Pilot research release2025 MO pilot

What borrowers paid through direct and broker-submitted channels.

Using the official HMDA snapshot, LenderCity compares tightly defined conventional purchase loans across two application paths. This historical benchmark is separate from live wholesale pricing.

2025 Missouri pilot

The cost advantage and the rate advantage did not land in the same channel.

After matching on disclosed loan amount, LTV, income, DTI and conforming-limit status, broker-submitted loans showed $372 lower net origination cost. Direct applications showed a 6.1 basis-point lower interest rate. A lower upfront cost is not automatically the better deal; time in the loan determines the tradeoff.

Matched net cost gap$372

Broker-submitted lower

Matched interest-rate gap6.1 bps

Direct lower

Effective matched pairs214

Across 8 qualifying cells

Qualifying originations32,517

From 112,792 inspected records

Unadjusted cohort medians

Start with what was reported.

These medians describe every qualifying loan in each channel before exact-cell matching.

Reported measureDirect applicationBroker submitted
Loans30,1282,389
Median interest rate6.625%6.625%
Median rate spread22.9 bps30.3 bps
Median net origination cost$1,372$1,194

Net origination cost: reported origination charges minus reported lender credits. It is not total closing cost or cash to close.

How this pilot works

Comparable cells, visible limitations.

Originated conventional home-purchase loans; first lien; fixed 30-year term; owner-occupied, one-unit, site-built property; not reverse, open-end, or business purpose; initially payable to the reporting institution.

  1. Define the channels. Direct means submitted to the reporting institution. Broker submitted means submitted indirectly through a mortgage broker and initially payable to that institution.
  2. Build comparable cells. Each channel must contribute at least 20 loans to a cell matched on state, $100,000 loan-amount band, 10-point LTV band, $50,000 income band, reported DTI band, conforming-limit status.
  3. Compare medians. Each cell is weighted by the smaller channel count so the larger channel cannot overwhelm the result.
Source and reproducibility

Built from the official public record.

Source: 2025 FFIEC HMDA Snapshot Loan-Level Dataset, filtered through the HMDA Data Browser. The 2025 snapshot was frozen June 2, 2026.

Analysis prepared by LenderCity and reviewed by Gregg Harris, Mortgage Loan Originator (NMLS 205617). Published August 20, 2026.

Download the summary data Open the HMDA Data Browser