VA Rate-and-Term Refinance Lender Fees

VA rate-and-term refinances, Section A total, HMDA 2024 data

Source: HMDA public loan data, 2024, national, VA rate-and-term refinance, Section A total, points included. Slide the table sideways to see every column.

The 25th to 75th percentile span is the typical range for each band. The under $150,000 band is the smallest group of any published band at 2,616 loans, which is still a few thousand real closings.

What counts as rate-and-term here

HMDA calls a loan a refinancing when a new dwelling-secured obligation replaces an existing one for the same borrower, and it asks the lender to mark the loan cash-out only when the lender treated it that way under its own or its investor's guidelines. The 104,153 loans on this page are the VA refinances reported as refinancing without the cash-out flag. HMDA records nothing about the VA program type beyond that, so this page describes the loans by purpose and size and leaves it there.

Where the funding fee sits

The funding fee is paid to the Department of Veterans Affairs. On the Loan Estimate it appears in Section B, Services You Cannot Shop For, which is where the CFPB's explainer places government premiums and funding fees and where the Regulation Z commentary lists a government funding fee as an example. The VA sets the amount, which varies with service type, down payment, disability status, purpose and prior VA loan use, and some borrowers are exempt. Because it is a Section B item, it is not in any number on this page.

The VA's own limit on the lender's flat charge

Under 38 CFR 36.4313(d)(2), a lender may collect a flat charge of up to 1 percent of the loan amount in place of origination costs not expressly allowed in the VA's schedule. Points are a separate matter, and HMDA's Section A total includes them. That is one way a VA refinance can carry a Section A total past 1 percent of the loan, and the 75th percentile of $6,903 for loans of $500,000 and up shows that it happens.

Medians rise with size, the 25th percentile does not

The median climbs through every band, from $1,136 under $150,000 to $4,119 at $500,000 and up. The 25th percentile follows that path until the last band, where it drops to $1,063. The 75th percentile goes from $2,098 to $6,903.

VA refinances compared with the other refinance groups

The all-sizes median for VA purchase loans in the same HMDA 2024 data was $1,015 with a $0 25th percentile, and for VA cash-out refinances $7,877. Rate-and-term refinances in the other programs show medians of $1,805 for conventional and $950 for FHA, the FHA group also starting at $0. VA rate-and-term refinances start at $1,329, not $0, which sets them apart from VA purchases and FHA rate-and-term refinances in this record.

A worked reading

Imagine a $140,000 VA rate-and-term refinance with two illustrative Section A lines: a flat origination charge of $400 and an underwriting fee of $150. The Section A total is $550.

That loan belongs to the under $150,000 band, where the typical range is $741 to $2,098. A total of $550 is below the typical range for the band. A below reading means the total sits under what the middle half of comparable loans paid.

Reading your refinance

The inspection reads your VA Loan Estimate, confirms purpose and loan size, and grades your Section A total and your rate against this record. If a funding fee exemption may apply, the report says which assumption it used. The method is at /methodology.

Reviewed on October 2026.