State of Mortgage Fees, 2024 data year
Every year, United States lenders are required to report what they actually charged on real mortgages under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. This page distills that public record into the number borrowers ask about most: the lender's own charges, Section A of the Loan Estimate, points included. This edition adds loan size: every program and purpose is broken into four size bands, because a point on a large loan is more dollars than a point on a small one. It is published as an open dataset, refreshed once a year when the new HMDA data year is released, and version dated so a number cited from this page can always be traced to its vintage.
The headline figures, 2024 data year. The median conventional purchase borrower paid $2,075 in Section A lender fees. Refinancing borrowers who kept their loan size paid a median of $1,805. Cash out refinances ran higher, at a median of $3,828. Government program medians tell their own story: $3,089 for FHA purchases against $1,015 for VA purchases, where a quarter of loans closed with no Section A charges at all.
What did lenders charge on loans like yours?
Dial in a loan amount, program, and purpose. The figures are what lenders actually charged on comparable loans in the 2024 federal record, points included.
Half of these loans closed between $1,325 and $5,775. A quarter paid less than $1,325.
The range is public. Your position on it is what the inspection reads from your Loan Estimate.
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| Program and purpose | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional purchase | $1,202 | $2,075 | $4,817 |
| Conventional refinance, rate and term | $995 | $1,805 | $4,717 |
| Conventional refinance, cash out | $1,674 | $3,828 | $6,593 |
| FHA purchase | $1,440 | $3,089 | $5,811 |
| FHA refinance, rate and term | $0 | $950 | $4,699 |
| FHA refinance, cash out | $3,941 | $6,084 | $8,859 |
| VA purchase | $0 | $1,015 | $3,313 |
| VA refinance, rate and term | $1,329 | $2,755 | $4,658 |
| VA refinance, cash out | $4,544 | $7,877 | $11,995 |
Source: HMDA public loan data, 2024, national, Section A only
| Purpose | Loan size | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase | Under $150K | $950 | $1,527 | $2,507 |
| $150K to $300K | $1,211 | $2,036 | $3,996 | |
| $300K to $500K | $1,325 | $2,570 | $5,775 | |
| $500K and up | $1,250 | $2,172 | $7,485 | |
| Refinance, rate and term | Under $150K | $292 | $1,250 | $2,848 |
| $150K to $300K | $1,125 | $2,399 | $4,941 | |
| $300K to $500K | $1,190 | $2,302 | $5,978 | |
| $500K and up | $1,110 | $1,640 | $5,785 | |
| Refinance, cash out | Under $150K | $1,129 | $2,341 | $3,652 |
| $150K to $300K | $2,195 | $4,535 | $6,462 | |
| $300K to $500K | $2,500 | $6,479 | $10,260 | |
| $500K and up | $1,694 | $7,480 | $15,007 |
Source: HMDA public loan data, 2024, national, Section A only
| Purpose | Loan size | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase | Under $150K | $1,299 | $2,054 | $2,995 |
| $150K to $300K | $1,433 | $2,821 | $4,575 | |
| $300K to $500K | $1,400 | $3,927 | $7,235 | |
| $500K and up | $1,695 | $5,945 | $11,303 | |
| Refinance, rate and term | Under $150K | $0 | $2,277 | $3,894 |
| $150K to $300K | $0 | $1,001 | $4,963 | |
| $300K to $500K | $0 | $639 | $4,413 | |
| $500K and up | $0 | $1,110 | $6,143 | |
| Refinance, cash out | Under $150K | $2,934 | $3,902 | $4,870 |
| $150K to $300K | $4,587 | $6,407 | $8,213 | |
| $300K to $500K | $5,509 | $9,215 | $12,413 | |
| $500K and up | $5,023 | $10,654 | $16,371 |
Source: HMDA public loan data, 2024, national, Section A only
| Purpose | Loan size | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase | Under $150K | $0 | $300 | $1,430 |
| $150K to $300K | $0 | $653 | $2,445 | |
| $300K to $500K | $0 | $1,095 | $3,664 | |
| $500K and up | $0 | $1,507 | $5,455 | |
| Refinance, rate and term | Under $150K | $741 | $1,136 | $2,098 |
| $150K to $300K | $1,317 | $2,191 | $3,527 | |
| $300K to $500K | $1,615 | $3,157 | $4,900 | |
| $500K and up | $1,063 | $4,119 | $6,903 | |
| Refinance, cash out | Under $150K | $2,800 | $4,098 | $5,171 |
| $150K to $300K | $4,843 | $7,217 | $9,512 | |
| $300K to $500K | $5,641 | $10,351 | $14,470 | |
| $500K and up | $4,839 | $11,288 | $19,528 |
Source: HMDA public loan data, 2024, national, Section A only
Two things the size bands make visible. Fees scale with loan size but nowhere near proportionally: conventional purchase medians run from $1,527 under $150K to $2,172 above $500K, a 42 percent rise across a more than tripling of loan size, because much of Section A is flat work priced as flat fees. And the 75th percentiles stretch dramatically at the top sizes, because points are a percent of the loan: the same one point decision that adds $1,200 on a small loan adds $7,000 on a large one.
How to read the table. The typical range for any loan type is the middle half of the record: the span from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Half of all loans landed inside it, a quarter below, a quarter above. Zeros are real: streamline refinance programs and lenders who price their compensation into the rate instead of fees both produce genuine $0 Section A loans.
What this data is and is not. It is gross Section A: the lender's own origination charges with discount points included, measured as one total, because that is how the public record reports it. It is national. It separates loan sizes into four bands, because points scale with loan amount and a single national distribution stretches the picture. It contains no rate data: rate benchmarks involve separately licensed market indices and are deliberately excluded from this dataset.
The dataset. The table above is downloadable as CSV and marked up as a machine readable dataset. You are welcome to use it with attribution.
Method, in one paragraph. Loan level HMDA records were filtered to the loan purposes shown, and the reported origination charges field was taken gross, with no netting of points or lender credits. Percentiles were computed per program and purpose cell. The full methodology behind how we grade individual documents against this data is on our methodology page.
Common questions
Can I republish these numbers?
Yes, with attribution. The underlying HMDA data is public federal data; this page's contribution is the cleaned, versioned distillation.
Why do the figures include points?
Because the public record reports Section A as one total. A table that silently removed points would not be reproducible from the source data.
When do these numbers change?
Once a year, when a new HMDA data year is published. The version date above always states the vintage you are reading.
This page answers the general question. What it cannot answer is where your numbers sit. The AI reads your Loan Estimate line by line and grades your Section A total and your rate against this same public data, priced for your credit, your down payment, and your loan type. One upload, one $29 report, and your document is deleted once it is delivered.