In the first three rounds of Know Before You Owe, we asked you to compare different draft versions of a simplified mortgage disclosure form. Round 1 was about designs for the front-page, the “shopping sheet.” Round 2 was about the second page, which presents the closing costs. Round 3 offered different ways to highlight and [...]
Author archive: Patricia McCoy
Avoiding loan scams after a natural disaster
This year has seen quite a few notable natural disasters, including deadly tornados, wild fires, and floods. Most recently an unusually strong earthquake, hurricane, and floods have struck the eastern United States. Of course, with any disaster comes the cleanup, which can be expensive. Unfortunately, many families do not have emergency funds and may need [...]
Mortgage disclosures are getting better, thanks to you.
On July 21st, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors for business. That means that we have started taking your credit card complaints, and initiated the supervision process for large banks and their affiliates. But our work didn’t start last week. In May, we launched Know Before You Owe, a project that combines and [...]
Know Before You Owe. Go!
We’ve just posted two draft designs for a single, simpler mortgage disclosure form on our Know Before You Owe page. Now, we need to hear from you! The task is pretty simple: Consumers would receive a form similar to one of these versions within a few days of applying for a loan. Take a look, [...]
Know Before You Owe: Designing a New Disclosure
This is the second in a series of blog posts about the Know Before You Owe project. To stay informed, sign up for e-mail updates. If you were designing a better mortgage disclosure form, how would you do it and where would you start? Over the past several months, we have been hard at work [...]
Know Before You Owe: Help Us Make Your Mortgage Forms Better
Let’s say you want to buy a home or refinance your mortgage. You might be in the market to buy today, or you might be planning to do so down the road. You think about the neighborhoods you might like, the features you want, and what it will be like when you get the keys [...]