The price paid by the borrower, as opposed to posted prices. In the wholesale market, lenders deliver wholesale prices to mortgage brokers, who add a markup to derive the retail prices offered to borrowers. If the posted price is 6% and zero points, for example, a broker might offer the loan at 6% and 1.5 points, the 1.5 points being the markup.

Within very wide limits, brokers have complete judgment over the final prices offered. They are independent contractors who price as they please. Some wholesale lenders place limits on markups, but these limits are ridiculously high. Since there are hundreds of wholesale lenders, and brokers move easily from one to another, any one lender attempting to enforce more precise constraints on markups would quickly lose mortgage brokers.

In the retail market, lenders deliver retail prices to their loan officer employees (LOs). The lender’s markup, including the Loan Officer’s commission, is already included in these prices. However, loan officers have limited discretion to charge more than the posted prices "in order to take advantage of market opportunities", and to charge less "in order to meet competition." Such price deviations are termed "overages" and "shortages" respectively. Overages exceed underages by a wide margin