When you closed your loan you were asked to sign a long sheet of paper. A sheet of paper that was longer than the others and contained numbers on top of numbers.

The sheet you signed is called a HUD-1 or settlement statement. The HUD-1 gave you a list of incoming and outgoing funds and acted as an itemized bill for the loan that you obtained.

At the beginning of your loan process, you received a Good Faith Estimate (GFE). A vast majority of consumers neglect to compare the HUD-1 and the GFE. Why? Pressure, anxiety, and/or a desperate need to close the loan. The GFE is mandatory under federal law and was designed to protect you but when you are in a bind, sometimes you can sign things that you should not have signed.

Most of the time, there is a difference in the origination fees listed on the HUD-1 and the GFE. At this late stage of the loan process, there should not be any unreasonable surprises. Buyer beware.