Two organizations have criticized one government watchdog agency’s recent updates to a couple of documents that play an important role in housing today. 

The American Land Title Association recently explained that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s renewed Closing Disclosure form, set to be released in the near future, could end up confusing home buyers. Not long before the ALTA’s critique of the disclosure document, ACA International submitted comments on the CFPB’s proposed revisions to the Consumer Intake Form, explaining that its reliance on “natural language processing” could present problems. The groups’ criticisms are not new to the consumer finance watchdog, whose announcements often beget negative assessments from organizations representing affected industries. 

“Unfortunately, we’re already aware of one major problem with the new CFPB forms,” Michelle Korsmo, the ALTA’s chief executive officer, said in a written statement. 

ATLA claims new disclosure forms don’t properly describe fees
The ATLA noted in a March 3 press release that the disclosure forms, which will replace the the current HUD-1 Settlement Statement and set to be released later in the year, will transform the home buying process. The issue with the document, according to the organization representing the land title insurance industry,  is that it inaccurately discloses certain fees. 

“State law and regulation in half of the United States dictates that consumers must pay title insurance rates that are different than how the CFPB requires industry to inaccurately disclose these fees to the consumer,” Korsmo went on to explained in the statement. 

The ATLA insisted that the CFPB adjust the disclosure forms prior to Aug. 1 so that homeowners receive accurate information regarding the fees they will end up paying. 

​ACA International urges CFPB to change portions of proposed Consumer Intake Form updates
ACA International, an organization representing credit and collection professionals, was, in general, supportive of the CFPB’s proposed changes to the Consumer Intake Form. However, the uncertainty regarding what role “natural language procession” could play in data collection was enough for the group to question its use in the form, which gives consumers the ability to “submit complaints, alerts, questions and comments” to the agency. 

The organization noted that in regard to “natural language processing,”  there’s no certainty on how it will work, what people will think about the order of suggestions originated by the process or if there will be any bias within the auto-completion system fueled by consumers’ text responses.  Additionally, ACA International urged the CFPB to include a space for people to describe their positive experiences with financial services providers.