Ready to compare refinance quotes without getting lost in lender jargon? Suppose you’re carrying a $340,000 balance at 7.1%, and three lenders send back Loan Estimates within days of each other quoting 5.9%, 6.0%, and 5.85%. On paper the lowest rate wins. Run the numbers, though, and the 5.9% offer with lower fees might beat the 5.85% offer once you divide $6,800 in closing costs by a roughly $290 monthly payment drop and land on a 24-month break-even. By the end of this guide you’ll have a simple worksheet that lines up Loan Estimates from several lenders side by side so you can spot the real winner instead of just the lowest advertised rate. You’ll need your current mortgage statement and at least two to three refinance quotes requested within the same rate-lock window.
- Step 1: Pull Your Current Loan Numbers Before You Shop
- Step 2: Request Loan Estimates From the Same Rate Environment
- Step 3: Set Up the Worksheet Columns That Actually Matter
- Step 4: Run the Worked Break-Even Math
- Step 5: Check Credit Pull Timing and Score Impact
- Step 6: Weigh Loan Type Differences, Not Just Price
- Step 7: Score the Worksheet and Choose Your Lender
Step 1: Pull Your Current Loan Numbers Before You Shop
Before you request a single quote, get your current mortgage statement in front of you and write down five numbers: your remaining principal balance, your note rate, your monthly principal and interest payment, your escrow amount for taxes and insurance, and the number of months left on your term. These five figures become the baseline row on your worksheet, the column every new lender’s offer gets measured against.
Also note your current PMI status. If you’re still paying mortgage insurance, check whether your loan-to-value has dropped low enough that a refinance could eliminate it entirely, separate from any rate savings. Removing PMI is sometimes worth more per month than a quarter-point rate reduction, and it needs its own line on the worksheet rather than getting buried inside the payment comparison.
Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647, walks clients through this baseline step before ever pulling a rate quote, because a lender’s marketing rate means nothing until it’s measured against what you’re actually paying today. A homeowner in Henrico County, Virginia, for example, can check current assessed value against Henrico County’s real estate assessment records to get a realistic sense of current equity before requesting cash-out quotes. That equity figure, combined with your baseline payment numbers, is what keeps every lender conversation grounded in your real situation instead of a hypothetical one.
Write these baseline numbers at the top of your worksheet in their own row, labeled clearly as “current loan.” Every column you add after this represents a lender’s offer being tested against that same baseline, not against each other in isolation.
Step 2: Request Loan Estimates From the Same Rate Environment
A verbal rate quote over the phone isn’t enough to build a real comparison. Ask each lender for a formal Loan Estimate, a standardized three-page federal disclosure form that every lender is required to produce in the same format. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Loan Estimate explainer breaks down exactly which fields you’ll see and where each fee is supposed to appear, so you know what to expect before the document lands in your inbox.
Timing matters more than most homeowners realize. Mortgage rates move with the broader bond market, and the benchmark most lenders price against, tracked weekly through the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, can shift several basis points in a matter of days. Request all your Loan Estimates within a one- to two-day window. If Lender A quotes you on a Tuesday and Lender B quotes you the following Monday, you’re not comparing lenders anymore, you’re comparing two different weeks in the bond market, and any conclusion you draw from that comparison is unreliable.
This is one of the most common mistakes homeowners make when shopping refinance offers: treating a rate quoted three weeks ago as still valid today. Rates aren’t static, and a lender who quoted you 5.9% last month may be quoting 6.2% this week for reasons that have nothing to do with their competitiveness and everything to do with market movement. Keep a note on your worksheet of the exact date and time each Loan Estimate was issued, and check that date against the PMMS reading for that same week. If the dates are staggered, request a refreshed estimate from the earlier lenders before you finalize any comparison.
Step 3: Set Up the Worksheet Columns That Actually Matter
With Loan Estimates in hand, build out the worksheet itself. The rows that matter most are interest rate, APR, loan term, monthly principal and interest, lender fees (origination and underwriting charges the lender itself controls), third-party fees (title, appraisal, recording), lender credits, and total cash needed at closing. APR matters here because it folds in fees and reflects the true cost of borrowing over the loan term, while the note rate only tells you what your payment is calculated against.
