How to Fill Out the Closing Disclosure Form: Page-by-Page Review

You don’t actually fill out the Closing Disclosure yourself. Your lender prepares the five-page form and must deliver it to you at least three business days before closing; your job is to read it carefully, line by line, and confirm every loan term and cost matches what you were promised. Learning how to fill out the Closing Disclosure, in the sense most buyers mean it, is really learning how to review it: what each page shows, which numbers to compare against your Loan Estimate, and what to do if something looks wrong.

The form replaced the older HUD-1 Settlement Statement and final Truth in Lending disclosure under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.¹ It applies to most closed-end consumer mortgages on real property, including purchases and refinances, but not reverse mortgages or home equity lines of credit.²

Your Three Business Days to Review

The three-day window starts when you actually receive the document, not when the lender sends it.³ A “business day” for this rule is every calendar day except Sundays and federal holidays, so Saturdays count. If a loan officer or settlement agent hands you the form, the countdown begins immediately. If the lender mails or emails it, federal regulations presume you received it three business days after it was sent, which effectively stretches the waiting period to six days.⁴ If your closing date is tight, ask for in-person delivery or confirm electronic delivery so the clock starts sooner.

Three days exists precisely so you can catch problems. Use the time. The sections below walk through what each page shows and what you should verify before signing.

Page 1: Loan Terms, Payments, and Cash to Close

The top of page 1 identifies you, the property, the closing date, and the loan’s basic profile (term, purpose, product type, fixed or adjustable). Below that, the Loan Terms table locks in the final loan amount and interest rate and flags three features that catch borrowers off guard: whether the interest rate can increase after closing, whether a prepayment penalty applies, and whether the loan includes a balloon payment.³ Confirm each of these matches what you agreed to.

The Projected Payments section breaks your estimated monthly payment into principal and interest, mortgage insurance (if any), and estimated escrow for taxes and homeowner’s insurance. Look closely at the line labeled “Estimated Taxes, Insurance & Assessments.” Anything listed there that isn’t held in escrow is your responsibility to pay separately — not part of your monthly mortgage bill.

At the bottom of page 1 are the total closing costs and your Cash to Close figure. That’s what you need to bring to the settlement table, typically by cashier’s check or wire. Compare it directly to the Cash to Close on your most recent Loan Estimate. If it went up, ask your lender for a specific explanation before closing day.

Page 2: Closing Cost Details

Page 2 itemizes every fee you’ll pay, grouped into sections. The grouping isn’t cosmetic: it determines whether the lender was even allowed to increase the fee from your Loan Estimate.

Origination Charges (Section A) are fees the lender charges directly, including application and underwriting fees and any discount points you’re buying to lower your rate.
Services Borrower Did Not Shop For (Section B) are third-party services the lender picked, such as the appraisal and credit report.
Services Borrower Did Shop For (Section C) are services where the lender gave you a provider list and you chose one, commonly title insurance, a survey, or pest inspections. Confirm the companies listed are the ones you actually selected.
Taxes and Government Fees (Section E) are recording fees and transfer taxes.
Prepaids (Section F) cover expenses accruing before your first regular payment: prepaid interest, homeowner’s insurance premiums, and property taxes.
Initial Escrow Payment (Section G) is the amount deposited into your escrow account at closing to seed future tax and insurance bills.

The total of these charges appears at the bottom of the page, alongside any lender credits that reduce your out-of-pocket costs.³

Page 3: Comparing to Your Loan Estimate

Page 3 is where you catch changes. The Calculating Cash to Close table sets your final numbers side by side with the corresponding figures from your original Loan Estimate, and a “Did this change?” column tells you where things moved. Walk through it line by line. If the loan amount, closing costs, or Cash to Close changed, your lender should be able to explain why.

The Summaries of Transactions section on the same page shows every dollar flowing between buyer, seller, and lender: sale price, your deposit, any seller credits, payoff of the seller’s existing mortgage, and prorated adjustments for taxes or HOA dues. Verify that credits the seller agreed to in your purchase contract actually show up here.

Pages 4 and 5: Ongoing Terms and What Signing Means

Page 4 covers how the loan behaves after closing. It discloses the late-payment penalty (usually a percentage of the overdue amount after a grace period), whether the lender accepts partial payments, and whether you have an escrow account. If you waived escrow, it shows the fee you paid for the waiver. This page also tells you whether your loan has a demand feature allowing the lender to require full repayment at any time, allows negative amortization, or can be assumed by a future buyer.

