The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is close to completing its redesign of the Good Faith Estimate form that home buyers receive after applying for a mortgage — but some industry groups believe the agency needs to test the disclosures on real loans.
Moreover, the Consumer Mortgage Coalition is urging the CFPB to fill out the disclosure forms on mortgages that already closed.
Anne Canfield, executive director of the CMC, said that by doing so the agency can test if its instructions and definitions actually work for loan officers.
"I think they will find complications with some of their forms," Canfield told National Mortgage News — particularly on complex loans where the rate changes.
Separately, the CFPB issued a new mortgage closing document on Tuesday that will replace the HUD-1 settlement sheet.
"The second phase of our 'Know Before You Owe' mortgage project is aimed at simplifying the federal disclosures consumers have to tackle at the closing table," said Raj Date, special advisor to the secretary of the Treasury for the CFPB.
The new bureau is combining the final Truth in Lending disclosure with the settlement sheet that consumers receive at closing. The Bureau plans to conduct four rounds of testing and revisions on the new closing document by the end of February.
