The blame for the housing crisis is now being laid on a piece of paper: the Good Faith Estimate. Homeowners receive the confusing summary of fees when applying for a mortgage. So convoluted is the doc, however, that the department of Housing and Urban Development claims it's probably led home owners to taking riskier loans than they otherwise would have. Efforts are under way to simplify it, thus saving owners boatloads of money— if all the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, banks and title companies vying for their own interests don't muck it up in the meantime, that is. [BusinessWeek]
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