Cost per funded loan: the only lead metric that matters
How to calculate cost per funded loan from lead price, contact, application and funding rates, with worked examples for exclusive, shared and aged leads.
By Maple Leads Editorial Team · · 7 min read
Cost per funded loan is the total you spend to produce one closed, funded loan from a lead source. It is the only lead metric that connects what you pay to what you earn. Price per lead, contact rate and application rate all matter, but each one in isolation can point you toward the wrong decision. A $5 lead can be more expensive than a $110 lead, and the only way to know is to follow both to the closing table.
Why cost per lead misleads
Cost per lead is the number on the invoice, so it gets the attention. But lead types differ in more than price. An exclusive lead called within minutes reaches more borrowers than an aged lead from last month, and a borrower reached on a shared lead may already be comparing quotes from four lenders. Comparing price per lead treats those as the same product.
Cost per funded loan, sometimes called cost per acquisition in mortgage, folds all of that into one number you can compare with your revenue per loan.
The cost per funded loan formula
The simplest version uses totals for a period and a source:
Cost per funded loan = total spend on the source ÷ funded loans from the source
To see where the cost comes from, break it into the funnel:
- Cost per lead: what you paid per lead after credits.
- Contact rate: share of leads you had a real conversation with.
- Application rate: share of contacted leads who completed an application.
- Funded rate: share of applications that funded.
Cost per funded loan = cost per lead ÷ (contact rate × application rate × funded rate)
On the revenue side, revenue per funded loan = loan amount × compensation in basis points ÷ 10,000. At 100 bps on a $350,000 loan, that is $3,500. Your mortgage lead ROI on a source is revenue per funded loan divided by cost per funded loan, minus one.
Worked examples
Take three lead types: a $110 exclusive lead, a $35 shared lead and a $5 aged lead. Assume the exclusive lead is called within minutes, the shared lead is called quickly but competes with other buyers, and the aged lead is worked on a long cadence.
Example 1: lead cost only
On lead cost alone, the aged lead wins: about $1,042 per funded loan against $1,467 for exclusive. If you stop here, you would shift budget toward aged leads.
Example 2: adding labor
Now add caller time. Suppose a loaded hour costs $30 and the example labor per lead reflects the attempts each type needs. Because you need about 208 aged leads per funded loan, even $6 of labor per lead adds about $1,250. The order flips: exclusive is now the cheapest at about $1,573, shared about $1,667, aged about $2,292.
Example 3: against revenue
At $3,500 revenue per funded loan, all three are profitable in this example, but the margins differ: roughly $1,900 per loan for exclusive and $1,200 for aged. If your team has spare dialer capacity that would otherwise sit idle, the real labor cost of aged leads is lower and they may still be worth buying. If your callers are fully booked, every hour spent on aged leads is an hour not spent on fresher ones.
The lesson is not that one lead type always wins. It is that small changes in contact rate or labor move the answer, so you need your own numbers. For the broader comparison, see exclusive vs shared vs aged leads.
How returns and credits change the math
Every lead source produces some leads you cannot work: disconnected numbers, wrong numbers, junk submissions. A fair return policy turns those into credits, which lowers your effective cost per lead.
Effective cost per lead = (total spend − credits) ÷ leads purchased
If you buy 100 exclusive leads at $110 and 8 are approved returns, you paid $10,120 net instead of $11,000, an effective $101.20 per lead. In the example above, that lowers the exclusive lead cost per funded loan from about $1,467 to about $1,349. Keep the returned leads in your contact-rate denominator so the rates and the spend stay consistent.
Two habits make returns count. First, review new leads within the return window; on Maple Leads that is 48 hours from purchase, and approved returns are credited to your wallet. Second, know what qualifies. Valid reasons include disconnected or wrong numbers, duplicates, fake information, out-of-area leads and consumers who did not request contact. “Didn’t answer” and “didn’t qualify” are not. The details are in the return policy.
See prices, tiers and the return policyPrepaid wallet, no subscription, no setup fee, no contract. Approved returns credit back to your wallet.How to track it
You cannot calculate cost per funded loan if leads lose their source when they enter your CRM. Set up these fields once and fill them automatically from your lead delivery:
- Lead source: vendor name, and campaign if you run several.
- Lead type and tier: for example purchase, refinance or HELOC, and whether it was bought exclusive, shared or aged.
- Price paid and credit amount if returned.
- Purchased at, first contact at, application date and funded date.
- Loan amount and revenue at funding.
Most of this can be mapped straight from a webhook payload into your CRM, so no one has to type it. Our guide to sending leads to your CRM covers field mapping. Once the fields exist, a monthly report grouped by source and type gives you leads, spend, credits, contacts, applications, funded loans and cost per funded loan side by side.
Watch the timing. Purchase leads in particular can take months to fund, so report by the month the lead was bought, not the month the loan funded, and let each cohort mature before you judge it.
What to do with the numbers
- Shift budget toward the lowest cost per funded loan, but only up to the volume your team can work at the same quality. Doubling volume on a good source often lowers its contact rate.
- Fix the weakest funnel step first. A low contact rate points to speed and follow-up; see speed to lead. A low application rate points to the conversation or the lead match. A low funded rate points to filters: tighten loan amount, credit score band, property type or occupancy to what you actually close.
- Cut sources slowly and add them slowly. Give each a fair test at steady volume, then decide.
- Recalculate when anything changes: rates, team size, dialer setup or loan mix.
Common mistakes
- Judging a source on two weeks of data. A handful of funded loans either way swings the number wildly. Wait until a cohort has enough leads and enough time.
- Mixing lead types in one bucket. Exclusive refinance and aged purchase leads behave very differently. Report them separately even if they come from the same vendor.
- Forgetting the leads you never called. If a lead was bought and never dialed, it still belongs in the denominator. Unworked leads are usually the biggest hidden cost.
- Ignoring revenue differences. A jumbo or non-QM loan can earn far more than a small FHA loan, so compare cost per funded loan with revenue per funded loan for each type, not with a single average.
Cost per funded loan will not tell you everything, but it stops you from buying on price alone. Track it by source, include your time, and let it decide where the next dollar goes.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate cost per funded loan?
Divide your total spend on a lead source by the number of loans that funded from it. To include effort, add the cost of the time spent working those leads. You can also build it from rates: lead price divided by the product of contact rate, application rate and funded rate gives the same answer per lead source.
What is a good cost per funded loan for mortgage leads?
There is no universal number; it depends on your loan sizes and compensation. Compare it with your revenue per funded loan. If you earn 100 basis points on a $350,000 loan, $3,500 is your ceiling before profit, and most teams want cost per funded loan well under half of revenue to cover overhead and margin.
How long should I wait before judging a lead source?
Long enough for leads to fund. Refinance leads can fund within weeks, while purchase leads often take months as the borrower finds a home. Track leading indicators such as contact and application rates early, but hold off on cutting a source until enough of its leads have had time to close.
Should labor be included in cost per funded loan?
Yes, at least as a second view. Cheap leads that need many dials can cost more in caller time than they save on price. Estimate a loaded hourly cost for whoever works the leads, multiply by the average time spent per lead, and add it to the lead price before dividing by funded loans.
Lead generation & distribution
Written by the team that builds and runs the Maple Leads marketplace — the routing engine, the time-decay price ladder and the buyer tools loan officers and agents use every day. We write about what we see in lead operations: speed to lead, lead quality, CRM delivery and how to turn purchased leads into funded loans and signed listings.