As predicted, we end the week on a high note-with lower interest rates. Whew, people where getting a little cranky around here!

The Treasury had a good bond sale yesterday, oil prices have come down a bit (but my Saab seems to be a gas guzzler these summer days) and consumer confidence has gone up (I don’t really know who the judge of that is!)

News for the mortgage industry: more disclosures and documents for the borrower to sign and return to lenders. A new one that came out this week is a form they send to the Social Security administration verifying your social security number. Basically the borrower signs a form stating they are the one with the social security number on the paperwork and the bank can verify it. Wow, first they don’t trust the mortgage brokers and now they seem to not trust the borrowers. Here is a little something to think about: the document gets forwarded to a company, in Texas, contracted by the lenders, to verify the paperwork. Geez, who owns this company? Is this W’s new job?

Furthermore, what is the charge (to the borrower) to verify this and how much more time will it add to the mortgage process??

In August, the banking regulations come out with a revised Good Faith Estimate, I am sure to further confuse the borrowers about the fees. I hope it adds in bold all the new fees the borrowers must incur because of all the new government paperwork!

Happy weekend!  Off to Chicago. Follow me on Twitter @dalerobynsiegel. And I won’t be tweeting about mortgages! (we all need a little time off)

Dale Siegel