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Mortgage refinancing fees
2.5%? Whoa, you are being robbed there.  Straight-up, stripped-down, and bent-over-a-table robbed. Never agree to "fees".  If they don't want to do the work to give you a loan, there are other lenders who do. Rarely agree to "points".  If you know -- and I don't mean "think", I mean "know" -- if you know that you are going to hold that loan much longer than it would take to repay those points, then maybe.  For example, if they are charging one point to lower your rate 0.25%, you want to be totally sure you will stay in the house at least four years, and probably more like six or eight years before moving or refinancing. It's more-or-less OK to pay for the appraisal.  If something goes wrong with the loan application, the appraisal will be valid for a few more months, you can try again. I once had 14% cash for a down-payment.  The loan officer said if I could come up with 15%, the rate would be reduced by 0.25%.  To get the money, I took a "reverse point", which paid me 1% but raised my the rate by 0.25%. The loan officer, who wasn't too bright, asked, "Why did you do that?  The two things cancel each other out." "I did it," I explained, "because you paid me 1% of the value of my house to sign my name twice."