TRID Fee Tolerance Rules: Zero, 10%, Unlimited, and Cures

Under the TRID fee tolerance rules, every closing cost on your Loan Estimate falls into one of three categories that control how much it can rise by closing: zero tolerance (the fee cannot go up at all), 10 percent cumulative tolerance (a defined group of fees can rise up to 10 percent in total), and unlimited tolerance (the fee can move by any amount if the original number was made in good faith). Knowing which bucket a charge sits in tells you exactly who carries the risk if the price changes — you or the lender.

The Loan Estimate sets the baseline. At closing, the lender compares each figure on the Closing Disclosure against the Loan Estimate (or a properly issued revised Loan Estimate) to see whether any bucket was breached.

Zero Tolerance Fees

The strictest bucket covers charges that cannot increase by a single dollar. Under 12 CFR § 1026.19(e)(3)(i), any fee not specifically assigned to the 10 percent or unlimited category defaults into zero tolerance.¹ In practice, the bucket captures charges the lender controls or hand-picks:

Fees paid to the lender: origination charges, application fees, underwriting fees, and any discount points you pay to buy down the interest rate. A $1,500 origination fee on the Loan Estimate is locked at $1,500.
Fees paid to a mortgage broker arranging the loan.
Fees paid to the lender’s affiliates — companies tied to the lender through ownership or common control. The rule prevents a lender from routing charges through a related company and inflating them later.
Services you cannot shop for. When the lender requires a specific vendor for an appraisal, credit report, or flood certification, you have no way to seek a cheaper option, so the quoted price sticks.
Transfer taxes. Even though local governments set them, the amounts are generally knowable in advance, and the lender bears the risk of quoting them wrong.

The logic is simple: if the lender controls or selects the service, the lender can price it accurately. Any excess in this bucket is an immediate violation that must be cured.

Ten Percent Cumulative Tolerance Fees

The middle bucket allows some movement but caps the total increase at 10 percent across all fees in the group combined. The tolerance is aggregate, not line by line. You add up every fee in this bucket from the Loan Estimate, add up the same fees from the Closing Disclosure, and compare the totals.¹

Two categories land here:

Recording fees charged by local government offices to record the mortgage and deed.
Third-party services you were allowed to shop for, when you chose a provider from the lender’s written list. Common examples include title searches, settlement agent fees, and pest inspections.

How the Aggregate Math Works

Say the Loan Estimate shows $300 for recording fees, $1,200 for a title search from a listed provider, and $500 for a settlement agent also from the list. The baseline is $2,000. At closing, the combined total for those items cannot exceed $2,200. If the title search comes in $150 over estimate but the recording fees come in $50 under, the net increase is $100, well within the $200 cap. Individual items can swing more than 10 percent as long as the group total stays inside the limit.

Why the Written Provider List Matters

The 10 percent bucket only applies when the lender has given you a written list of service providers that meets the regulation’s requirements. The list must identify each service you can shop for, name at least one provider with contact information, and tell you that you may choose a provider not on the list.²

That last point matters. If you pick a provider not on the list, the fee moves out of the 10 percent bucket and into unlimited tolerance, shifting the pricing risk from the lender to you. And if the lender never provides the written list at all, any shoppable service stays in the 10 percent bucket regardless of who you pick. The lender cannot benefit from failing to disclose your options.

Unlimited Tolerance Fees

Some costs can vary from the estimate by any amount without creating a tolerance violation, so long as the original estimate reflected the best information available when the lender issued it.¹ These are charges the lender genuinely cannot pin down in advance:

Prepaid interest — the per-day interest accruing between closing and the start of your first payment period. Move the closing date by a week and the number changes substantially.
Property insurance premiums. You pick the carrier and coverage level, so the lender cannot guarantee the final cost.
Escrow deposits for future property taxes and insurance, which depend on tax assessment timing and insurance quotes that may shift before closing.
Services from providers you chose outside the lender’s written list.
Services the lender did not require, such as property taxes paid at closing or an optional survey you requested.

Unlimited tolerance does not mean anything goes. The lender must still estimate these figures in good faith. If a lender quotes property insurance at $1,000 and the actual premium comes in at $1,800 because you selected higher coverage, that is fine. If the lender already had your $1,800 quote in hand but disclosed $1,000 to make the Loan Estimate look cheaper, that is a good-faith problem even without a hard cap.

When the Baseline Can Be Reset

The tolerance baselines are not permanently frozen. In defined circumstances, the lender can issue a revised Loan Estimate that resets the comparison figures. The regulation lists six triggers:³

Changed circumstances affecting charges. An event beyond anyone’s control, inaccurate information the lender relied on that later changed, or new information the lender did not previously have. A natural disaster damaging the property, or a title company going out of business mid-transaction, both qualify.⁴
Changed circumstances affecting your eligibility. Something changes about your credit or the property’s value that makes you ineligible for the terms first disclosed. A low appraisal that pushes you into a different loan program is a common example.
Borrower-requested changes that increase costs, such as asking for a lower interest rate that changes your points.
Interest rate lock. Locking a previously floating rate can change points, lender credits, and other rate-dependent numbers. A revised estimate is due within three business days of the lock.
Loan Estimate expiration. If you did not indicate intent to proceed within 10 business days of receiving the original estimate (or a longer window the lender specified), the lender can reissue at current pricing.
New construction delays. For construction loans where settlement is expected more than 60 days out, the lender may revise if the original estimate flagged that possibility.

Whatever the trigger, the revised Loan Estimate must reach you within three business days of the lender learning about the change.¹ Miss that window and the lender is stuck with the original numbers. Watch for revised estimates that cite vague “changed circumstances” without identifying a specific event; that does not meet the standard.

What Happens if the Lender Exceeds the Tolerance

When closing costs breach the zero or 10 percent limits, the lender must refund the excess no later than 60 calendar days after your loan closes.¹ The refund has to cover the entire overage, not a portion of it, and a corrected Closing Disclosure showing the credit must arrive in the same 60-day window. The refund typically comes as a check or direct deposit.

If the lender catches the overage before closing, it can offset the excess with a lender credit that appears in the Lender Credits section of the Closing Disclosure with a note explaining the reason.⁵

When a lender fails to cure or shows a pattern of overcharging, exposure grows. The Truth in Lending Act gives borrowers a private right of action for disclosure violations. On a closed-end mortgage, an individual can recover actual damages plus statutory damages of $400 to $4,000, along with attorney’s fees and court costs.⁶ Class actions can reach $1,000,000 or one percent of the creditor’s net worth, whichever is less. Statutory damages sit on top of actual losses, so a borrower who was reimbursed through the cure process may still have a claim if the correction was mishandled or missed the 60-day deadline.

Lenders have defenses. A creditor that discovers an error and corrects it within 60 days of discovery, before receiving written notice from the borrower or being sued, can avoid liability. Good-faith errors made despite reasonable compliance procedures also provide a defense. Those provisions protect careful lenders; they do not protect ones that systematically lowball fees and treat post-closing cures as a cost of doing business.

1
eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.19 – Certain Mortgage and Variable-Rate Transactions
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure – Written List of Providers Model Form H-27A
3
eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.19 – Certain Mortgage and Variable-Rate Transactions
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule Compliance Guide
5
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure FAQs
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1640 – Civil Liability