Mass “Disclosures” – What To Look For?

All mortgage lenders force borrowers to read, digest and sign an enormous quantity of “disclosures,” closing documents, and/or forms full of boilerplate and terms. There is often more than borrowers are capable of reading.

We have “stock emails” that describe all the pertinent aspects of these disclosures, but we mainly advise borrowers to just check these primary items: (1) the interest rate – make sure it is the quoted rate; (2) prepayment penalties – make sure there is not one; (3) non-recurring closing costs or fees – make sure they match approximately what was quoted.

I borrowed the below quote from Rob Chrisman’s excellent daily blog:

“A wise attorney, when asked if the client should read all of the closing documents, said, ‘If you make all of your payments on time there is nothing in the documents that can hurt you. If you don’t make your payments on time, there is nothing in the documents that can help you’.”