Article From: Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage disclosure forms, long considered baffling, incomprehensible and misleading, are about to get an overhaul, federal officials promised Friday.

[MY TAKE: It's hard to feel sorry for the mortgage industry & other financial institutions. Did this take them by surprise? It looks like greed took control of their minds.

As distasteful as the word sounds, Regulation, it has proven once again to be a necessary element in the capitalist system.]

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Moreover, the 96-page proposal, which updates the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) that governs mortgage loans, would bar lenders from steeply hiking costs at closing -- a common complaint today -- by designating which fees could vary from the estimate and by how much.

"This is the most fantastic news consumers could have," said Jeff Lazerson, president of Mortgage Grader, an Internet-based loan broker. "We have needed this since RESPA was enacted in 1974. It was a poorly written law that protected crooked operators. This spells the end of bait-and-switch loan pricing."

FULL ARTICLE...