Good Faith Estimates are now a joke. They will say the closing costs are from $3,000 to $25,000, making each line item as much of a wild swing as the final estimate. “Documentation Fees: $250-$4,000. Transaction Fee: $25-$1,780. etc”
I have been a mortgage banker for 18 years. The new GFE is not a joke. Line item fees to the lender have a tolerance of 0.00% and other closing costs paid to others such as the appraiser, attorney, title insurance, recording etc have a tolerance of 10.00%. If the actual closing costs exceed the stated tolerances the customer recieves a lender credit for the difference at closing.
What is accurate about the article is the amount of research, documentation and due diligence that is required of lenders is expensive, but required for loans to be sold and serviced by the secondary market. Those new costs are going to be paid by the consumer. The technology and the labor required are not free. Welcome to hope and change!