The Closing Disclosure at the Signing Table

Published 2026-08-28 · Updated 2026-08-28 · Loan Signing

What the document is

The Closing Disclosure is the five-page federal form delivered before closing that sets out the borrower's final loan terms and closing costs. Under federal rule, the borrower must receive it at least three business days before consummation — which is why the closer is often anxious about dates on this one specifically.

What is on it, page by page:

• Page 1 — loan terms, projected payments, and costs at closing. Rate, monthly payment, whether any of it can increase.
• Page 2 — the itemized closing cost table: origination, services the borrower shopped for and did not, taxes, prepaids, escrow.
• Page 3 — calculating cash to close, and the summaries of transactions for borrower and seller.
• Page 4 — additional information: assumption, escrow account, late payment, partial payments.
• Page 5 — loan calculations, total of payments, APR, total interest percentage, and contact information.

The CD is signed but generally not notarized. Its presence in the package is disclosure, not execution.

The line you cannot cross

A Florida notary who is not an attorney may not explain a document's legal effect. On the CD, the questions arrive constantly and they all sound reasonable.

You may: identify where an item appears, read the printed text aloud verbatim, state what the form itself labels a figure, and confirm the number matches what is printed.

You may not: explain what a term means, say whether a figure is correct or reasonable, compare it to the Loan Estimate, opine on whether the borrower should sign, or characterize a cost as normal, high, or a mistake.

The phrasing that works:

• “Your interest rate is right here on page one — it reads 6.375%.”
• “That line is labeled Total Closing Costs, and the figure printed is $8,412.”
• “I'm not able to explain what that means — but that's exactly the right question for your loan officer, and I'm glad to pause while you call. I have the number right here.”

That last sentence is the whole job. Not a refusal — a redirect, with the phone number in your hand.

When the borrower says the numbers are wrong

This happens, and how you handle it determines whether you ever get called by that title company again.

1. Do not argue and do not reassure. You do not know whether the figure is wrong, and telling a borrower it is probably fine is both an opinion and a liability.
2. Stop the signing. Do not have them sign the CD and “sort it out later.” Once signed, the leverage is gone.
3. Call the closer or loan officer from the table. Hand the phone to the borrower. Ninety percent of the time it is resolved in four minutes — a figure the borrower was reading from an older estimate.
4. If it cannot be resolved, end the appointment cleanly. Pack the package, tell the borrower the closer will follow up, and call the closer from the driveway. A rescheduled signing is a minor annoyance. A borrower who signs under protest is a lawsuit.
5. Document it. Time, who you called, what was said, in your journal.

Closers do not remember the signings that went smoothly. They remember the agent who called before a problem became their problem.

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