The most valuable thing on the page is what happens before it arrives. Three rules in 12 CFR 1026.19(e)(2) govern the period between application and delivery, and none of them is printed on the form.
First, the fee restriction. "Neither a creditor nor any other person may impose a fee on a consumer in connection with the consumer's application for a mortgage transaction … before the consumer has received the [Loan Estimate] and indicated to the creditor an intent to proceed with the transaction described by those disclosures." The single exception is "a bona fide and reasonable fee for obtaining the consumer's credit report." An appraisal fee, an application fee or a processing fee charged before that point is not permitted. The intent to proceed may be given "in any manner the consumer chooses, unless a particular manner of communication is required by the creditor", and the creditor has to document it.
Second, the rule about worksheets. If a lender gives a borrower a written estimate of terms or costs before the Loan Estimate, that document must state "at the top of the front of the first page … in a font size that is no smaller than 12-point font: 'Your actual rate, payment, and costs could be higher. Get an official Loan Estimate before choosing a loan.'" It also "may not be made with headings, content, and format substantially similar to form H-24 or H-25." So an informal worksheet is permitted, and it is required to announce that it is not the real thing.
Third, the rule about documents. "The creditor or other person shall not require a consumer to submit documents verifying information related to the consumer's application before providing the [Loan Estimate]." A borrower shopping several lenders is not obliged to assemble a document package for each one before seeing any numbers.
Two deadlines, and two different meanings of business day inside the same paragraph. The Loan Estimate must be delivered or mailed "not later than the third business day after the creditor receives the consumer's application" (12 CFR 1026.19(e)(1)(iii)(A)), and also "not later than the seventh business day before consummation" (subparagraph (B)). The second deadline is the less familiar of the two, and less familiar still is that Regulation Z carries two definitions of business day, at 12 CFR 1026.2(a)(6). The general definition is "a day on which the creditor's offices are open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its business functions." A listed set of provisions instead uses "all calendar days except Sundays and the legal public holidays specified in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a)". The three-day delivery deadline uses the general definition. The seven-day deadline, the presumption that a mailed disclosure is received three business days later, and the fee restriction all use the second one, in which a Saturday counts.
Shopping is a disclosed right, with a list attached. The creditor must identify on the Loan Estimate which settlement services the borrower is permitted to shop for, and must separately provide "a written list identifying available providers of that settlement service and stating that the consumer may choose a different provider for that service", naming at least one provider for each (12 CFR 1026.19(e)(1)(vi)). The list is a separate document from the form, which is why borrowers who read only the Loan Estimate often never see it. It also has a consequence at closing: buying a shoppable service from a provider who was not on the list moves that charge into the category with no percentage limit.
Revisions have their own clocks. Where the regulation permits a revised Loan Estimate, the borrower "must receive any revised version … not later than four business days prior to consummation", and the creditor "shall not provide a revised version … on or after the date on which the creditor provides" the Closing Disclosure (12 CFR 1026.19(e)(4)(ii)). One trigger worth knowing runs the other way: an offer can lapse. If the borrower indicates an intent to proceed more than ten business days after the Loan Estimate was provided, the creditor may use revised figures, because the original estimate has expired (1026.19(e)(3)(iv)(E)).
The waiting period can be waived, but barely. A consumer who determines that the credit is needed to meet "a bona fide personal financial emergency" may modify or waive the seven-business-day wait, by a dated written statement describing the emergency and signed by everyone primarily liable. The regulation then adds a sentence that tells you what it is guarding against: "Printed forms for this purpose are prohibited."
