The federal Truth-in-Lending Act - or “TILA” for short - requires that borrowers receive disclosures about important terms of credit. These important terms include the APR, the monthly payment, the total amount of finance charge to be paid, whether you can prepay your loan without a penalty, and other important terms.

The law says you must receive your TILA disclosure before you are legally bound to pay your loan. You should always insist on receiving and reviewing your TILA disclosure before you sign your loan contract.

Note that the TILA disclosure is often provided as part of the loan contract, so you may be given the entire contract for review when you ask for the TILA disclosure. You should review it all, paying special attention to the disclosures noted above.