Page 5 shows the full cost of borrowing. The Total of Payments line is what you’ll pay over the loan’s life if you make every scheduled payment, a number that often startles first-time buyers. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) reflects the true cost of borrowing with fees factored in, not just the note rate. The Total Interest Percentage (TIP) shows how much interest you’ll pay as a percentage of the loan amount.

At the bottom of page 5 is the Confirm Receipt section with signature lines for each borrower. The form itself says plainly: “By signing, you are only confirming that you have received this form. You do not have to accept this loan because you have signed or received this form.”⁵ Signing here starts your three-day review clock. It does not commit you to the loan. The binding signatures happen later at the closing table.

Which Fees the Lender Was Allowed to Change

Federal regulations limit how much fees can increase between the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure, which gives you a concrete standard for your line-by-line comparison.⁴ Three tiers apply.

Zero tolerance means the fee cannot increase at all. This covers origination charges paid to the lender, mortgage broker fees, fees for services the lender selected (Section B), and transfer taxes. If any of these went up by even a dollar, the lender owes you the difference.

Ten-percent cumulative tolerance applies when the lender gave you a list of providers and you chose one. The combined total of those shoppable third-party charges, together with recording fees, can increase by up to 10 percent in the aggregate, not per line item. So $2,000 in shoppable services and recording fees on the Loan Estimate cannot exceed $2,200 on the Closing Disclosure.

Unlimited tolerance applies to genuinely unpredictable costs, as long as the original estimate was made in good faith: prepaid interest, property insurance premiums, escrow deposits, property taxes, and services you chose on your own that the lender didn’t require.

If zero-tolerance or ten-percent-tolerance fees exceeded their limits, the lender must refund the excess no later than 60 days after consummation and issue a corrected Closing Disclosure. Most lenders catch overages before closing and apply a lender credit on the original disclosure instead. If you spot a tolerance violation your lender hasn’t addressed, raise it before you sit down at the closing table.

What to Do If You Find an Error

Contact your loan officer or settlement agent immediately when something looks wrong. The CFPB flags even a misspelled name as worth fixing because it can delay closing or create title issues later.⁶ During your review, focus on:

Loan amount and interest rate — these should match your most recent Loan Estimate, and a locked rate can only change under limited circumstances.
Monthly payment — confirm you can afford the Estimated Total Monthly Payment including escrow; an unexpected jump usually means the escrow estimate changed or costs were rolled into the loan balance.
Closing costs — compare each page 2 line to the matching line on your Loan Estimate and look for new fees that weren’t disclosed earlier.
Cash to Close — if it increased, get an itemized explanation before wiring funds.
Seller credits — verify every credit from your purchase contract shows up.

Clerical mistakes can usually be fixed on the spot. Substantive changes may require a corrected disclosure, and in a few cases a new waiting period.

Changes That Restart the Three-Day Clock

Most corrections don’t reset the countdown. Three specific changes do, and the three-business-day countdown starts over from the date you receive the corrected disclosure:²

The APR becomes inaccurate. For a standard fixed-rate mortgage, inaccuracy means a change of more than one-eighth of one percentage point; for irregular transactions, the threshold is one-quarter of one percentage point.⁷
The loan product changes, such as switching from fixed-rate to adjustable-rate or changing the loan term.
A prepayment penalty is added that wasn’t on the original disclosure.

Any of these can push closing back by a week or more, which is why lenders work hard to get the initial disclosure right.

If You’re Refinancing, You Have One More Protection

This is a boundary worth knowing: if you’re buying a home, your decision to close is final once you sign at the table. If you’re refinancing your primary residence, the Truth in Lending Act gives you until midnight of the third business day after consummation to cancel the transaction.⁸ The right also covers home equity loans and HELOCs on your primary dwelling. It does not apply to purchase-money mortgages. To rescind, send written notice to the lender at the address specified in your rescission notice; the rescission is effective when you send it, not when the lender receives it.⁹

1
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure FAQs
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Closing Disclosure Explainer
4
eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.19 – Certain Mortgage and Variable-Rate Transactions
5
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Closing Disclosure Sample Form
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Questions About the Closing Process
7
eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.22 – Determination of Annual Percentage Rate
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1635 – Right of Rescission as to Certain Transactions
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1026.23 – Right of Rescission