and refinances (a refinance can't be default-insured). That flexibility is often worth the small rate premium.

There's a middle path called an insurable mortgage — 20%+ down where the lender quietly insures the loan themselves to access cheaper funding and passes some of the saving back to you. A broker can tell you whether a given lender is pricing your file as uninsured or insurable, because it changes your rate.