Points and an origination fee are two other expenses that will be added to your lists of closing costs:

Discount Points

A discount point is equal to 1 percent of your loan amount. For example, on a $100,000 loan, one point is equal to $1,000. Lenders can charge one, two, or more points. Typically, the fewer amounts of discount points you have to pay, the higher your interest rate will be, and vice versa. Therefore, be careful of loans that advertise “no-point” loans. The only times these might be worth considering is if you need to reduce closing costs. If you plan to hold on to your mortgage for a while, and you can afford it, it may even be beneficial to select a mortgage with higher points, as this can result in a lower interest rate for the life of your loan. The points on a mortgage are also tax deductible in the year that you incur them.

Example: For example, suppose you want to borrow $100,000. One lender offers you a 30 year fixed mortgage of $100,000 at 7.5 percent interest with no points. Another lender quotes 7.0 percent interest but charges two points. Which loan do you choose? If you choose to go with the loan that charges no points, your monthly payment will be $699. If you pay two points at closing ($2,000), you will be making a monthly payment of $665. You save $34 a month. If you keep your mortgage for the entire 30 years, that's a savings of $12,240!

Origination Fees

The origination fee is charged by the lender to cover the costs of processing your application.

In shopping for a loan, the consumer should always ask the lender for the total of all charges expressed as a percent of the loan amount, including origination fees, and all charges expressed in dollars. The total of these is the relevant number.

Reporting services that publish information on mortgage rates and discount points do not show dollar fees, but most readers interpret the "discount points" in these reports to include all charges expressed as a percent of the loan. This is not the case for lenders who charge an origination fee, however. Such lenders can show lower points, thereby looking better in the comparisons. This is pure gamesmanship.