Free tool — for anyone holding more than one Loan Estimate
Mortgage / Loan-Offer Comparison Scorer
Compare two mortgage or refinance offers side by side. Give it the loan amount, the rate and the closing costs left after any lender credit, and it works out what borrowing each offer costs by the year you expect to sell or refinance — closing costs after credits plus interest, and nothing else — then scores both across five weighted criteria. No email, no signup, one click to download. Use it here in your browser, take the starter spreadsheet away for your own Loan Estimates, or print the PDF and read the method with the forms in front of you.
Compare two mortgage or refinance offers on cost and five weighted criteria
Pre-filled with a fictional worked example — the paid workbook's own steady fixed-rate offer against its higher-rate, credit-at-closing offer. Its ratings are the paid workbook's own, set against its four-offer example rather than against just these two, so treat them as a starting point to change rather than a verdict. Type your own two offers over them. No signup, and no real lender is named here.
What each offer costs to borrow, by your horizon
Example A (steady fixed rate)
Example B (credit for a higher rate)
Example A (steady fixed rate) costs less to borrow at these numbers — $6,778 less than Example B (credit for a higher rate). A real gap over the horizon you entered.
Closing costs after credits is everything you'd owe at the table once any lender credit is already subtracted — origination, points, and the rest of a Loan Estimate's fees, netted once. The figure beside each offer is those closing costs plus the interest you pay through your horizon, and nothing else: no mortgage insurance, no property taxes or escrow, and no principal, which is your own money turning into equity rather than a cost. It assumes a standard 30-year fixed amortization at the rate you enter, worked out with a formula rather than a month-by-month schedule — a same-basis estimate, not a substitute for your lender's own numbers if either offer is an ARM or a shorter term. Give both offers the same number of years, or the two figures aren't comparing the same thing. Fill in a loan amount, a rate and a horizon for both to see the comparison.
| Criterion | Weighteditable | Example A (steady fixed rate) | Example B (credit for a higher rate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the loan actually costs you1 = this offer's cost of borrowing at your horizon sits well above the other offer · 5 = it sits at or below the other offer | |||
| Cash you need at the closing table1 = closing costs run well above the other offer, with no credit to offset them · 5 = closing costs run at or below the other offer, or a lender credit brings the real cash needed close to it | |||
| Rate certainty and product risk1 = an adjustable rate whose fixed period ends before, or right around, your expected horizon · 5 = a fixed rate for the life of the loan, or an ARM whose fixed period comfortably outlasts your horizon | |||
| Responsiveness and how they communicate1 = a shared inbox or call-center queue with no named contact and slow turnaround on document requests · 5 = a named loan officer or processor who responds the same day and stays with you through closing | |||
| Reputation and track record1 = little track record to check, or a pattern of complaints about surprise fees or missed timelines · 5 = an established history and consistent reports of closing on time with no last-minute surprises |
Weights total: 78 — they don't have to add up to 100; the score below divides by whatever they total to. The paid workbook spreads 100 points across all eight of its criteria; these five default to the share of that 100 the paid workbook gives them, and you can change any of them.
Gap between the two scores: 0.18 on the 1–5 scale. That's a modest lead, not a landslide — worth weighing against what each offer actually costs to borrow.
This free scorer nets your numbers into one cost of borrowing and one weighted score. It won't work out the month mortgage insurance is actually scheduled to drop off, find the month a lower-rate offer's extra closing cost pays for itself against a higher-rate offer, price what a slipped closing would cost against a rate lock, or let you compare more than two offers on more than five criteria — those are what the paid workbook adds.
A decision aid, not financial or lending advice, and no substitute for reading your Loan Estimates side by side. No lender is named here, and the two example offers and their figures are fictional.
Take it with you — free, no signup
Direct download. No email, no account — just the files.
What it does
- Computes what borrowing costs you by your own horizon for two offers — the closing costs left after any lender credit, plus the interest you actually pay over the years you expect to keep the loan — and names the cheaper one. The figure carries no mortgage insurance, no property taxes or escrow, and no principal. The browser scorer assumes a 30-year fixed amortization at the rate you enter; the downloadable spreadsheet takes each offer's own loan term.
- Tells you plainly where it stops: it does not run an amortization schedule, so it does not work out the month your mortgage insurance stops, does not find the crossover month where an offer that cost more at the closing table, in exchange for a lower rate, finally catches the one that cost least, and does not price what a slipped closing would cost against your rate lock. Those three calculations live in the paid workbook.
- Scores both offers across five weighted criteria: what the loan actually costs you, the cash you need at the closing table, rate certainty and product risk, how the lender communicates, and their reputation and track record.
- Returns one weighted score per offer on a 1-5 scale, and declines to name a winner when the two land close enough that hand-typed ratings cannot separate them.
- Comes pre-loaded with a fictional worked example, so the whole method is running before you type anything.
- Nets points against lender credits once — an easy pair to double-count, because the form prints credits as a negative in a different section from the points.
- Names no real lender and carries no affiliate link or referral fee — the two example lenders are invented, and the ranking is your ratings and nothing else.
- Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere, and nothing you type is saved.
Related reading
Own it, don't rent it
Holding more than two offers, or wondering when the points pay for themselves?
This free scorer rates two offers across five criteria and totals the cost of borrowing at one horizon. It does not run the schedule. The full Mortgage / Loan-Offer Decision Helper compares up to five Loan Estimates across eight criteria you weight yourself, and solves the arithmetic a rate sheet leaves out: the month each offer's borrower-paid mortgage insurance actually stops, read off that offer's own 360-month schedule at 80% of the original value (the purchase price or the appraisal, whichever is lower) and again at 78% — the two points the federal Homeowners Protection Act sets for requesting cancellation and for automatic termination — automatic only if you are current on the loan — and neither governs FHA mortgage insurance premiums; the month an offer that cost more at the closing table finally overtakes the one that cost least, checked against the horizon you entered; and what a slipped closing would cost you in lock-extension fees, priced per offer. It totals the cost of borrowing at three, five, seven and ten years, at full term and at your own horizon — a wider basis than this free scorer uses, because it carries the mortgage insurance for as long as it applies — ranks each block on its own, and says outright when the top two are too close to separate. A ten-tab workbook you keep (Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice) plus three guides.
A one-time purchase you keep and re-run at the refinance — no seat, no subscription, and no account that stops working when you stop paying.
A decision aid, not financial, mortgage, tax or legal advice, and no substitute for your own Loan Estimate, your Closing Disclosure, or advice from a licensed professional. A weighted score is a tool for thinking, not a verdict. Closing costs, lock terms and mortgage-insurance rules vary by lender, loan program and state, and they change — confirm every figure against your own paperwork before you lock. The example offers are fictional and every figure attached to them is invented for illustration. Once you have filled it in, the scorecard holds your own quotes and ratings — clear them before you pass a copy on. Free to use; please don't resell or redistribute.