The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released two drafts of a proposed mortgage disclosure form that would make understanding your mortgage a lot easier. You can take a look at these forms for yourself.
This is long overdue. I’m all for simplifying using charts and graphs in a standardized way, not whatever way the mortgage lender felt like showing it. It also makes for a more informed and educated consumer. You can’t look at this form and not understand that, should you get an ARM, your payments could jump in the adjusting year (and each year afterwards). It also gives you a better understanding of the other costs, like taxes and insurance, which the mortgage lender may neglect to show you (though I doubt they ever do).
I don’t, however, think this is a panacea nor would it have prevented the “mortgage meltdown” that started a five years ago. I’ve alwa