Mortgage borrowers can save $2K on fees by shopping around

If mortgage borrowers shop around they can save more than $2,000 on fees according to a new study.

LendingTree has studied 300,000 loan offers on its platform and found a wide distribution of mortgage fees offered to borrowers, which means there are savings to be found.

In the first quarter of 2019, the median mortgage fees charged by lenders on the platform was $2,059 for purchase loans and $1,807 for refinancing. But the largest difference between the highest and lowest offers was $2,045.

For 7% of new purchase borrowers and 8% of refinance borrowers, there were ‘zero fees’ offers, while 15% of new borrowers and 19% of refi borrowers paid less than $500. Around 3 in 10 borrowers for both types of mortgage paid less than $1,000.

However, 13% of purchasers and 12% of refinancers paid fees in excess of $5K and 3% and 1% respectively paid more than $10K.

A small share of purchase (0.21%) and refinance (0.02%) borrowers paid mortgage fees of more than $20,000.

LendingTree says that customers should try to negotiate lower fees, while remembering that taxes and other official fees are non-negotiable.