Honest Education · The Loan Estimate
The document that keeps everyone honest.
The Loan Estimate is the official three-page form every mortgage company must use. It is the only document where federal rules hold a company to its own numbers. Ten minutes here, and nobody can dupe you.
The comparison checklist
Nine things decide the comparison.
Everything else on the form is a third-party cost that rides along with any loan. These nine are where offers differ. Check them in order — or tap any card to see it live on the real document.
The walkthrough
Now walk the actual document.
This is the CFPB's official sample, the real form. Tap any numbered marker for the plain-English version, or take the guided tour end to end. On the phone with one of our advisors? They’ll say “page 1, marker 3” — just tap it.
Tap a numbered marker to open the explanation. Pinch to zoom in on the form.
The ground rule
If it isn't a Loan Estimate, it isn't real.
Only one document in the mortgage world is regulated, standardized, and held to its own numbers. Everything else is sales material.
Holds up
The official Loan Estimate
- Identical federal format from every company, so offers finally line up
- Sent within 3 business days of your application
- The company's own fees are held by law to what's printed
- Says "Loan Estimate" at the top, three pages
It's not a commitment to lend and not a contract. But it's the only paper with legal teeth behind its numbers.
Doesn't
Everything else
None of it binds anyone to anything. Never make a loan decision from it, and never compare it against a real Loan Estimate. Ask every company for the official document, then compare page to page.
Cash to close
How much money do you need to close?
One number, three buckets. Move the sliders to see the honest math for your price and down payment.
Down payment
20% is the famous number, not the rule. Buyers commonly put 10%, 5%, even 3% down, especially on a first home.
Taxes & insurance
When your loan escrows taxes and insurance, you pay the first year of homeowner’s insurance at closing and start the escrow account with a few months of property taxes, so the money is there when the bills come due.
Closing costs
The appraisal, the title work, and the company’s own fees. Our added lender fees: $0.
Our honest fees, already in that math
*For illustration only — not a quote, an estimate, or an offer. Assumes property taxes of 1.25% and homeowner’s insurance of 0.35% of the price a year, an appraisal of $550–$800 depending on price, and title insurance and closing fees of about 0.43% of the price. Your numbers will be different, and we’ll show the math when they are.
Coming up short? There’s more than one way in: seller concessions, a gift from a family member, lender credits. Ask us.
The fees
Every fee lives under one of three rules.
The rule tells you how much a fee on the form can grow by closing, and how much to trust it.
The company's own price
Sections A & B · Page 2
Origination charges, points, and the required services the company picks. What's printed is what you pay.
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Services you shop for
Section C · Page 2
Title work, survey, inspections — using a provider from the company's list.
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Taxes, insurance & prepaids
Sections F & G · and page 1's payment
Property taxes, homeowner's insurance, prepaid interest, escrow. If they're wrong, the surprise is yours.
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The trick to watch for
The oldest trick in the business.
Taxes and insurance sit inside your monthly payment and your cash to close, and they're under the no-cap rule. So a company that wants to look cheap simply guesses low. The real number shows up weeks later, right before closing.
Illustrative comparison built on the CFPB's fictional sample loan. Not an offer, not our rates — just how the trick works.
The honest part
Have a Loan Estimate from someone else? Good.
Send it over. We'll walk it with you line by line: what's locked, what's estimated, what the trade-offs are. Even if you close somewhere else. That's the point.
- Independent mortgage broker, not a lenderWe shop wholesale lenders on your behalf. We don't originate the loan ourselves.
- 100+ loan programs shoppedAnd we're paid the same by every lender, so we have zero incentive to steer.
- $0 added lender feesNothing added on top. Your break-even math starts from a true zero.