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In July 2026, without any fanfare or much notice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a new Your Home Loan Toolkit Guide, with an August 2026 publication date indicated therein. The Guide addresses the Special Information Booklet required under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA).

Lenders are required to provide the Toolkit Guide to purchase money mortgage home loan applicants within three days of a loan application, unless the lender denies the application within that three-day period. The Guide is not required in connection with refinance loans, HELOCs, or reverse mortgages.

A copy of the Notice and new Guide may be found here under the “Your home loan toolkit” tab. 

The CFPB states at this tab that lenders can begin using the revised toolkit immediately, use an earlier version until existing supplies are exhausted, or use a suitable substitute to comply with the requirement. When reprinting, lenders are directed to use the most recent version. Print-ready files are posted at this tab, as well as web-enabled files for electronic delivery.

RESPA requires the CFPB to “prepare” the Special Information Booklet at least once every 5 years. Regulation X, which implements RESPA, states that the Bureau may from time to time revise the special information booklet, publishing a notice in the Federal Register. It does not appear however that the CFPB published a notice in the Federal Register indicating that the Guide has been updated. 

In addition to re-formatting the Guide and using more consumer-friendly language, several substantive changes were made to the Toolkit Guide, including additional information on homeowners' insurance, credit reports, and loan prepayments and how making prepayments may allow a borrower to cancel private mortgage insurance. 

RESPA and Regulation Z, which implements TILA, require the Special Information Booklet to explain the mortgage and real estate settlement process in plain, understandable language. At a high level, the booklet must cover the following items:

  • Loan costs, terms, and shopping considerations. The booklet should explain settlement costs and mortgage costs, including balloon payments, prepayment penalties, the benefits of prepayment, the trade-off between closing costs and interest rate, adjustable-rate mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and key questions consumers should ask about affordability, loan shopping, and borrower benefit.
  • Consumer protections, rights, and obligations. The booklet should identify prohibited or unfair lending and settlement practices, unreasonable or unnecessary charges, the consumer’s responsibilities in a mortgage transaction, and rescission rights for certain transactions under TILA.
  • Settlement services, property-related issues, and support resources. The booklet should explain the uniform settlement statement, the consumer’s ability to choose settlement service providers, escrow accounts, appraisals versus home inspections, homeownership counseling resources, loan-fraud information, and flood-insurance availability and responsibilities.

Regulation X provides that no changes to, deletions from, or additions to the special information booklet currently prescribed by the Bureau shall be made other than as approved in writing by the Bureau, and that the cover of the booklet may be in any form and may contain any drawings, pictures, or artwork, provided that the words “settlement costs” are used in the title. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the lender or others and similar information may appear on the cover, but no discussion of the matters covered in the booklet shall appear on the cover. The special information booklet may be translated into languages other than English.

Regulation Z provides that creditors may not make changes to, deletions from, or additions to the special information booklet other than the cover page and lender name changes also specified under Regulation X, and other than as follows:

  • In the “Complaints” section of the booklet, “the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” may be substituted for “HUD's Office of RESPA” and “the RESPA office.”
  • in the “Avoiding Foreclosure” section of the booklet, it is permissible to inform homeowners that they may find information on and assistance in avoiding foreclosures at http://www.consumerfinance.gov. The reference to the HUD Web site, http://www.hud.gov/foreclosure/ in the “Avoiding Foreclosure” section of the booklet shall not be deleted.
  • In the “No Discrimination” section of the appendix to the booklet, “the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” may be substituted for the reference to the “Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.” In the Contact Information section of the appendix to the booklet, the following contact information for the Bureau may be added: “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, 1700 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20552; www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore.” The contact information for HUD's Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales may be removed from the “Contact Information” section of the appendix to the booklet.
  • References to HUD on the cover of the booklet may be changed to references to the Bureau.

Despite the apparent lack of Federal Register notice, to the extent lenders are providing the Toolkit Guide electronically, they should work with their document preparation vendors to update the Guide as soon as possible. If lenders are using print copies, the CFPB notes lenders may exhaust such hard copy stocks before using the newly formatted Toolkit Guide.

If you have any questions about the issues raised in this alert, please contact the author or the Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys with whom you normally work.