Whatever the line items say, read everything in Box A of the Loan Estimate as money you're paying for that loan. Box A (Section A, Origination Charges) covers what the lender charges for doing the loan, and the individual labels don't change that: discount points, origination fee, processing fee, underwriting fee. All of it is your cost of getting that loan from that lender. Lender credits live elsewhere. If you're being offered credits, they show up in Section J as a credit that offsets costs, so Section A tells you what the lender is charging you and Section J is where any money coming back to you would sit. Read the two together. A loan with a lower rate and a large Section A isn't automatically cheaper than one with a slightly higher rate and lender credits in Section J. That's exactly why you compare the whole Loan Estimate and never just the interest rate. And if a builder or lender says a cost is being covered for you, confirm you can see the credit in Section J rather than assuming the charge disappears from Section A on its own.