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MReport_April2015

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Th e M Rep o RT | 15 cover story Are your closing agents e-recording? simplifile.com | 800.460.5657 Cadence. Lenders are simultaneously worrying about the ability-to-repay rule, new disclosure forms and guidelines, and requirements from federal and state regulators. "With eMortgage tools, "you will be able to apply the rules and regulations religiously," Green added. Brodbeck with Blanco National Bank is hoping the CFPB pilot program gives the bank a glimpse at how the "Know Before You Owe" CFPB program—in tandem with the use of technology— will impact the mortgage industry. Technology built the right way can make a major difference in ensuring lenders and borrowers are traveling through the closing process seamlessly. "One of the great things about technology—not only does it follow rules—it makes transparency possible," noted Green with Accenture Mortgage Cadence. "Think about the paper process, you really can't see what is going on while your mortgage is going from origination to closing. With technology, you can. You can actually be part of the process." The idea of offering transparency to the consumer and the financial markets is not new to the CFPB. A year ago, the agency distributed a research report titled, "Mortgage Closings Today." In the report, CFPB Director Richard Cordray described his own feelings when signing mortgage documents. "The documents are literally impenetrable. . . . Here I was—former general counsel of the Treasury, former general counsel of a Fortune 100 financial services company—asking my lawyer to help me through 100 pages of incomprehensible, turgid gobbledygook." And the problem with jargon-riddled closing packets is they continue to exist at a time when regulators are pushing lenders and consumers to meet at the same level to ensure there is no confusion over what the borrower is committing to. The CFPB report concludes closing packages are too large and complex due to state, federal, and local regulations—not to mention, the high number of stakeholders involved in the process. Lenders, at the same time, say mortgage closings lack standardization, and with banks afraid of breaking new regulations, lenders often throw in more legal terms to cover their tracks. This in turn, confuses the borrowers even further. The goal of the CFPB is to consider all of the feedback from the eClosing pilot program to determine if all stakeholders in the process can obtain not only standardization and simplified terms—but the ability to find errors or misunderstandings early on that tend to lead to unstable mortgages over the life of the loan. One stakeholder the CFPB interviewed when studying closings summed up the problem in one statement. "The reality is that settlement is so detailed," the respondent said. "It has so many players with different levels of understanding and expectations that chances of nothing going wrong is extremely low."

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