Fed moves to improve disclosures on mortgages

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve has approved proposals to make it easier for Americans with mortgages, or shopping for them, to better understand how the loans work.

The action comes after lax lending and, in some cases, borrowers who didn’t fully understand the terms of their home loans, ended up buying houses that they couldn’t afford. That contributed to the worst collapse in the housing and mortgage markets in 70 years.

Among the changes, mortgage lenders would need to explain potentially risky features, such as prepayment penalties, of a mortgage in a one-page “plain-English” question-and-answer format before a consumer applies for a loan. Improved disclosure of the annual percentage rate, or APR, to capture most fees and settlement costs paid by the borrower also would be required.

For customers with adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders would be required to show consumers how their payment might change. Lenders also would have to notify customers 60 days in advance – versus the current 25 – of a change in their monthly payment.

Lenders would have to provide a monthly statement of payment options for customers with payments that don’t cover the interest on the loan. That increases the loan balance by the amount of the unpaid interest. The statement would explain the impact different payment options would have on the loan balance.

The proposal would ban certain payments to mortgage brokers and loan officers that are based on the loan’s terms or conditions. It also would prohibit steering consumers to transactions that aren’t in their interest but would lead to increased compensation to the brokers and officers.

The Fed also proposed bolstering disclosures on home-equity lines of credit. Those changes include prohibiting a lender from terminating a customer account for delinquency until the payment is more than 30 days late.