Mark these items on the document in front of you
- Loan amount and product correct
- Rate-lock status recorded
- Full payment budgeted
- Points and credits separated
- Cash to close reconciled
- Offers use matching assumptions
Verify page-one identity and product
Confirm borrower, property, sale price, loan amount, term, purpose and product. Check whether the rate is locked and when both the lock and estimated costs expire.
Confirm the scenario first. Match borrower, property, loan purpose, product, amount, term and rate-lock status with the offer requested. A correct calculation for the wrong product or property assumption is not a usable estimate.
Stress-test projected payments
Trace principal and interest, mortgage insurance and escrow. If taxes, insurance or assessments are not escrowed, add them to the household budget separately.
Follow the payment beyond year one. Read principal and interest beside mortgage insurance, escrowed taxes and insurance. If any amount can change, locate the change timing and test the later payment rather than relying on the opening total.
Audit page-two costs
Separate origination charges, services you cannot shop for, services you can shop for, taxes, prepaids and initial escrow. Identify points and lender credits rather than netting them mentally.
Rebuild cash to close. Trace closing costs, down payment, deposits, seller credits, lender credits and other adjustments into the final estimate. Ask about any credit or charge that appears without its underlying tradeoff or source.
Once the disclosed charges and credits are verified, build an itemized cash-to-close worksheet instead of relying on a percentage shortcut.
Reconcile cash to close
Follow down payment, deposit, seller credit, lender credit and financed costs. Cash to close is different from total closing costs.
Use page-three comparisons
Compare APR, total interest percentage and the five-year figures, but also use your expected holding period. Ask for corrected estimates when assumptions differ.
Read the Loan Estimate as a connected three-page model
A strong review follows the same number across pages instead of checking boxes in isolation. Loan terms, projected payment, closing costs and cash to close must describe one coherent transaction.
The pages and terms that control the decision
Loan amount and product correct
Which charges can I shop for?
Rate-lock status recorded
What created each lender credit?
Full payment budgeted
Which costs are estimates?
Items the document should answer clearly
- Which charges can I shop for?
- What created each lender credit?
- Which costs are estimates?
- Can you issue a version matching this competing scenario?
Create a marked signing copy
Work from the complete version you may sign. Mark each controlling page, attachment and unresolved blank so the final reconciliation can detect substitutions or late changes.
For this decision, the first working threshold is concrete: Loan amount and product correct; Rate-lock status recorded; Full payment budgeted.
Read those checks beside the sections on Verify page-one identity and product, Stress-test projected payments, Audit page-two costs. Completing one item does not cure a mismatch elsewhere, so leave the decision open until the record is internally consistent.
Assign every unresolved row an owner and a date for receiving the missing document so it cannot disappear in the rush to sign.
| Document check | Location or version to mark | Question for the final copy |
|---|---|---|
| Loan amount and product correct | Copy the dollar amount or rate, its source page, what it includes and the condition that can change it. | Which charges can I shop for? |
| Rate-lock status recorded | Copy the dollar amount or rate, its source page, what it includes and the condition that can change it. | What created each lender credit? |
| Full payment budgeted | Copy the dollar amount or rate, its source page, what it includes and the condition that can change it. | Which costs are estimates? |
| Points and credits separated | Copy the dollar amount or rate, its source page, what it includes and the condition that can change it. | Can you issue a version matching this competing scenario? |
| Cash to close reconciled | Use current after-tax cash records and keep essential spending, irregular bills and protected reserves visible. | Which charges can I shop for? |
| Offers use matching assumptions | Mark the controlling page or source, its version date, the responsible party and any exception that changes the result. | What created each lender credit? |
Repeat the check on the signing version. Save the completed document and every incorporated attachment together, with no blank relying on a verbal explanation.