Home · Second Look

Send us the quote. We'll tell you if it's good.

Hannah Blevins · Loan Officer, NMLS 2009458

Upload the Loan Estimate another lender gave you. Inside 24 hours you'll hear whether we can beat it — and if we can't, you'll hear that too, along with which parts of their number are actually good. No credit pull. No application. Nobody calling you for the next six months.

Send your Loan Estimate Talk it through first

What it is

A second set of eyes on a page most people sign without reading.

Every lender in the country hands you the same three-page form. That was the point of it — the government standardised the Loan Estimate so two offers could be laid side by side. Almost nobody does, because page two is forty line items and none of them are labelled "this is the part that's negotiable."

That's the whole service. You send the form, we read it the way we read our own, and you get back a plain answer about where their number is strong, where it's soft, and whether moving is worth the trouble.

  • The same loan, priced our waySide by side
  • Which lines are genuinely lowerAnd which just look it
  • What their rate is costing in feesPage 2, box A
  • Whether it's worth switchingOften it isn't
  • TurnaroundWithin 24 hours
  • Cost to youNothing

Send the estimate.

A PDF, a photo of the page, a screenshot from their portal — whatever you were given. Page 2 is the one that does the work, but send all three if you have them.

Rather not upload? Text a photo of it to (865) 386‑7114 or email hblevins@fmloans.com.

Your file stays on this device. The upload itself happens on Foundation Mortgage's secure form, which opens in a new tab when you continue — that's the only place a document is actually transmitted. A Second Look is not a credit decision, an application, or a commitment to lend.

What we actually read, in the order the form prints it.

Two estimates can differ by thousands and only one or two of the boxes explain it. Here's where the money hides, and where a lower number means nothing at all.

Page 1 · Loan Terms

Is it the loan you were promised?

Before any fee matters: the amount, the rate, and the column headed Can this amount increase after closing? A yes next to the rate means it's an adjustable, whatever the phone call sounded like. Prepayment penalty and balloon payment sit in the same box, and they are the two that cost people the most.

VerdictRead this before you read a single fee.

Page 2 · Box A

Origination Charges

The lender's own price — points, underwriting, processing, anything with their name on it. This is the box where lenders genuinely differ, and it's where a rate that looks a quarter point better gets quietly paid for. A low rate with a fat box A is not a low rate.

VerdictReal difference. The main event.

Page 2 · Boxes B and C

The services

Appraisal, credit report, title work, the closing fee. B is what you can't shop for; C is what you can, and the lender has to hand you a written list of providers for it. Two estimates often differ here for a boring reason — they assumed different title companies.

VerdictSometimes real. Worth a phone call.

Page 2 · Box E

Taxes and Other Government Fees

Recording fees and Tennessee's tax on the new loan — $0.115 per $100 above $2,000, set by the state and identical at every lender licensed in it. Nobody has a better deal on this. If one estimate is lower here, someone rounded.

VerdictNever a real difference.

Page 2 · Boxes F and G

Prepaids and escrow

The most misread boxes on the form. Prepaid interest depends on which day of the month you close. The escrow deposit is your own tax and insurance money going into your own account. A lender showing less here hasn't saved you anything — they've assumed a different closing date, or funded an account you'll have to top up later.

VerdictNot a saving. Your money either way.

Page 3 · Comparisons

APR and TIP

The two numbers nobody reads, printed on the page everybody throws away. APR folds the lender's fees back into the rate so that two offers with different fee structures can be compared honestly. TIP is the total interest you'd pay as a share of what you borrowed. Between them they usually settle the argument.

VerdictWhere the truth generally is.

Before you send anything

None of this touches your credit.

People hesitate to send an estimate because they think a second lender means a second hard pull, or an application they'll have to get out of. Neither is true. Reading a piece of paper requires nothing from your credit file and commits you to nothing at all.

You're allowed to shop. The form exists because the government wanted you to. We'd just like to be one of the two you compare.

Send yours

What a Second Look is not

Five things it isn't, so you know what you're agreeing to:

  • Not a credit pull. Nobody runs your report to read a document you already have.
  • Not an application. No 1003, no pay stubs, no file opened in anyone's system.
  • Not a commitment to lend — ours or theirs. Every quote is subject to underwriting, appraisal, and credit approval.
  • Not a rate lock. We'll tell you what today prices at, not what next month will.
  • Not a knock on the other lender. Sometimes theirs is the better offer and the useful thing we can do is say so.

Two minutes from you. Twenty-four hours from us.

There is no step where you fill out a loan application to find out whether you should.

  1. Send it

    Upload the estimate above, or text a photo of it. You don't need the rest of your file, your tax returns, or a good reason. If you only have page two, send page two.

  2. We read it

    Hannah and Caroline go through it box by box against what Foundation can actually price today — the same review a file of ours would get. Not a computer, not a call centre, not a form letter with your name merged into it.

  3. You hear back

    Within 24 hours: the same loan priced our way alongside theirs, a short note on what's different and why, and a straight answer on whether the difference is worth changing lenders for.

The part nobody advertises

Sometimes the answer is: stay where you are.

If the offer in your hand is better than the one we can write, you'll be told that in a sentence, without a counter-offer attached. It happens often enough that we'd rather say it up front than have you find out afterwards from someone else.

You lose nothing by checking, which is roughly the entire argument.

Send yours Book a 15-minute call

A Second Look is not a credit decision or a commitment to lend. You're entitled to shop for the lender that's right for you — we'd just like to be in the running.

Hannah Blevins and Caroline Parker reviewing a file
Reviewed in 24h

Or skip the form

Read it to us over the phone.

If you'd rather not upload anything, fifteen minutes with the estimate in front of you does the same job.

Open Hannah's calendar15 MIN · VIDEO OR PHONE Call or text(865) 386‑7114 EmailHBLEVINS@FMLOANS.COM Start the applicationSECURE · FOUNDATION MORTGAGE

What to send

The estimate is enough. These four make the answer sharper:

  • All three pages — page 3 carries the APR and the TIP, and it's the page people leave in the printer.
  • The date on it — an estimate from three weeks ago is priced off a different market.
  • Whether the rate is locked, and through what date. It changes what a comparison even means.
  • Your target closing date — half of boxes F and G move with it.