The History: The Consumer Credit Protection Act, more commonly known as the Truth-in-Lending Act, went into effect in 1968. The law is intended to protect borrowers from predatory lending by requiring lenders to fully disclose all costs associated with securing a mortgage loan.
Prior to the implementation of the act, borrowers routinely were paying considerably more than what had been initially advertised or agreed upon in the beginning stages of the loan process. Now, lenders must provide the potential borrower with an approximate cost, not only in dollars but percentage terms within a specified period of time prior to the application. Then, the exact costs and interest rate must be provided to the borrower, according to the law, at least, one full business day prior to the closing, in a document known as The Uniform Settlement Statement. This document provides relevant data clearly and consistently laid out, regarding finance charges, the total amount of each payment, the number of monthly payments over the life of the loan, as well as other pertinent financial information to help the borrower understand and manage the loan.
Also notable, a borrower who has applied for an equity loan, refinance of primary home, or a second mortgage has the option to back out of the loan agreement, if he or she does so within three days. However, the rescission option is not applicable for a single home loan, to initially purchase a home.¹
Truth in Lending Today:
The Truth in Lending/ TIL discloses information to address the following items; calculate the Annual Percentage Rate, show the prepaid charges, show the overall finance charge of the mortgage, the amount financed, total payments, a payment schedule, discloses if there is a prepayment penalty, and discusses how the late fee will work.
The Truth in Lending is to give a fair and accurate cost by taking the interest rate, loan term, mortgage insurance, if any, closing costs and producing the Annual Percentage Rate which is the rate to compare all other mortgages to. By taking all these items into consideration, this will produce an average rate assuming all of these factors; otherwise known as the Annual Percentage Rate or APR. This rate will allow you to shop and compare to all other mortgage offers and programs.
There have been some recent minor changes in the law regarding Truth in Lending known as the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act (MDIA). And these guidelines are continuing to change often. To find out more details about what the law is saying today please go to this link http://www.dfi.wa.gov/cs/pdf/mdia-notice.pdf If you still have questions, please contact me at bill@billnickerson.com
¹ http://www.mortgage101.com/article/what-is-truth-in-lending-act