Jim's Mortgage Corner | Real Estate | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:34 PM PDT

Dear Jim,

We are under contract for our first home and we just signed another set of disclosures that seem to be redundant with what we signed initially. I understand we will need to view and sign final disclosures just before closing. While it is nice to have this information in advance, why all the paperwork?

Thanks,

Rex, Grand Junction

Hi Rex,

You initially signed the Loan Estimate which tells you all the details about the loan you have requested. The lender must provide this information to you within three business days after receiving your application.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) launched TRID in November 2013. The TILA RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule (TRID) is also known as the Know Before You Owe disclosure rule. The CFPB is a regulatory agency charged with overseeing financial products and services that are offered to consumers.

Before TRID you would receive the Truth in Lending Disclosure and the Good Faith Estimate, required by TILA (Truth in Lending Act), and a Settlement Statement and a Truth in Lending Disclosure Statement which was required by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

Don't worry, there will not be a test after this. The Loan Estimate form that you signed took into effect on Oct. 3, 2015. As you reviewed the Loan Estimate, it provided you the estimated interest rate (whether you are locked or floating), the monthly payment and your total closing costs for the loan. It also provides you estimates on the costs for your taxes and insurance, and penalties, if any, for paying off your loan early. One goal for the new Loan Estimate form was to provide simple and clear language that allows you to better understand all the terms of the loan. This makes it easier for you to compare mortgage loans since all lenders are required to use the same Loan Estimate form.

You are not actually approved for your loan when you receive the Loan Estimate, but the information provided above helps you decide if you want to move forward. If so, usually this is when the lender will ask for more financial information.

If anything changes on your loan during the loan process, such as locking your rate, loan amount changes, etc., the lender must re-disclose this information. This may be the reason you received another disclosure to sign.

So why all the new forms? As most of us know, we had a financial crisis in 2008 due to poor mortgage practices. You could borrow more than you could repay, obtain adjustable-rate mortgages or interest only loans and often you would not need to provide any documentation to validate your income, employment, etc.

The CFPB was created in July 2011 to promote fairness and transparency for mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer financial products and services. Once the economy started to recover, the CFPB developed regulations that would prevent the mortgage crisis from happening again which included the new Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure.

Prior to closing on your loan, you will also receive a Closing Disclosure that provides all the details on your loan including the terms, your monthly payment, fees and closing costs. The lender is required to give you the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before you close on the mortgage loan. This three-day window allows you time to compare this to the Loan Estimate you signed previously and gives you time to ask your lender any questions prior to your closing.

While it may seem like a lot of forms, it makes it easy for you to understand all the loan details before you close on your home. Congratulations on your first home!

Jim Kaiser

Branch Manager, NMLS #1721861

Cherry Creek Mortgage Co., Inc. NMLS 3001

Jimkaisermortgages.com

CMU students unveil system to test wastewater for COVID-19 - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 30 Aug 2020 11:15 PM PDT

Students at Colorado Mesa University unveiled a contraption on Friday that might be able to identify COVID-19 outbreaks before they occur.

CMU's Engineers without Borders club collaborated with students at the University of Colorado-Boulder to create a system that can capture wastewater and test it for traces of COVID-19.

"We're trying to get back to the source as quick as we can," said Jordan Coquoz, one of the CMU students who worked on the project. "We can do random testing around campus but once those results come back, it's probably too late anyway."

The device utilizes a battery-powered pump that sucks water from a sewer pipe through a tube and into a container.

A small piece of copper is attached at the end of the device to filter debris out of the sample water.

The collected samples will then be sent to a lab on the Front Range where it will be tested for COVID-19.

Most of the device was designed by CU Boulder students but they struggled with the filter. That part was difficult because letting toilet paper into the tube clogged it, and having too big of a filter would create a toilet paper dam.

That's when the CMU students stepped in and designed the filter through an intense six days of work during the first week of school.

Michelle Mellenthin, an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering and faculty adviser for the club at CMU, helped the students manage their time and assisted them with putting the testing device together.

She was impressed by the students' dedication to the project.

"The thing that excites me most about this is the fact it was the students who designed it and it works well," Mellenthin said. "I'm really proud of their ability to put in the amount of hours that they did. We were in the engineering building on Sunday running things through the test equipment to make sure it worked."

Now that the devices have been implemented, the next step is to send the samples collected to the lab to be tested and then understand that data. Mellenthin said that could take a week or so because of how much is out of their control.

If this is successful, it can be used as a preliminary warning system, Coquoz said, and keep infected people from going out onto campus and into the community.

"I have a big heart for helping people anyway I can, and I love helping people anyway I can," Coquoz said. "This is a way those two can be married."

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