CFPB Releases FAQs on Providing Loan Estimates to Consumers

On July 31, 2019, the CFPB updated its TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure FAQs by adding five FAQs that relate to providing Loan Estimates to consumers.

Among the requirements covered by the new FAQs are the following:

• A creditor is generally responsible for ensuring that a Loan Estimate is delivered to a consumer or placed in the mail to the consumer no later than the third business day after the consumer submits the six pieces of information (name, income, social security number, property address, estimate of the value of the property, and loan amount sought) that constitute an “application” for a mortgage loan subject to the TRID Rule;
• Creditors cannot require consumers to provide additional information (other than the six pieces of information that constitute an application under the TRID Rule) in order to receive a Loan Estimate;
• Creditors cannot require a consumer to provide verifying documents in order to receive a Loan Estimate;
• If a consumer submits the six pieces of information that constitute an application for purposes of the TRID Rule to obtain a pre-approval or pre-qualification letter, the creditor is responsible for ensuring that a Loan Estimate is provided to the consumer within three business days of receipt of the last of the six pieces of information; and
• As long as a creditor otherwise complies with the requirements above, the TRID Rule does not prohibit a creditor from requesting and collecting additional information (beyond the six pieces of information that constitute an application under the TRID Rule) or verifying documents it deems necessary in connection with a request for a mortgage loan, including a request for a pre-approval or a pre-qualification letter.