The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is asking for more feedback from their recently introduced two new HUD-1 Settlement Statement forms at their website by click here.

The two prototypes they used last month displayed the final loan terms in the same format as the prototype for the disclosure consumers would receive a few days after application. This way, people could easily compare their offered and final loan terms. However, the two prototypes displayed a different set of information, the closing costs, in a format similar to the HUD-1 settlement statement that’s currently in use for closing. They have reworked it, based on thousands of your comments.

This month, they are trying something new. They are testing a design that displays the final closing costs in a format similar to the prototype they have been testing for the application disclosures. Their goal this time around is to find out which is better for disclosing closing costs: a design that mirrors the disclosure people receive when they apply for a mortgage, or one that is similar to the current HUD-1 settlement statement.

This is a question they can’t answer for ourselves. The people they need to hear from are consumers, lenders, and settlement agents. In other words: they need to hear from the people who have to use these disclosures.

The Dodd-Frank Act requires them to integrate the two disclosures you currently receive when you close on a mortgage loan: the HUD-1 Settlement Statement and final Truth-In-Lending disclosure. Their goal is to make this one combined form that is easier for both consumers and industry to understand and use. Keep in mind that this is the final disclosure consumers receive either shortly before or at closing. It provides borrowers with the important information like the loan terms, closing costs, and requirements for the loan.