If we choose to "inflate" a GFE item to cover the cost of the most expense vendor (title costs vary depending on the vendor and the number of properties), would we have to disclose again if the costs are less than the disclosed amount? For instance our title insurance could cost between $100 - $400, we disclose $400. Later when the title company is selected, the $100 title insurance company is selected. Do we have to send another GFE to the customer to let them know that costs went down?

I'm asking because the real estate section wants to default all GFE charges and we will probably be over disclosing the amount of charges.

It was my understanding that the tolerance for disclosed fees applies to both under-disclosing and over-disclosing. I would think once you found out what your fees are, you should re-disclose properly.

But you may want to wait for a guru to answer...

I don't believe you have to rework a GFE - it's an estimate just like the title says. There is no specific dollar amount or % that the GFE has to be in relation to the HUD-1 settlement statement either. I think you'd have an issue if you consistently underestimated on the GFE - do you own comparisions periodically and adjust your GFE as necessary to be as close as possible to the HUD-1 as you can reasonably get.

Yes, exactly. That's why they let you do ranges - so that you can cover the most common fees. Now where you might have an issue is if someone could make a case that you consistently over-estimated to a protected class (ie, to discourage applications), but if you take the high estimate and consistently, across the board come in at that price or lower, it shouldn't be a problem. But you do need to look at it periodically and get a realistic number - you can't just arbitrarily assign a high dollar figure to cover any possibility, it has to at least be based in factual data.