Can a piece of paper prevent another mortgage crisis?
Sometimes when people can’t afford their mortgage, they call me up and say a broker or lender sold them on a loan without explaining by how much the payments would increase.
Steve Preston, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, on Wednesday unveiled his solution to that problem.
Beginning in 2010, all lenders and brokers will have to use HUD’s new Good Faith Estimate, which is a three-page document outlining the interest rate and fees a borrower will pay, and how much the broker, if there is one, will earn.