A sales fee/ commission that is charged at the time of purchase for specific classes of mutual fund  shares (class C shares, class B shares, class A shares). It is the fees that an investor pays at the time of purchasing his/ her own fund shares. Loading charges can range from as low as zero (no-loads) to as high as 8.5%, but in most cases not beyond 6.5%.

Depending on the time such sales fees are paid, loading charges have different types including front-end load, back-end load, and level-load.

Loading charges are also known as load.