The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) decided to let the market dictate who was going to be responsible for filling out the new closing disclosure. This is a win for the industry, but may mean more flexibility in the future.
“One thing that I found especially positive is the bureau’s recognition of the vital role that settlement providers provide in protecting consumers at closing,” said Michelle Korsmo, chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association. “In choosing to … allow lenders to continue to work with settlement agents, the bureau said, ‘Settlement agents and closing attorneys play a vital role in the real estate settlement process.’ That is directly from the rule.”
Mary Schuster, president of op2 and vice president of legislative affairs at RamQuest, pointed out that, in the proposed rule, the CFPB provided two options for preparing and delivering the Closing Disclosure. One was that the lender would be solely responsible for the preparation and delivery of the Closing Disclosure form. The second option was that the lender would be responsible for the content but could share the task of preparing and delivering the form with the title and settlement industry. The CFPB validated the role of the settlement agent by choosing option two but made clear that the market is going to need to work out who performs which duties.