Methodology
How we check your mortgage paperwork
Upload your paperwork, answer a few questions, and get a plain-English report on whether you're being overcharged. Here's what we check, what our code calculates, what AI does, and where our numbers come from.
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The process
Three steps. Usually a few minutes.
Send us your paperwork
A recent mortgage statement for a Refi Check, 2 to 4 Loan Estimates for Estimate Compare, or your Loan Estimate plus your Closing Disclosure for a Closing Disclosure Audit. A Buyer Check needs no documents, just a few questions about your income, debts, and savings.
We read it and run the numbers
AI reads your documents and pulls out the details. Our code then runs the mortgage math and applies the federal fee rules. Reports are usually ready in a few minutes once your documents are uploaded.
You get a plain-English report
A PDF in your account that shows what looks fine, what doesn't, and questions worth raising with your lender. We give you the facts. The decisions stay yours.
What we check
Where you're most likely to be overcharged.
Fees that look padded
When you compare Loan Estimates, we line the fees up side by side and flag charges that look out of line for their category, like processing, application, and administration fees stacked on top of an origination fee. The report explains why each one was flagged. Our guide to mortgage junk fees covers which lender charges you can push back on.
A rate that's too high
We compare your rate with Freddie Mac's weekly national average, adjusted for your credit range. A Refi Check uses the 30-year average, or the 15-year average when your loan has 15 years or less left. When enough Mortgage Lens customers with similar loans have shared the rates they closed at, we use those instead. The report tells you which one it used.
Fee increases the rules don't allow
The federal TRID rule limits how much some closing costs can rise between your Loan Estimate and your Closing Disclosure. Our Closing Disclosure Audit compares the two line by line, sorts each fee into its tolerance group, and flags increases over the limits. Our TRID tolerance guide explains each group with examples.
Mortgage insurance you may be able to drop
PMI is the extra monthly charge a lender adds on many conventional loans when your down payment is under 20%. Under the federal Homeowners Protection Act, you can ask to cancel it once your balance reaches 80% of your home's original value, and it generally ends on its own at 78%. If your home has gained value, your servicer may let you drop it sooner, usually after a new appraisal. Give us your home's current value and a Refi Check estimates when you could ask to have it removed and what home value would get you there today, so you know what to ask your servicer.
Why you can trust the numbers
Our code does the math. AI reads, applies our rules, and explains.
Our code calculates the numbers that matter most: monthly payments, break-even points, lifetime interest, affordability limits, PMI timing, each fee's tolerance group, and the refund a lender may owe you. It also sets the verdict in a Buyer Check and a Closing Disclosure Audit. The same inputs always give the same results.
AI does three jobs. It reads your documents. It writes the plain-English explanations around our numbers. And in two reports it makes the headline call by applying written rules we give it to our calculated numbers: in a Refi Check it decides whether refinancing makes sense now, later, or not at all, and in Estimate Compare it weighs your offers to pick the one that costs you least and flags fees that look padded.
If we can't read a Loan Estimate or Closing Disclosure with enough confidence, the report says so instead of guessing.
Where our numbers come from
Public rules, national data, and your own paperwork.
Market rates
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the weekly national averages for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate loans that most news outlets quote. We pull it from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's FRED database. It updates weekly, so it stays steady instead of bouncing around day to day.
Fee rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's TRID rule in Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.19), which sets what your Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure must show and how much each kind of fee is allowed to change.
State costs
Typical property tax rates by state from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy's 50-state comparison, and typical homeowners insurance costs from state insurance rate filings and Insurance Information Institute data. Buyer Check uses these when you don't have exact numbers.
Closing results customers share
When customers choose to tell us the rate and costs they closed with, we combine them into a rate benchmark. Reports use only the combined figures, never anyone's name or address, and only when we have enough similar loans. Customers can leave their numbers out at any time in Settings.
Your own documents and answers
Most of all, what you give us. Every figure in your report comes from your paperwork, your answers, the sources above, or our calculations on them.
Staying independent
No lender pays us a cent.
Borrowers pay a one-time price for a report, from $49 to $219 depending on what you need. Real estate agents can also pay a monthly subscription to share white-labeled Closing Disclosure audits with their clients.
We never take money from lenders. No referral fees, no ads, no "preferred partner" deals.
Why does that matter to you? Many free mortgage sites earn money when you choose a lender they send you to, so their top pick can be whoever pays them most. No lender pays us, so we have no reason to go easy on anyone. We'll tell you plainly when a fee looks padded or a rate looks high.
Our promises
What we will and won't do.
We won't give legal or financial advice
We lay out the facts and the math. The decision always stays with you. Our disclaimers explain the limits of a report.
If we can't produce your report, we refund you
If your document is the wrong kind, too blurry to read, or missing key details and we can't produce your report, email hello@mortgagelens.ai and we'll refund you in full.
We watch rates if now isn't the time to refinance
If your Refi Check says to wait or not to refinance, we check rates every day, for free. Once the 30-year average has dropped at least 0.25 points from where it stood when your report ran (or when we last emailed you), we re-run your numbers. We email you only if refinancing would then save at least $150 a month and earn back closing costs within 3 years, and within half the time you plan to stay. You get at most one email a month. It runs for 12 months after your latest Refi Check and ends early once you tell us you've refinanced. Every email has a link to pause or stop it.
We check in after a Buyer Check
We check in about 3, 6, and 12 months after your report, and email you sooner (at most once every 60 days) if rates drop enough to change what you can afford. Every email has a link to pause or stop them.
We never sell your data
We never sell your information or share it with lenders. Our privacy policy explains what we keep and how to delete it.
Whenever you're ready.
You don't need to understand a single line of your mortgage paperwork to use Mortgage Lens. That's our job. Pick the report that fits where you are. It's usually ready in a few minutes once your documents are uploaded.
Still have questions? Read the FAQ or learn who we are.