Taking its cue from the National Consumer Law Center, the editorial board of the New York Times is panning the new mortgage loan disclosures put forward last month by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, complaining that the annual percentage rate (APR) is buried on the third page and that some closing costs, including title insurance, are excluded from the APR calculation.
Real estate and lending industry groups have mostly welcomed the new forms, which lenders don’t have to begin using until 2015. Inman News columnist Lou Barnes, a mortgage broker in Boulder, Colo., thinks regulators tried to pack too much information into the forms.
In an editorial, The New York Times said lenders have too much leeway to introduce last-minute changes at the closing table.
“The bureau has stumbled on this one,” the Times concludes. “The agency should act quickly to fix the flaws before the new rules and forms take effect, in 2015.” Source: nytimes.com
