When you get a mortgage loan, you sign a lot documents--good-faith estimates, a truth-in-lending statements, settlement statements, and more. You'll sign other documents to protect the lender against future claims that you didn't fully understand the terms and conditions of the loan. And worse, you'll be asked to sign a power of attorney authorizing the lender (or the title company) to make corrections should errors be found later. One of the reasons people get so rooked on mortgage loans is because the paperwork is so fouled up. The mortgage industry has fought efforts to have clear disclosure to you when you're taking out a loan so you'd know exactly what the terms were. Why? Because the industry makes a lot of money by cheating you by having the paperwork as confusing as possible. So the American Enterprise Institute came up with a form that they'd like mortgage lenders to use, but instead, YOU use it. There are a series of simple fill in the blank questions that you should require the lender to provide to you, then you'll know exactly what your loan is. And it's very easy for anyone to follow, even for first time home buyers. You can download and print the form here. And if you're not familiar with mortgage terminology, here's a clear definitions of terms, stating the essentials of the loan in simple English.