Hay estafadores aprovechándose de ansiosos compradores de viviendas. Desconfíe de cualquier email que reciba con cambios de último minuto en las instrucciones para pagar o transferir el dinero del cierre.
Scammers are taking advantage of eager homebuyers. Beware of emails with last-minute changes to your payment or wire instructions. Follow a few easy steps to protect yourself and your life savings.
Technology is transforming everything. Soon, consumers will find themselves being offered platforms that allow borrowers to access mortgage closing documents online.
Today, the process of getting a mortgage is easier to understand because the Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule is now in effect. We’ve put together some frequently asked questions about the new rule and how it will make the mortgage process easier for you.
The Closing Disclosure is a five-page form that helps you understand the key features, costs, and risks of your mortgage loan. These changes make it easier to understand the terms of your mortgage before signing on the dotted line.
The new form is part of our Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule that’s making the mortgage process work better for you. The Loan Estimate uses clear language and design to help you understand the key features, costs, and risks of a loan offer you’ve received from a lender.
You have the right to compare offers and understand the terms before you sign on the dotted line. After four years of work, these new forms and tools will help you shop for the best deal and avoid costly surprises when you sign on the dotted line.
Today, we held a forum on our Know Before You Owe eClosing pilot findings here at the CFPB. The forum featured remarks from Director Richard Cordray, as well as a panel discussion.
Today we’re releasing the results of a pilot program where we explored tools and process changes that can help consumers better navigate closing by accessing and signing their closing documents in different ways. Specifically, we examined what would happen if there was more technology involved in the mortgage closing process, with documents being delivered electronically earlier together with online tools and resources. The electronic delivery and signing of closing documents using electronic signatures is sometimes referred to as eClosing.
Today, we’re issuing a final rule delaying the effective date for the Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule to October 3, 2015. The Know Before You Owe rule will improve the way you’ll receive information about mortgage loans, both when applying for a loan and when you’re getting ready to close.
The forum will take place on Wednesday, August 5 at 1 p.m. EDT, and will feature remarks from Director Richard Cordray, as well as a panel discussion with consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public.
Giving you three business days to review your Closing Disclosure before you sign on the dotted line is designed to protect you from surprises at the closing table. It also gives you time to consult with your lawyer or housing counselor and ask all the questions you might have about the terms of your mortgage.
Last year, we released a web-based tool that provides the public with easier access to mortgage data for 2007 through 2012. Today, we’re updating the database with 2013 data.
We asked you to tell us about pain points in the mortgage closing process and through this research and interviews, we’ve heard about four major pain points. We’ve got some ideas for how technology can improve the process and we’ll test them to put you in the driver’s seat of your mortgage closing. Read more about the current pain points and our e-closing pilot solution.
We’re holding a forum to discuss the mortgage closing process at 2:30 p.m. EDT. The event will feature remarks by Director Richard Cordray and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. The forum will also include a panel discussion with CFPB staff, consumer groups, and industry representatives. We’re livestreaming the event so you can follow along. Watch the livestream of the forum.
As the mortgage disclosure team said last week, we based Know Before You Owe on the idea that disclosure information is clearer when the people who will have to use those disclosures participate in designing them. We got feedback from many sources in many ways: In-person testing of the forms in cities across the country […]
Two and a half years ago, we began a line of work we call Know Before You Owe. The work that we did as part of that project helped lead us to the TILA-RESPA final rule we issued Wednesday. Among other things, that rule requires new mortgage disclosures: a Loan Estimate the consumer gets when […]
When we first proposed the TILA-RESPA disclosure rule, we got a lot of questions about the length of the document containing the rule. We synthesized those questions into one representative question and wrote a post to give you some answers. Now that we’re finalizing the rule, we wanted to do it again to talk about […]
Today, we’re issuing the TILA-RESPA final rule. This rule improves the way consumers receive information about mortgage loans, both when they apply and when they’re getting ready to close. Alongside the rule, we’re publishing information to help industry understand what the requirements are, such as how to fill out the disclosure forms. Helping with that […]
One part of our proposed rule to improve the disclosures consumers receive when applying for and closing on a mortgage was a change to the current definition of “finance charge.” The finance charge is intended to reflect the cost of credit for consumers as a dollar amount. It’s used to calculate the Annual Percentage Rate […]
Dear CFPB, Recently, I saw your notice of proposed rulemaking to combine and simplify existing mortgage disclosures. It’s 1,099 pages long! Why does it take so many pages to create something that’s supposed to be easy to use and understand? Sincerely, Interested in your regulations Dear Interested, This is a great question, one you’re not […]
With something as important as a mortgage, you ought to be able to get up-front, easy-to-understand information that lets you compare different offers and find the one that’s best for you. The Dodd-Frank Act requires us to combine the disclosures that present this information into newer, simpler disclosures. After more than a year of research, testing, writing, and review, we’re proposing a rule to create new, easier-to-use mortgage disclosures.
This is the post second in a series. Yesterday, we looked at the origins of the Know Before You Owe project for simplifying mortgages. Today, we look back at how the project unfolded. Very soon, we’ll issue a new proposed rule to make mortgage disclosure more effective and easier to use. Hear from us when […]
The idea behind Know Before You Owe is simple: we believe in making disclosures simpler and more effective, and doing so with the input of the people who will actually use them. Over the past year, we’ve heard from thousands of people with insights into how to use, design, and regulate mortgage disclosure. Soon, we’ll propose a new rule to combine the disclosures you get when you apply for and close on a mortgage into a single, and ideally simpler, set of forms.
Learn more and sign up to hear from us when we do.
The CFPB is mindful that new statutory requirements we are implementing can burden as well as benefit small financial services providers. We use many methods to reach out to small providers to find out if any of these burdens are unnecessary and, if so, how we may be able to reduce them (within the limits […]