Below is a sample structure with three lender columns you can copy directly into your own comparison:
| Line Item | Lender A | Lender B | Lender C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Note Rate | 5.90% | 6.00% | 5.85% |
| APR | 6.05% | 6.08% | 6.21% |
| Loan Term | 30 years | 30 years | 30 years |
| Monthly P&I | $2,020 | $2,038 | $2,009 |
| Lender Fees | $2,200 | $1,800 | $3,600 |
| Third-Party Fees | $3,100 | $3,100 | $3,100 |
| Lender Credits | $0 | $600 | $0 |
| Cash Needed at Closing | $5,300 | $4,300 | $6,700 |
Notice Lender C has the lowest note rate but the highest APR and the highest fees, a classic sign that points or padded lender fees are inflating the upfront cost. Also watch for offers marketed as “no-out-of-pocket closing options.” These aren’t free; the fees are rolled into your loan balance or offset with a slightly higher rate, so you’re still paying them, just over time instead of at the closing table. Add a column note flagging which offers are true reduced-cost structures versus which ones simply defer the same fees into your principal or rate.
Step 4: Run the Worked Break-Even Math
This is where the worksheet earns its keep. Take the homeowner example from the introduction: a $340,000 balance at 7.1%, refinancing into a new loan at 5.9%. That rate drop takes the monthly principal and interest payment down by roughly $290. If total closing costs for that particular Loan Estimate run $6,800, divide $6,800 by $290 and you get a break-even point of about 23.4 months, so call it month 24. Before month 24, you’re still net-negative on the refinance. After month 24, every month of savings is money back in your pocket.
Break-even month alone doesn’t tell the whole story, though. Add a row to your worksheet for five-year total cost: total interest paid plus total fees over 60 months, for both your current loan and each new offer. On the example above, the current 7.1% loan generates roughly $118,000 in interest paid over five years on the remaining balance, while the 5.9% refinance generates around $98,600 in interest over the same window, plus the $6,800 in closing costs, for a net five-year total near $105,400. That’s a five-year savings of roughly $12,600 even after accounting for what you spent to get the new loan.
This is exactly why the lowest advertised rate isn’t automatically the cheapest loan. A lender quoting 5.75% with $9,200 in fees can lose to a lender quoting 5.9% with $4,100 in fees once you run both break-even and five-year totals side by side. Points bought down at closing lower your rate but raise your upfront cost, and if you plan to sell or refinance again before the break-even month arrives, you’ve paid for a discount you never got to use. Run this same division, closing costs divided by monthly savings, for every column on your worksheet before ranking any offer.
Step 5: Check Credit Pull Timing and Score Impact
Homeowners often hold back from getting more than one quote because they worry each lender’s credit check will ding their score separately. Under the scoring models used by the major credit bureaus, multiple mortgage-related inquiries pulled within a focused shopping window, typically somewhere between 14 and 45 days depending on which scoring model is used, get treated as a single inquiry for scoring purposes. That means gathering three or four Loan Estimates in the same week doesn’t multiply your credit hit the way people assume it does.
Still, it’s worth asking each lender directly whether their initial quote comes from a soft-pull pre-qualification or a hard inquiry. A soft pull lets you see real numbers, based on estimated credit tiers, without touching your score at all, which means you can compare more offers before any hard inquiry ever hits your file. Add a column to your worksheet marking each lender as “soft-pull first” or “hard-pull required,” since this affects how freely you can shop.
Treat a lender that insists on a hard credit pull just to produce a basic rate estimate as a flag worth noting on your worksheet, not necessarily a disqualifier, but a data point. It tells you something about how that lender structures the front end of their process. Compare that against a soft-pull no-credit-impact estimate, which lets you build out your full worksheet, including a baseline comparison quote, before you commit to a hard inquiry with anyone.
Step 6: Weigh Loan Type Differences, Not Just Price
Not every quote on your worksheet is necessarily for the same type of loan, and that distinction changes the entire comparison. Note whether each offer is a fixed-rate loan or an adjustable structure, and whether it’s a VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL), an FHA streamline refinance, or a conventional rate-and-term refinance. The VA’s IRRRL program guidelines carry different underwriting and funding fee rules than a conventional refinance, and comparing an IRRRL quote directly against a conventional quote without noting that difference can produce a misleading ranking.
