I was looking around the Consumer Financial Protection Burea site.
The CFPB is the new federal agency that Elizabeth Warren invented and set up, and Rich Cordray has been named to run.
Richard Shelby (R, Lenders) has vowed to fight the CFPB, presumably because he’s opposed to the idea of both parties to a contract understanding the terms of that contract. That would be horrible, if borrowers understood contract terms as completely as lenders do. Must tilt playing field towards lenders or they all crawl under their desks and start weeping at the unfairness of it all. It’s a hard, hard world out there, and they’ve gotten used to an awful lot of coddling.
Two areas on the CFPB site may be of interest to Balloon Juice readers.
The CFPB has been “market testing” a simplified mortgage disclosure form. The voting period ended on August 10, so BJ readers missed the deadline and won’t be able to vote in the current round.
The CFPB wants to know which form is most helpful to borrowers.
Some background:
What is a mortgage disclosure form?
For most Americans, buying a home means taking out a mortgage loan. If you recently applied for a mortgage loan, you received two forms required by federal law: A two-page Truth in Lending disclosure form and a three-page Good Faith Estimate. They’re supposed to help you pick the mortgage product that’s best for you. But if you’ve actually applied for a mortgage recently, what you probably remember most are lots of technical terms and long lists of fees.
These disclosures don’t work if they give you too much information or if the information they provide isn’t what you need.
Why are you combining the two forms?
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the Consumer Bureau, mandated that we combine these two forms into one. So, we are going to combine the two forms into one and make them simpler to understand.
Here are the two proposed forms. Azalea or Camellia (pdf)
Here are the factors we are to consider when choosing the better form:
Would this form help consumers understand the closing costs associated with their loans?
Could lenders and brokers clearly and easily explain the form to their customers?
What would you like to see improved on the form? Is there some way to make things a little bit clearer?
The second area that may be of interest is an online complaint form for people who have a problem with a credit card. That’s here.
h/t Credit Slips