During your home closing keep a copy of mortgage lender’s good faith estimate handy. For home closing tips, check out today’s Real Estate Minute. 

Whether you’re buying or selling, you must keep a paper trail of the transaction, or you could get into big trouble.

To keep your mortgage lender honest during your closing, keep a file handy that contains copies of all of the information you’ve given your lender and the documentation you’ve gotten in return, especially the good faith estimate.

At your closing, or the day before, a lender could add all sorts of charges and fees above and beyond what was quoted in the good faith estimate. You or your real estate attorney has to jump on these extra charges, and ask why they’ve been added to the deal.

That’s when you whip out your folder with the initial good faith estimate and compare the two statements. The lender should never be more than $25 over that estimate.

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