Closing costs are fees paid up front when you get a mortgage. These are fees like origination, appraisal, title, discount, recording, underwriting, processing, etc. At application, you can find all of your closing costs on your Good Faith Estimate. At closing, they will be on the HUD1 closing statement. Closing Costs Mortgages Hopefully, your closing [...]

A mortgage underwriting fee is charged by the lender who underwrites your mortgage. It can be one of the largest fees on your Good Faith Estimate and HUD1 closing statement besides the origination fee. Some lenders charge an underwriting fee and other fees like doc prep or wire fee. Doc prep is printing off the [...]

The Truth-in-Lending disclosure document is Federally mandated mortgage disclosure which must be delivered to the borrower by law within 3 days of the loan application. Truth-in-Lending Disclosure Truth-in-Lending Disclosure contains a number of key terms of the loan applied for including the APR (Annual Percentage Rate), the note rate, discount fees, and other costs that [...]

A junk fee is a fee that is charged to the borrower but serves no purpose other than to increase the revenue to the originator. There is quite a bit of confusion on legitimate fees and junk fees on the Good Faith Estimate but more often than not, fees are not junk. Junk fees mortgage [...]

Good Faith Estimates can be scary. There are tons of lines, numbers, names and you probably feel like you are missing something. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Good Faith Estimate (GFE) Explanation A good faith estimate (also referred to as the “GFE”) is a RESPA mortgage disclosure document [...]

Here’s the question: “The mortgage broker I am currently working with says that he can only get a 15 Lock and it can be extended at a cost of $125 every time I extend. I am doing a HUD sales through FHA and my contract states I must close within 45 days. Shouldn’t I be [...]

Not disclosing yield spread premium is a violation of the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act, so it’s a crime for sure. If the crime is considered “fraud” per se, I am not sure. However, it is unlikely the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and/or the HUD1 Closing Statement won’t disclose YSP if it’s being paid. [...]