Origination fee

An origination fee is the lender's charge for creating the loan — taking the application, underwriting, and funding it. It appears in the lender-fee section of your Loan Estimate.

Origination charges vary between lenders and can sometimes be traded against the interest rate: a lower fee with a slightly higher rate, or the reverse. Comparing the whole picture — fee plus rate — matters more than either number alone.

Because a mortgage broker arranges loans across lenders rather than lending directly, understanding how a given offer is priced is part of what the comparison is for.