Good catch on that email fee—I had something similar happen with a "courier fee" for documents they ended up sending digitally anyway. When I questioned it, they acted surprised and removed it right away. Makes you wonder how many people just pay these without noticing. Definitely pays to be cautious and read everything closely... lenders seem to count on us being too rushed or distracted to push back.
Good point about lenders counting on people being rushed. I've seen plenty of these small fees slip through unnoticed over the years. One client had a "processing fee" listed twice under slightly different names—easy to miss if you're not paying close attention. Always worth taking that extra minute to question anything unclear or suspicious... most lenders will remove it without much fuss once you bring it up.
While it's true that lenders often remove questionable fees when confronted, I'd caution against assuming they'll always do so without fuss. In my experience, some lenders push back or justify these charges as standard practice, especially if they're buried in the fine print. It's not always straightforward—I've had to escalate issues or even threaten to walk away before seeing results. Definitely worth the effort, but it's wise to be prepared for some resistance rather than expecting smooth sailing every time.
You're spot on about lenders pushing back sometimes—I've seen clients face similar hurdles. It's definitely smart to brace yourself for some friction, but persistence usually pays off in the end... Glad you stuck with it.
Persistence definitely helps, but I've noticed it also depends a lot on the lender's internal policies and even the individual loan officer you're dealing with. Had a friend who was transferring her mortgage recently, and she got completely different answers from two people at the same bank—talk about frustrating. Eventually, she had to escalate it to a supervisor to get things moving again. Makes me wonder if anyone else has found success by switching loan officers or escalating issues earlier in the process? Seems like knowing when to push harder or when to switch gears could save a lot of headaches down the road...
