More in mortgage fees
Mortgage fees vary greatly from lender to lender — and apparently from place to place. According to a new study, average fees range anywhere from just $500 in one state to nearly $7,000 in another.
Mortgage fees by state
According to a new analysis from agent marketplace Clever, mortgage fees vary widely by state. In Hawaii, for example, homebuyers pay a whopping $6,967 in average fees. Over in South Carolina? They pay just $514.
The states with the highest fees are in the Western part of the country, including Hawaii, California ($3,614), Washington ($3,079), Utah ($2,916), Arizona ($2,859), Nevada ($2,800), and Oregon ($2,552).
Homebuyers pay the lowest fees in South Carolina, Pennsylvania ($594), Kansas ($684), Iowa ($764), and Vermont ($829).
Nationally, the average buyer pays around $2,000 in fees or 1% of the loan amount.
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High fees equals more complaints
States with higher fees also saw more complaints from customers last year. according to the analysis.
As Francesca Ortegren, Clever’s research associate, explains, “Borrowers were more likely to file complaints in states where people were approved for higher loans and had higher mortgage fees. Lenders received complaints from borrowers in D.C. and Virginia over 2.5 times more often than average, both of which had higher-than-average fees — $5300 and $2500, respectively.”
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Most complaints (lodged with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) stemmed from problems with the mortgage process, payments, applications, and closing.
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