One of the keys to mortgage insurance, or private mortgage insurance is the fact that you can not choose the company that you get your insurance from. This particular type of insurance helps to protect the lender, not you, but you do have to pay for it monthly.
If you want to avoid PMI or private mortgage insurance, you can do so. One way to do so is to make sure that your down payment on your home's purchase is at least 20 percent of the total mortgaged amount of the home. This will remove the need for PMI.