Loan Estimate Checker: Every Fee Explained, Fees and Rate Graded
You have a Loan Estimate in hand and want to know whether it is okay. This page is the checker. Upload the PDF your lender sent, confirm your loan scenario, and the AI reads every line, explains what each fee is, and grades your Section A total and your rate against the public record. You pay $29 at checkout, no lender pays us anything, and your file is deleted once your report is delivered.
Upload, confirm your loan details, and see what your report covers. You pay $29 at checkout.
What the checker does
- Upload. The Loan Estimate is a standard three-page federal form, so the AI knows where every value lives.
- Confirm your scenario. The program (conventional, FHA, VA or USDA), purchase or refinance, your credit score band, your down payment and whether you will live in the home. Nothing is graded until you confirm these, because the typical range depends on them.
- Read the report. On the page and as a PDF. Every fee in Sections A and B gets a plain-English line saying what it is. The Section A total and the rate each get a verdict in one of three bands: below range, within range or above range.
The Section A total is read as one number because that is how the public record reports it. Section B (appraisal, credit report, flood certification) is explained without a grade, since no public benchmark breaks those fees out one by one.
What you get: the sample report
The sample report is live at /sample-report, built on a fictional loan, so you can read the whole thing before you pay. Sample loan: a $382,500 conventional purchase at 7.125%, issued March 12, 2026, 20% down, credit score band 740 to 759, primary residence. The AI read 10 fees across Sections A and B, and the rate.
| What was read | Sample loan | Typical range for this scenario | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section A total (lender fees) | $6,180 | $1,325 to $5,775 | Above range, $405 over |
| Rate at lock | 7.125% | 6.75% to 7.25% | Within range |
Under the card, each Section A line gets one sentence, such as the underwriting fee, $695: "pays the lender to review the risk of your loan." The points, $956, are marked optional because you chose to pay them for a lower rate, and the rate verdict is written knowing you bought it down. A check-the-math line adds the seven printed fees back up to $6,180, so you can match the report to your own copy line by line. The report says where the numbers sit and leaves what to do about them to you.
How Section A is graded
Section A, Origination Charges, on page 2 holds the lender's own fees: origination fee, points, application, administration, processing, underwriting and document preparation lines. It is the one section of the form a lender prices by itself.
The measuring stick is the public HMDA record. Federal law requires lenders to report the loans they actually make, and the 2024 file covers 3,787,575 real loans. We group those loans by program, purpose and loan-size band and read where your total falls; the sample loan is read against conventional purchases from $300,000 to $500,000. Points are included in the total because the record includes them, and the report marks them as optional. The benchmark is national and is refreshed each year when the new HMDA file is released. The full method is on the methodology page, published before you pay.
How the rate is compared
Your rate is read against the daily index of rates lenders actually locked, on the day your rate was locked (the date your estimate was issued, when the Rate Lock box says YES), adjusted by the pricing rules Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac publish for your credit score band and your down payment. A 740 score with 20% down is compared with loans priced the same way. On the sample loan, the typical range on March 12, 2026 was 6.75% to 7.25%, and the 7.125% rate sat inside it.
Rate series: Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices (OBMMI), retrieved via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
What it does not do
The checker is an educational tool. It is not a lender or a broker, and it does not quote rates, approve loans, pick a lender for you, or tell you what to say to anyone. A reading of your document against the public record is education about where your numbers sit. It is not advice about what to do, and it is not a quote or an offer of any kind. Questions about available loan options, rates or fees belong with a licensed mortgage professional.
The AI reads printed values, and a scanned or photographed form can be misread. That is why the report shows every value it read next to the section it came from, and why the check-the-math line exists. If a figure on the report does not match your copy, your form is right.
Who pays for the check, and why it matters
Every check has a measuring stick and someone paying for it. Some tools that read Loan Estimates are offered by companies that also make loans, and a read like that compares your numbers with that company's own price. That is a fair business, and it is a different measurement: your numbers against one company's price. This checker measures your numbers against the public record, and the money behind it is your $29. Nobody pays us but you, and we never sell data or leads. The sample report shows what that buys before you pay.
Privacy: what happens to your file
Your uploaded file is used to build your report and deleted once the report is delivered. Your report stays open at its link for 7 days, and the PDF is yours to keep. There is no account to create, and we never sell data or leads.
A manual checklist
Five checks you can run yourself before uploading.
- Page 1, the top block. Your name, the property address, the loan amount and the sale price. Loan amount plus down payment should equal the price (sample loan: $382,500 plus $95,625 is $478,125).
- The Rate Lock box. YES or NO, and if yes, when the lock ends. The costs on the form stand for 10 business days after it is issued, and the rate stands only as long as the Rate Lock box says it does.
- Section A, page 2. Add the lines and match the total. Sample loan: $956 + $1,495 + $795 + $995 + $495 + $695 + $749 = $6,180.
- Sections B and C. The lender chooses the providers in B. The form says you can shop for the services in C.
- Comparing two estimates. Compare them for the same day, loan amount and lock status, because rates move daily. Read Section A against Section A and the rate against the rate. Prepaids (Sections F and G) follow your closing date and tax bill, so they say little about the lender.
Common questions
How do I know if my Loan Estimate is good?
Two numbers on the form are set by the lender: the Section A total and the rate. Whether they are in line is a measurement against loans like yours, and that is what the checker reads. The report puts each one in a band (below, within or above range) and explains every fee on the way.
Is there a tool to check a Loan Estimate?
Yes, and LoanInspection is one of them. Judge any tool by whether it names its data, states its method before you pay, and says who pays for it.
Is it safe to upload my Loan Estimate?
Ask any tool three things: who pays them, what happens to your file, and what happens to your contact details. Our answers: you pay, the file is deleted once your report is delivered, and we never sell data or leads.
What is my Section A total compared to?
The 2024 public HMDA record, 3,787,575 real loans, grouped by program, purpose and loan-size band to match yours. The benchmark is national.
What does the checker cost, and do I need an account?
It costs $29, paid once at checkout, with no account and no subscription. You upload, confirm your loan details, see what the report covers, and then pay.
The AI reads your Loan Estimate line by line, explains every fee, 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.
You pay $29 at checkout.
Sources
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act public loan data, 2024 (FFIEC): 3,787,575 loans, the Section A benchmark.
- Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices (OBMMI), published by Optimal Blue, LLC, retrieved via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level price adjustment grids, the pricing rules applied to the rate comparison.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Loan Estimate Explainer and "Review your Loan Estimates" (the Rate Lock box, the 10-business-day cost rule, and the services you can shop for).
- LoanInspection methodology page and sample report: /methodology and /sample-report.
- Sample loan: a fictional $382,500 conventional purchase on the CFPB H-24 form, issued 3/12/2026, prepared by LoanInspection for illustration. Not a quote or an offer.
Reviewed on October 2026.