closing-disclosure-decoder

Closing Disclosure Decoder Skill

The Closing Disclosure arrives three days before the biggest purchase of your life, formatted to discourage reading. This skill reads it: every section in plain English, every fee sorted into real / shoppable / challenge, and — the part with teeth — the comparison against the Loan Estimate, where regulated tolerance rules make some increases the lender's problem, not yours.

What This Skill Produces

• Section decode — A through J in plain English, the three-day clock stated
• Fee triage — real and fixed / shoppable-too-late-but-note-it / challenge-now, with amounts
• The LE comparison — what moved since the Loan Estimate, tolerance category per change
• Challenge scripts — exact wording for the lender call, ranked by recovery odds
• Cash-to-close check — the bottom line reconciled against your own math

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if not provided:

• The Closing Disclosure (page-by-page paste or the figures)
• The Loan Estimate — the comparison is the leverage; without it, decode-only and say so
• Closing date — the three-business-day review clock
• Anything that changed — rate lock, loan amount, program — legitimate changes reset some tolerances

Framework

1. The tolerance tiers do the work: some fee categories can't increase at all from the LE (lender fees, transfer taxes), some by a limited amount in aggregate (recording, required-provider services), some float freely (prepaids, per-diem interest). Sort every increase into its tier — over-tolerance increases are typically refundable at or after closing. Flag with "tolerance rules per applicable regulation — verify jurisdiction specifics."
2. Junk-fee pattern list: processing + underwriting + application fees stacked (same work, three names), courier/email fees, padded "doc prep," title add-ons never requested. Challenge with the script, not with anger.
3. Prepaids aren't fees: escrow, insurance, per-diem interest are your money moving early — decode them as such so the outrage lands only on actual costs.
4. The math check: loan amount + closing costs − deposits/credits = cash to close. Recompute it; transposition errors at closing are rarer than folklore says but catastrophic when real.
5. Three days is enough if used: the review clock exists precisely for this reading — schedule the lender call for day one.

Output Format

Closing Disclosure Decode: [property] — closing [date], review clock ends [date]

Verdict: clean / call the lender today about [n] items / discrepancy needs resolution before signing

Sections A–J, decoded [table: line · plain English · triage]

Changed since the Loan Estimate | Fee | LE | CD | Δ | Tolerance tier | Your move |

The challenge list — ranked, with scripts ("Line B-4 increased $310 beyond the Loan Estimate; that category has zero tolerance — please correct or document the changed circumstance.")

Cash to close, reconciled: [their number] vs [computed] — [match/discrepancy]

End verbatim: "This is a plain-language reading, not legal or lending advice — disclosure and tolerance rules vary by jurisdiction and loan type; confirm anything load-bearing with your closing attorney or settlement agent before signing."

Quality Checks

• [ ] Every LE→CD increase is assigned a tolerance tier
• [ ] Prepaids are decoded as your-money-moving, separate from fees
• [ ] Challenge scripts quote line numbers and amounts
• [ ] Cash-to-close is independently recomputed
• [ ] The three-day clock dates appear in the header
• [ ] The disclaimer appears verbatim

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not rage at the total — the leverage lives line-by-line in the tolerance tiers
• [ ] Do not treat prepaid escrow as a junk fee — misdirected outrage burns the real challenges
• [ ] Do not accept "that's standard" on stacked processing fees — standard is not a tolerance category
• [ ] Do not let the clock expire politely — the review period is for reviewing; day one, not day three
• [ ] Do not present tolerance rules as universal law — flag jurisdiction/loan-type variation and refer to the settlement agent