What your credit score costs

What this number is

Lenders selling conforming loans to Fannie Mae pay a price adjustment based on the borrower’s credit score, the loan-to-value ratio and a handful of loan features. That adjustment is called an LLPA, and it is passed on to you — either as cash at closing or, more often, as a higher interest rate.

Unlike almost everything else in mortgage pricing, it is published. The grid above is the actual matrix, not an estimate.

Why the steps matter more than the slope

The grid is banded, not continuous. A score of 719 and a score of 720 are priced differently, and the difference is a step, not a nudge. Same at the LTV boundaries: 80.00% and 80.01% land in different columns.

That has a practical consequence worth more than most mortgage advice: if you are sitting one or two points below a boundary, moving across it is often the highest-return thing you can do before applying — and it costs nothing but time. Paying down a card balance before the statement date can do it.

The same logic applies to the deposit. Getting under an LTV boundary — 80%, 75%, 70% — is worth far more than the equivalent dollars applied anywhere else.

How it turns into your rate

Lenders rarely charge the adjustment as a fee. They convert it into rate, and the rule of thumb is roughly a quarter point of rate for each point of price. So a 1.5-point adjustment is loosely a 0.375% higher rate for the life of the loan.

That conversion varies by lender and by day, which is why this page gives you dollars rather than a promised rate. For what the rate difference actually costs over the years you will hold the loan, use the comparison tool.

What this does not cover

Only conforming conventional loans. FHA, VA and USDA price differently — FHA in particular charges insurance rather than score-based adjustments, which is its own trap.

Not the whole price. Lenders add their own margin on top, and that varies between them by thousands of dollars on the same loan — which is what the filings show. The adjustment is the part set by the agency; the rest is set by whoever you borrow from.

Freddie Mac publishes its own grid. The two are similar but not identical, and lenders may sell to either.

Conditions and footnotes are not reproduced. Fannie Mae’s PDF is the definitive source and contains caps, waivers and exceptions — first-time buyer programmes among them — that can remove some of these adjustments entirely. If a number here decides something for you, check it against the source.