If any of your quotes involve a cash-out refinance, confirm the loan-to-value ceiling that applies. VA cash-out refinances allow borrowing up to 100% of your home’s value, while conventional cash-out refinances cap out at 90% loan-to-value. That 10-point spread directly changes how much cash actually lands in your account at closing, so make sure you’re comparing cash-out offers against the correct ceiling for that loan type rather than assuming the numbers are interchangeable.
Add one more row for rate-lock length and lock-extension fees. A lender quoting a slightly better rate on a 30-day lock can end up costing more than a competitor’s 45- or 60-day lock if your closing slips past the lock expiration and you’re forced to pay an extension fee or re-lock at a worse rate. Ask each lender directly what their extension policy costs, in dollars or basis points, and record it on the worksheet next to that lender’s other terms. A tight timeline paired with a short lock is a real risk, not just fine print.
Step 7: Score the Worksheet and Choose Your Lender
With every row filled in, rank your lenders on three factors together: total five-year cost, break-even month, and lock terms. A headline rate that looks half a point better than the rest means little if it comes with a longer break-even, a shorter lock, and higher fees rolled into the balance. Let the worksheet, not the marketing email, make the final call.
Before you sign anything, confirm the lender is actually licensed to originate in your state. Duane Buziak, NMLS #1110647, is licensed across Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland, and every legitimate Loan Estimate you receive should list the originating loan officer’s own NMLS number directly on the document. If a quote arrives without one, that’s worth a phone call before you go any further.
Once you’ve chosen the winning lender from your worksheet, move forward with the application, and hold onto your original Loan Estimate. When the Closing Disclosure arrives a few days before your scheduled closing, compare it line by line against that original estimate. Under federal disclosure rules, most fees shouldn’t move more than a small tolerance from what was originally quoted, and any unexplained jump in lender fees between the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure is worth questioning before you sign.
Mortgage Shopping Worksheet: Common Questions
What is a Loan Estimate?
A Loan Estimate is a standardized three-page federal disclosure form every mortgage lender must provide within three business days of application, detailing your rate, APR, monthly payment, and closing costs in the same format across lenders.
What’s the difference between APR and note rate?
The note rate is what your monthly payment is calculated against; APR folds in lender fees and certain closing costs to express the loan’s total yearly cost, which is why APR is usually higher than the note rate.
How many refinance quotes should I get before comparing?
Most homeowners get meaningful comparison value from two to three Loan Estimates requested within the same one- to two-day window so the rate environment stays consistent across all of them.
Do multiple mortgage credit pulls hurt my credit score?
Multiple mortgage-related inquiries pulled within a focused shopping window, typically 14 to 45 days depending on the scoring model, are generally counted as a single inquiry for score purposes.
What is a break-even month in a refinance?
It’s the point where your accumulated monthly savings equal your total closing costs, calculated by dividing closing costs by the monthly payment reduction; offers past that month start generating net savings.
Is Duane Buziak a mortgage broker or a mortgage lender?
Both. Duane Buziak operates as a mortgage broker, shopping your file across hundreds of wholesale lenders to find the fit that scores best on your worksheet, while also having in-house and correspondent funding capability to close loans directly when that structure serves you better.
What’s the maximum loan-to-value for a VA cash-out refinance?
VA cash-out refinances allow borrowing up to 100% of your home’s appraised value, a higher ceiling than most other loan types offer.
What’s the maximum loan-to-value for a conventional cash-out refinance?
Conventional cash-out refinances are capped at 90% loan-to-value, ten percentage points lower than the VA cash-out ceiling.
Are “no-out-of-pocket closing options” really free?
No. Fees under these structures are rolled into your loan balance or offset through a slightly higher interest rate, so you still pay them, just spread out over the life of the loan instead of upfront.
What happens if my rate lock expires before closing?
You may face a lock-extension fee or be forced to re-lock at current market rates, which is why it’s worth recording each lender’s lock length and extension cost directly on your comparison worksheet.
With the worksheet filled in, compare your top two lenders’ Closing Disclosures line by line before signing, checking every fee against the original Loan Estimate rather than trusting that nothing shifted. When you’re ready for a comparison quote to add to your own numbers, Call (804) 212-8663 now for your free soft-pull rate analysis, no credit impact, no obligation, and find out whether refinancing can lower your monthly payment or put your home’s equity to work.