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Finance Charges


DEFINITION:

Includes any charge payable directly or indirectly by the consumer and imposed directly or indirectly by the creditor incident to or required by the Lender except for fees that would be charged in a comparable cash transaction. Fees specifically exempt are appraisals, credit reports, doc prep, seller's points, hazard or flood insurance premiums, some title fees. When a fee is charged by a third party and increased to benefit the lender, the increased amount is called an upcharge. The portion retained by the lender should be considered a finance charge, even on exempt fees. The chart below may not be all inclusive.

Last Updated 07/14/2009 (recent changes bolded)

APR ITEMS (“Finance Charges”)
  • 203K Permits
  • 203K Consultant Fee
  • 203K Inspection Fee (Lender Makes These Inspections)
  • 203K Supplemental Document Fee
  • 203K Supplemental Origination Fee
  • Administrative Fee
  • Amortization Schedule
  • Application Fee (if only sometimes charged)
  • Appraisal Review (Review by Lender)
  • Assignment Fee
  • Assumption Fee
  • Attorney Fee for Document Preparation or Closing (3rd Party)
  • Bank Fee/Points
  • Broker’s Fee
  • Buydown/Subsidy Fee (Borrower’s Portion)
  • Closing Fee
  • Commitment Fee
  • Compliance Audit
  • Consultant Fee
  • Conversion Fee
  • Copy Fee
  • Courier Fee (All, Including Payoff from Title Co.)
  • Credit Life Insurance (if required by Lender)
  • Discount Fee
  • Document Preparation (lender fee)
  • Document Preparation Fee (3rd Party Fee) (Some investors consider this to be a prepaid finance charge. We will include it unless you request otherwise)
  • Document Review
  • Download Fee
  • Electronic Delivery
  • Engineers Report (if required by Lender)
  • Escrow Fees to Title Company
  • Escrow Fees to Lender (203K)
  • Escrow Waiver Fee to Lender
  • Express Mail (All, Including Payoff from Title Co.)
  • Final Inspection Fee (unless payable to appraiser)
  • Flood Fee/Flood Cert. (Life of Loan)
  • Funding Fee
  • Good Funds (To Lender)
  • Home Inspection (if required by Lender)
  • Inspection/Photo Fee (Not to Appraiser)
  • Inspection and Handling Fees for the staged
  • disbursement of construction loan proceeds
  • Insuring Fee
  • Interest to End of Month (FHA, VA & Conv.)
  • Loan Delivery Fee
  • Loan Docs. (fees for preparing deeds, mortgages and similar documents if to 3rd party lawyer)
  • Lock-In
  • Lock Extension Fee
  • Long Distance (To Lender)
  • MCC Fee
  • MERS File Registration Fee
  • Modification Fee
  • MIP
  • Mortgage Insurance
  • Origination Fee
  • Per Diem Interest
  • Plan Review Fee
  • PMI (Initial Premium)
  • PMI (Reserves)
  • Post Closing Fee
  • Pre-Plan Inspection Fee
  • Processing Fee
  • Rebate Fee
  • Refinance Fee
  • Release Fee
  • Review Fee
  • Supplemental Discount
  • Supplemental Origination
  • Tax Service Fee (for life of loan)
  • Transaction Fee
  • Transfer Fee
  • Underwriting Fee
  • USDA Guarantee Fee (Up-Front and Monthly)
  • VA Funding Fee
  • VA No-Bid Fee
  • Warehouse Fee
  • Wire Fee
 NON-APR ITEMS (“Not Finance Charges”)
  • Abstractor’s Certificate
  • Application Fee - (if charged to all persons seeking credit, whether or not credit is actually extended.)
  • Appraisal Fee
  • Appraisal Retype
  • Appraisal Review (3rd party appraiser)
  • Attorney Fee for File Review
  • Credit Report Fee
  • Credit Alert (CAVIR)
  • Engineer’s Report (if not required by Lender)
  • Escrow Repairs (Rehab. amounts)
  • Flood Certification (if part of survey fee)
  • Flood Determination/Inspection (initial determination)
  • Flood Insurance
  • Home Inspection
  • Insurance Reimbursement
  • Interest Collected for Old Loan Pay-Off In Refinance
  • MIP Refund
  • Modification Filing Fee
  • Notary Fees
  • Points - Paid by Seller
  • Recertification Fee (To Appraiser)
  • Recording Fee/Filing Fee
  • Redraw Fee for doc prep lawyer
  • Restriction Fees (To Title Company)
  • Survey Fee
  • Tax Certificate
  • Tax Deletion (To Title Company)
  • Tax Service Fee - Initial examination
  • Termite/Pest Inspection
  • Title Inspection (To Title Company)
  • Title Insurance (Lenders or Owners)
  • Title Opinion/Policy (To Title Company)
  • Verifications - Cost of verifying or confirming info re: non APR item
**IF YOU HAVE TO GUESS,  ASSUME IT TO BE A FINANCE CHARGE.**



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