Big jump in fees?

On average, the origination and third-party fees on a $200,000 purchase mortgage added up to $3,741 in this year’s survey. That’s a 36.6 percent increase over last year’s average of $2,739.

Fees charged directly by lenders went up 22.8 percent, while fees charged by third parties — for things such as appraisals and title insurance — rose 47.2 percent.

Did fees really go up that much? Probably not. Lenders say fees did rise — but modestly. A more fundamental change happened this year: The government began requiring lenders to provide accurate good faith estimates of closing costs, or GFEs.