New In-App CHARM booklet and ARM Disclosure PDF Viewer for Borrowers

Available in Beta and Prod 10/4, Opt-In

How to turn on:

This will not automatically be turned on for our customers. It will be available beginning on the dates listed above. If you’d like to take advantage of this functionality, please email support@blend.com.

Purpose of Update and Benefit:

During the mortgage application process, borrowers who select an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) are presented with the lender's ARM disclosure and the CFPB’s Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgage (CHARM) booklet for review. Blend currently enables lenders to provide their ARM disclosures in the mortgage borrower application via a hyperlink with the CHARM booklet also viewable by clicking on the link. Borrowers are not required to click on the link for the ARM disclosure or the CHARM booklet before they proceed with their application, but they are required to confirm (by clicking a CTA button) that they have read and agree to the disclosure and cannot bypass this step. Based on customer feedback, we’re releasing an update that will present both the lender's ARM disclosure and the CHARM booklet to the borrower without needing to click on a hyperlink to view, thus ensuring the borrower has viewed prior to proceeding with the remainder of their application. Both are PDFs that the borrower can then download and save and/or print.

This new feature only applies to customers who have self-serve pricing enabled in Blend and offer an ARM loan option(s). If you do not have self-serve pricing enabled and/or do not offer any ARM loan options, these changes will not apply.

For customers who offer ARM, if a borrower does not select an ARM option from the available options they will not be presented with the ARM disclosure or the CHARM booklet.

Current Behavior:

Currently, when a borrower indicates interest in an ARM option available to them, the lender's ARM disclosure and the CHARM booklet are included as links from within the Loan Options presented to the borrower. Borrowers are not required to click on either link prior to selecting ‘Continue’ and proceeding with their application. Whether a borrower reviews the disclosure and/or CHARM booklet, by clicking ‘Continue’ they are confirming they are acknowledging receipt of both.

New Behavior:

Once a borrower selects an ARM option for their mortgage application, the lender’s ARM disclosure will be presented to the borrower. The borrower is not required to scroll through the disclosure (if the disclosure is long enough to require) prior to acknowledging. The borrower does have the option to ‘Download’ the disclosure in a PDF to their computer should they choose to do so. The borrower must click the ‘Acknowledge and proceed’ button in order to continue with their application.

After acknowledging the lender’s ARM disclosure, the borrower is next presented with the CFPB’s CHARM booklet. The borrower is not required to scroll through all pages of the booklet in order to proceed. They do have the option to ‘Download’ the booklet to their computer as a PDF for future reference. In order to proceed with the rest of the application, the borrower must click the ‘Acknowledge and proceed’ button for the CHARM booklet.

Both the ARM disclosure and the CHARM booklet are available for the borrower from within their documents tab should they need to access either after proceeding through the application.

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